The Short Fiction of Mary E. Lowd

On this page, stories are organized by when they were written.  My bibliography organizes stories by when they were published.

Magtwilla and the Mouse

     A pregnant cat makes a fateful choice to protect her kittens.    [~2,000 words]
  • Allasso, Volume 2, upcoming in 2012
The Most Complicated Avatar

     A woman can't find her 10-year-old daughter in real life...  But, maybe, she can find her online.    [~1,300 words]
St. Kalwain and the Lady Uta

     A man cursed by the faerie queen must slay a dragon to earn his freedom.    [~8,400 words]
  • ROAR #4, upcoming in 2012
Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn
    
     The Dragon and Unicorn come calling.    [~1,000 words]
Fetching Asteroids

     Jordan is a Labrador Retriever with a dream.    [~300 words]
Awards:  Allasso Prize for Fiction, Finalist, 2011
The Canoe Race (with Daniel Lowd)

     When Camp Riverwind closes at the end of the summer, the local animals hold their own summer camp.    [~3,500 words]
Where the Heart Is

     Four aliens -- resembling a koala bear, a wolf, a lizard, and a fish wearing a diving helmet -- go on a camping trip.    [~4,700 words]
Shreddy and the Zomb-dogs

     An angry cat and an empty-headed Labradoodle must protect their neighborhood from techno-mystically raised zomb-dogs.    [~4,200 words]
Meet Archive

     A story-telling robot gets lost in his own stories.    [~2,400 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Honorable Mention, (3rd Quarter, 2010)
Harvesting Wishes

     Where do wishes come from?  Dandelions?  Genies?  ... Or asteroids?    [~1,800 words]
Little Sandy Starstrong and her Faithful Robot Dogs 

     Growing up among the asteroids with her two robotic dogs, Sandy feels like something is missing.  [~2,200 words]

Daisy Chaining

     A boastful young spaceman traps himself into racing a frezzipod through an asteroid field.    [~1,300 words]
The Ambi-Cognitive Man

    
Two brothers travel to a tiny colony in the far reaches of space where everyone is conjoined twins. They expect to find a place where they belong; instead, they're forced to question the very meaning of individuality.    [~8,700 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Honorable Mention, (4th Quarter, 2008)
Gerty & the Doesn't-Smell-Like-a-Melon

     Snuffle-snorting around the melon patch, Gerty finds something that does not smell like a melon.    [~2,100 words] Nominations:  Ursa Major Award for Best Short Fiction, 2010

Slug Time

     A young scientist struggles against the clock and procrastination to translate thoughts through a direct brain interface with a slug.    [~2,900 words]
The Nebula Was Empty

     Fear the love of a mega-dimensional nebula beast.    [~700 words]

The Kitty Willow
The Necromouser
  
     An angry cat discovers the techno-mystical ability to raise mice from the dead.    [~2,500 words]
The Third Wish

     Jealous of his half-brother's elven magic, a fisherman begins studying magic himself.    [~3,000 words]
Emmanuel and the Cannibals

     A colony stranded on an under-evolved world has an unusual response to the introduction of terran bovines.    [~4,500 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (4th Quarter, 2006)
A Second Enchanted Evening

     Bomani convinces his wife to join him in using memory drugs to make their anniversary more romantic; intstead, the drugs forces them to face the true state of their relationship.      [~6,800 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (2nd Quarter, 2006)
Life with the Tumblers
  
Arlene takes her young son Kyan on a research expedition into an alien culture of sentient trees.    [~5,500 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (1st Quarter, 2006)
The Screen Savior

     What happens when a screen saver comes to life...    [~1,400 words]
Forget Me Not

     Can a bad memory be the secret to success?    [~2,600 words]
Of Behemoths and Bureaucrats

     Rhea brings her traveling carnival act to the Hegula Hephaesta mining colony to visit the new sun garden, but she and her Starwhals get caught in a battle for interstellar independence that threatens her three gentle giants.    [~4,000 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (4th Quarter, 2004)
The Parable of Two Queens

     Can Commander Dyall and his team of translators -- a pair of gengineered parrots -- fathom the minds of myrmecoid warriors from another galaxy well enough to broker peace?    [~3,400 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (3rd Quarter, 2005)
My Words Like Silent Raindrops

    A young scientist gets in over her head when she introduces technological telepathy to her friends.    [~4,500 words]
Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (1st Quarter, 2005)
Rekindle the Sun

    A dying world may not be the best place to start your life anew.    [~9,300 words] Awards:  Writers of the Future Quarter Finalist, (2nd Quarter, 2004)

Larger copies of the cover art on ths page can be found here.


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