Author Topic: EP345: The Paper Menagerie  (Read 4202 times)

eytanz

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on: May 17, 2012, 08:15:29 PM
Escape Pod 345: The Paper Menagerie


by Ken Liu

Read by Rajan Khanna

Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

A little paper tiger stood on the table, the size of two fists placed together. The skin of the tiger was the pattern on the wrapping paper, white background with red candy canes and green Christmas trees.

I reached out to Mom’s creation. Its tail twitched, and it pounced playfully at my finger. “_Rawrr-sa_,” it growled, the sound somewhere between a cat and rustling newspapers.


I laughed, startled, and stroked its back with an index finger. The paper tiger vibrated under my finger, purring.

“Zhe jiao zhezhi,” Mom said. This is called origami.

I didn’t know this at the time, but Mom’s kind was special. She breathed into them so that they shared her breath, and thus moved with her life. This was her magic.


Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!
« Last Edit: May 17, 2012, 08:19:55 PM by eytanz »



eytanz

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Reply #1 on: May 17, 2012, 08:19:42 PM
We are in the unusual position of having an episode that appeared in two different Escape Artists podcasts. I'm creating this thread for completeness purposes, but in order to have a single discussion of the story, I'm locking it.

To comment on the story, simply follow the link to original Podcastle forums thread and add to the discussion already in progress..