The Cru are joined by writer PC Nottingham for an evening of long distance hiking, prehistoric sword and sorcery, a nutty professor, and more await in this episode's stories! 
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: 
To do something completely and thoroughly, without compromise or reservation: to go the whole way. 

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The Cru chat Vonnegut's style and thematic preferences, then attempt to write a story in his voice.  We encourage you to read some Vonnegut before writing, and to shamelessly steal his style in your own work this week.  
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: 
Hogmanay (hog ma na/). The name given in Scotland to the last day of the year, also to an entertainment or present given on that day. It is from the French, and probably represents the O.Fr. aiguillanneuf, which has been (some- what doubtfully) explained as standing for an guy ran neuf, "(good luck) to the mistletoe of the new year."

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The Cru grapple with some deeper questions this week. What is the spirit of our era? Is it even possible to define the zeitgeist of a current era? How are such things decided, anyway? Each story tonight is the author's attempt to capture what he or she sees as the spirit of our modern times. 
Banter@1:27, Murph@19:11, The Lotus@31:05, Krispy@43:55, and WebEater@54:00
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
Zeitgeist: (German Zeit, 'time', and Geist, 'spirit'). The spirit of the time; the moral or intellectual tendency characteristic of a period.

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The Cru got together before the holiday for a FreeWrite session: no prompt, just hanging out with friends and writing our current projects.  B52 returned from a long hiatus (he hasn't participated in a published episode yet!) to share a RFW story from over a year ago that he is growing into a novel.  Krispy read from his novel-to-be, an adventure story about a girl who strives to live among the stars.  Murph shared part of a college scavenger hunt that hints at being much more.  Finally, WebEater relates a graphic Bee attack.  
Happy Thanksgiving.

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The Cru have an in-depth discussion on creating empathy for characters who do awful things, like fathers who abandon their children.  Krispy adds some levity with an anthropomorphized Wind, equal parts trickster and temper-tantrumy toddler.   And, to make it a true grab-bag type episode, there are farts.
From Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
Caurus. The Latin name for the northwest wind: The ground by piercing Caurus seared. ~James Thomson 
Banter starts at 1:37; WebEater@ 21:03; The Lotus@ 44:55; Krispy@ 51:48; Murph@ 1:05:57

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Murph's out of town this week (well, further out of town than usual).  The rest of The Cru get a little... hare-brained in his absence.  Stories run the gamut from crazy cat ladies to Joan of Arc, with a healthy does of Stepford disturbia for good measure. 
IF your podcast provider does not support chapters, you can skip to 1:33 for the banter; 11:03 for Krispy's story; 24:48 for WebEater's; and 36:35 for The Lotus'. 
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: 
Harum Scarum. Giddy, hare-brained, or a person so constituted.  The term perhaps comes from 'hare,' 'to harass,' and 'scare,' a form of 'stare,' with a possible additional allusion to the madness of a March hare. 

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The Cru have become subconsciously enamored with Dune, which worms its way into a few of this week's tales. Virtual reality, fantastic worlds, and French Toast all make an appearance. 

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: 
Hole in the Wall. A dark and dingy place, especially one difficult to find.  The name also exists for a number of restaurants, some of which are quite superior and anything but dingy.  The source of the name in this sense is uncertain, but the hole may originally have been in the wall of a debtors' prison, used to pass gifts of food and drink to the inmates.  'Hole in the wall' is also a term for an automatic cash dispenser in the outside wall of a building.

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Echidna was the mother of monsters in Greek Mythology, and her children- including the Lernean Hydra, Nemean Lion, Cerberus, and fearsome Chimera- are all fair game for tonight's prompt! It's The Lotus' night off, but the rest of The Cru chat about J.R.R. Tolkien and attempt to write pieces inspired by his style and his work. One member  doesn't care for Tolkien; the other two respond appropriately. 

From Hesiod's Theogony: 
"Men say that Typhaon [Typhoeus] the terrible, outrageous and lawless, was joined in love to her [Ekhidna (Echidna)], the maid with glancing eyes. So she conceived and brought forth fierce offspring; first she bare Orthos (Orthus) the hound of Geryones (Geryon), and then again she bare a second, a monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Kerberos (Cerberus) who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Haides, fifty-headed, relentless and strong. And again she bore a third, the evil-minded Hydra of Lerna, whom the goddess, white-armed Hera nourished, being angry beyond measure with the mighty Herakles . . . She was the mother of Khimaira (Chimera) who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion; in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire. Her did Pegasos (Pegasus) and noble Bellerophontes slay."

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The Cru continues their dive into the monster world by hunting an Ethiopian... deer? An invisible deer?  
 
 Yes. An invisible deer. And it's terrifying. 
 
 
...watch out for the shadows. 
 
From the Medieval Bestiary: 
The parandrus is a beast from Ethiopia that can change its appearance, so that it can conceal itself by taking on the appearance of its surroundings. It is colored like a bear, but is the size of an ox and has long hair. It has the head of a stag with branching horns, and has cloven hoofs. 
http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast178.htm

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The Cru struggles to turn a beast that is a metaphor for Christ into a horrifying monster. Krispy debates whether written words can actually be "scary;" refuses to believe they can; then writes a terrifying tale. More than one bottle of wine is consumed. 

From The Medieval Bestiary: 
The caladrius is an all-white bird that lives in the king's house. If it looks into the face of a sick man, it means that he will live, but if the caladrius looks away, the sick man will die of his illness. To cure the sick man, the caladrius looks at him, and drawing the sickness into itself, the bird flies up toward the sun, where the disease is burned up and destroyed. The caladrius is an unclean bird which must not be eaten. 

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