The Incomparable Mothership

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807: Assassin As a Service Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

Charge up your cyberspace deck and avoid all slamhounds! It’s time for us to discuss the second book in William Gibson’s famed Sprawl trilogy, “Count Zero.” Of course, Count Zero is the name of a great hacker… wait, it’s this kid? This is a book that defies audience expectations, from the title character to the way it follows up—or doesn’t, really—the events and characters in its famous predecessor. But, as our veteran Gibson readers note, it sets the template for his career to come.

"Count Zero"

Host Jason Snell with Lisa Schmeiser, Antony Johnston, Glenn Fleishman, and Erika Ensign.

Referenced Works

William Gibson

Count Zero

Show Notes & Links

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806: Demon in a Photocopier Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

Our Book Club reconvenes to discuss Emily Tesh’s “The Incandescent,” which offers a teacher’s perspective on a magical school (that’s mostly not magical, but infested by demons), an interesting story structure, and some very well-drawn characters. Plus: What else are we reading?

"The Incandescent"

Host Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, Joe Rosensteel, Heather Berberet, Paul Weimer, and Scott McNulty.

Referenced Works

The Incandescent

[Amazon] [Apple]

Show Notes & Links

What are we reading?

Heather: Higher Magic by Courteney Floyd, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Erika: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas, Cinder House by Freya Marske
Aleen: Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher, The Teller of Small Fortunes/The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
Joe: Finder Chronicles by Suzanne Palmer, Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Paul: The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang, The Final Chronicle of Yenah by Jo Miles
Scott: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Jason: Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree, There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

805: Universal Basic Rooster Income Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

Find a cat bed and some apricots, and prepare to upgrade your chicken! While Jason’s away, we play Embark’s hit game “Arc Raiders”, a multiplayer extraction shooter where people can… be nice to each other? (Most of the time, anyway.) We talk survival tips, resource management, and—to nobody’s surprise—John’s got some opinions on the user interface.

Host Brian Warren with panelists Ben McCarthy, John Siracusa, and Chip Sudderth.

"ARC Raiders"

Host Brian Warren with John Siracusa, Ben Rice McCarthy, and Chip Sudderth.

Referenced Works

ARC Raiders

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

804: I Pay This Movie Rent Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Want to see a dead body? Bring your comb, stock up on cherry flavor Pez, and stay really quiet if you see a deer. We return to the 1980s and honor Rob Reiner by discussing 1986’s “Stand By Me,” a movie Jason has somehow never seen. It’s not a movie with Things That Happen, but that’s just fine with us.

"Stand By Me"

Host Jason Snell with Kelly Guimont, Erika Ensign, John Siracusa, and Shelly Brisbin.

Referenced Works

Stand By Me

Rob Reiner

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

803: Doing the Good Loon's Work Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with The Incomparable. It’s time to discuss that Canadian hockey show everyone’s been talking about. “Heated Rivalry” just wants to know, “Will you come to the cottage this summer?”

"Heated Rivalry"

Host Annette Wierstra with Kirsten Goruk, Heather Berberet, Stacy Watnick, and Kat Benesh.

Referenced Works

Heated Rivalry

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

802: Farm-to-Table Body Parts Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

Guillermo del Toro’s waited his whole life to make a “Frankenstein” movie, and now he’s done it. We carefully select the (Oscar-nominated!) film’s best bits, chop them up, and then sew them back together in the grossest way possible. (We know Del Toro would approve.) You don’t need to have a degree in Frankensteinology to take a seat at the lympahtic charcuterie board, but it helps!

"Frankenstein" (2025)

Host Jason Snell with Annette Wierstra, Brian Hamilton, Monty Ashley, Tony Sindelar, and Moisés Chiullán.

Referenced Works

Frankenstein (2025)

Guillermo del Toro

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

801: Chekhov's Chunga Palm Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

Hello, Carol. This is a recording. At the tone, you can leave a message to request anything you might need. We’ll do our best to provide it. Our feelings for you haven’t changed, Carol. But after everything that’s happened, we just need a little space.

"Pluribus" season 1

Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Tony Sindelar, Moisés Chiullán, and Glenn Fleishman.

Referenced Works

Pluribus

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

800: Draft Science Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

After 800 episodes, we are in serious danger of repeating ourselves, but that never stopped us before. Some of our most prolific panelists fulfill the prophesy and draft Incomparable drafts. Jason begs them to give him new ideas, because after 800, he’s almost run out. And we use our powers for good and evil to mark classic episodes for deletion.

title_boring

Host Jason Snell with Annette Wierstra, Dan Moren, David J. Loehr, Erika Ensign, Kathy Campbell, Moisés Chiullán, Monty Ashley, and Shelly Brisbin.

