Santa’s and his stepdaughter Wendy’s removal of homophobia from the world has been undone, so stubbornly entrenched is the pull of inhumanity in the human race. Worse, bad behavior of all kinds has so increased that human nastiness is quickly approaching a tipping point beyond which there is no recovery.

After a series of skilled negotiations, Santa is given divine dispensation to pitch in at heaven’s Psyche Factory, offering his well-honed tinkering skills to Hephaestus—dispenser of psyches to the newborn—by reworking the foundational under-psyche given to all infants and the unique over-psyche joined to it at birth.

But despite help from the Easter Bunny, obstacles continue to crop up. The Tooth Fairy, still enraged at Santa’s jilting of her and at being forbidden to unleash venomous hatred upon sleeping children, recruits helpers to foil Santa’s plans: a new imp spawned from her hellish womb and a renegade from the legions of Golden Girls who transport psyches to and from Hephaestus’ workbench.

In a race against time, redemptive hopes for all of humankind hang in the balance.

Santa Claus Saves the World is superbly narrated by Chet Williamson, with more than 70 audiobooks to his credit. They include this author’s Oedipus Aroused: Homer’s Long-Lost Erotic Epic, Santa Steps Out: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, and Santa Claus Conquers the Homophobes.