Escape Pod 184: As Dry Leaves That Before the Wild Hurricane Fly
Show Notes
Rated G. Contains Santa revisionism and aerial combat.
Special Closing Music: “Chiron Beta Prime,” by Jonathan Coulton.
As Dry Leaves That Before the Wild Hurricane Fly
By Mur Lafferty
Comet and Cupid were fifteen, and took after their father, both spending the most time in the workshop tinkering with Father’s tools. Christmas was coming soon and they were preparing their yearly trip to the same orphanage that had cared for them. With nine children to raise on his own, Claus could no longer adopt, but he still found it very important to care for the children in any way he could. So he took a load of toys to the children every year, with his children helping him distribute.
Their siblings sat around their great sitting room, some crowding on sofas, some sitting on chair cushions or arms, and Rudolph, the baby at eleven, sat at his father’s feet. He was an imposing man with a barrel chest and wild white hair and beard. When he would get excited about a project, his blue eyes would twinkle and he’d look like a madman.
About the Author
Mur Lafferty
Mur Lafferty is the co-editor and sometime-host of Escape Pod.
She is an American podcaster and writer based in Durham, North Carolina. She is the host and creator of the podcasts I Should Be Writing and Ditch Diggers. Her books have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Philip K. Dick, and Scribe Awards. In the past decade she has been the co-founder/co-editor of PseudoPod, founding editor of Mothership Zeta, and the editor or co-editor of Escape Pod (where she is currently).
She is fond of Escape Artists, in other words.
Mur won the 2013 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award), and the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Fancast for Ditch Diggers. She’s been nominated for numerous other awards and is always doing new things, so check her website for the latest.
About the Narrator
Christiana Ellis
Christiana Ellis is an award-winning writer and podcaster living in Massachusetts. She is the author of Nina Kimberly the Merciless, Space Casey and Phyllis Esposito: Interdimensional Private-Eye, and she can often be found running a variety table-top role-playing games on her stream and podcast “So Many Levels”.