Show Notes & Links

Draft a draft (it culminates)

Monty: 158/159 Film Festival II
Annette: 695 Toy Draft
Moises: 100 Who Cares What We Think?
David: 535 Muppet Draft
Erika: 192 Robots
Kathy: 388 TV Theme Songs
Dan: 329 Travesty Draft
Shelly: 553 Bad Best Picture
Jason: 479 Saturday Morning Draft

Suggest a made-up holiday or summer theme

Monty: Crossovermas
Annette: Cage Fight Club / Cage Match
Moises: Franktoberfest or Franksgiving
David: Summer of Spies
Erika: Summer of Sun / Summer of Summer
Kathy: Streepstakes
Dan: Every Version of Blade Runner
Shelly: Decade of Disasters
Jason: Valentine’s Day romcoms / F’sgiving / Summer of Kaiju

Suggest a topic for a future episode

Monty: Lawnmower Man/Lawnmower Man 2
Annette: Heated Rivalry
Moises: Defeat the Fantasy RPG Final Battle Draft
David: Network
Erika: Tank Girl
Kathy: Best First Role of famous actor draft, Books from your Childhood
Dan: Mario Kart Tournament
Shelly: Content you think somebody who is not SF/F native would enjoy/help get started

Draft an episode you’d like to delete from the Incomparable archive

Monty: 222 - Forcegiving
Annette: 33 - Real Genius
Moises: 22 - Stephen Fry (Does Not Appear)
David: 139 - Wrinkle in Time
Erika: 269 - Crazy Ivan
Kathy: 382 - It’s a Wonderful Life / 202 2014 Hugos
Dan: 58 - Greyskull Anonymous
Shelly: 325 - Monster Mash
Jason: 124/125 LOTR episode since we could do it properly (we could anyway)

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

799: Earth 2120 (feat. Xenomorph) Jan 09, 2026

Show notes

Noah Hawley’s TV take on the Alien franchise, “Alien: Earth,” is crashing into a building near us, bringing gross aliens old and new, suspicious synths, terrified (and bloody) humans, and a new class of hybrid life forms with the minds of children and superhuman bodies. Does the show give us enough Xenomorphs? Is the eye alien a breakout fan favorite? Was replaying “Alien” on a different ship a good idea? Why is Trillionaire Island so understaffed? We break it all down.

"Alien: Earth"

Host Jason Snell with John Siracusa, Brian Warren, Annette Wierstra, and Sandra Wong.

Referenced Works

Alien: Earth

Alien (franchise)

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

798: Trust Dan, Not Fish Dec 31, 2025

Show notes

Our most frequent panelists of the year join Jason to talk about their favorite stuff from the year gone by, and we also pause to recall some favorite Incomparable moments. Synergy!

The Best of 2025

Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Moisés Chiullán, Tony Sindelar, David J. Loehr, Annette Wierstra, Scott McNulty, Dan Moren, and Brian Warren.

Show Notes & Links

Erika: North of North, “The Same Old Wasted World” by Motion City Soundtrack
Moisés: Sinners, Frankenstein, Running Man, Ludwig, Bookish, Nautilus, Tucci in Italy, Split Fiction, Donkey Kong Bananza, Downey Wrote It, the Super Bowl Shuffle
Tony: Sinners, Frankenstein, Superman, Wake Up Dead Man, The Studio, Andor, The Lowdown, Frieren Beyond Journey’s End, Odd Taxi
David: The Lowdown, Wake Up Dead Man, North of North, Sinners, Dark Winds, Jason Mantzoukas on Taskmaster, Dead in the Frame by Stephen Spottswood, Good Spirits by B.K. Borrison, KPop Demon Hunters, Star Trek: Khan, Only Murders in the Building, The First Snow of Fraggle Rock
Annette: Slutty Little Glasses, Heated Rivalry, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Taskmaster, K-Pop Demon Hunters, North of North, Wake Up Dead Man, The Residence
Scott: Barker & Lllewellyn series by Will Thomas, The Devils by Joe Abercombie, Moonbound by Robin Sloan, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Diplomat, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek Lego, Lego Ferris Wheel with Fireworks, Tiny Heart Legos in general
Dan: Wake Up Dead Man, Thunderbolts, American Fiction, Thelma, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Empire of the Wolf by Richard Swan, The Hierarchy (The Will of the Many, Strength of the Few) by James Islington, If Wishes Were Retail by Austin Habershaw, Don’t Trust Fish, Recommending The Lowdown to Tony, Andor, Skeleton Crew, Down Cemetery Road, Peacemaker, Severance, Foundation, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Brian: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Heretical Fishing, Beware of Chicken, He Who Fights With Monsters, Severance, Ape Club (Escape from the Planet of the Apes), ARC Raiders, Dept. Q, The Pitt, Dropout TV, Thunderbolts, Taskmaster
Jason: Sleeper Beach, Automatic Noodle, Moonbound, Barker & Lllewelyn series, The Pitt Pluribus, Ludwig, Severance, Hacks, Shoresy, Dept. Q, Das Boot, The Rest is History

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

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The Incomparable Mothership

Referenced Works

William Gibson

Count Zero

Show Notes & Links

Referenced Works

The Incandescent

Show Notes & Links

What are we reading?

Referenced Works

ARC Raiders

Show Notes & Links

Referenced Works

Stand By Me

Rob Reiner

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Sponsors

Referenced Works

Heated Rivalry

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Sponsors

Referenced Works

Frankenstein (2025)

Guillermo del Toro

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Referenced Works

Pluribus

Show Notes & Links

Show Notes & Links

Referenced Works

Alien: Earth

Alien (franchise)

Show Notes & Links

Show Notes & Links

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