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Hello, and welcome to Escape Pod. I'm your host and co-editor, Mer Lafferty. This week

we bring you the Contrary Gardener Part 1 by Christopher Rowe. Christopher Rowe's stories

have been published, reprinted, and translated around the world. He has been a finalist

for the Hugo Nebula, World Fantasy, and other awards. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky

with his wife, novelist Gwenda Bond. It's narrated for us by Amy H. Sturgis. Amy

holds a PhD in intellectual history and specializes in the field of science fiction, fantasy,

and indigenous American studies. She has regular staff with the Starship Sofa Podcast, editor

and chief of Hocus Pocus Comics, and faculty at Lenore Ryan University. She lives with her

husband in the foothills of North Carolina. This story was first published in Eclipse

Online, October 2012, and was reprinted in multiple best of year anthologies. Now tighten

your saddles, it's post- I mean, it's story time.

The Contrary Gardener by Christopher Rowe narrated by Amy H. Sturgis Part 1.

Haylin wandered up and down the aisles of the Seed Library, dug out beneath the county

extension office. Some of the rows were marked with glowing orange off-limits, fungus,

warning the unwary away from spores and thistles that required special equipment to handle,

which Kay didn't have, and special permission to access, which she would never have, if

her father had anything to say about it. And he did.

It was the last Friday before the first Saturday in May, the day before Derby Day, and so

...