Escape Pod 14: Tis the Season
Show Notes
Rated R. Contains strong religious themes, graphic violence, and aggressive Zen.
Tis the Season
By K. D. Wentworth
It was Christmas Eve and that nasty, strung-out feeling of anticipation clotted the air like a cheap deodorizer. I hate Christmas the most–all that insincere, pious yap about “peace on
earth, goodwill towards men.” I was cruising down the expressway, on my way back from dismantling an illegal manger scene someone had erected at the river park, keeping an eye out
for graffiti, you know–“Where will _you_ spend eternity?” or “Buddha lives!”–that kind of crap, spray-painted on underpasses right where impressionable schoolchildren could see it. The last rays of the setting sun were painting the highway a faint rose when I spotted a broken-down van with the metal outline of a stylized fish just above the back bumper. The short hairs crawled up the back of my neck. Them fish guys have been some of my worst busts.
About the Author
K.D. Wentworth
Kathy Diane Wentworth (January 27, 1951 – April 18, 2012) was an American science fiction author. A University of Tulsa graduate, she got her start winning the Writers of the Future Contest in 1988, and then later won Field Publications’ “Teachers as Writers” Award in 1991. Wentworth served two terms as secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in the early 2000s. She served as the editor for the Writers of the Future Contest from 2009 until her death. One of her novelettes, “Kaleidoscope” (2008), and three of her short stories, “Burning Bright” (1997). “Tall One” (1998), and “Born Again” (2005) have been Nebula award finalists.
Wentworth died on April 18, 2012, from complications with pneumonia and cervical cancer.
About the Narrator
Jonathan Sullivan
Dr. Jonathon Sullivan was the first author published on Escape Pod, and read several stories in Escape Pod’s early days.
