The Incomparable Mothership

Get out your PowerBooks and prepare to punch an alien in patriotic fashion! We celebrate Independence Day with a 30-year-old film, “Independence Day”! It’s a lot of movie. Is Jason ready to forgive it? Jason Snell with Moisés Chiullán, David J. Loehr, Aleen Simms and Tony Sindelar.

We combine our love of “Star Trek” with the appreciation for old movies that can only be provided by our sister podcast Lions, Towers, and Shields, by drafting “Star Trek” actors (TOS and TNG only) and the movie roles we loved before they appeared on Star Trek! And be sure to listen to this summer’s LTS’s Star Trek summer event. Jason Snell with Shelly Brisbin, Micheline Maynard, Cicero Holmes and David J. Loehr.

William Gibson Book Club reconvenes to close out the legendary Sprawl trilogy with “Mona Lisa Overdrive,” a book in which there are lots of vibes from a lot of people who are secondary characters in a story being driven by an AI that we never really meet. Robot art projects! Many overlapping jackets, none of them the same size! And a car ride to… the future?! We break it all down. Jason Snell with Antony Johnston, Erika Ensign, Lisa Schmeiser and Glenn Fleishman.

Get behind your typewriters! Old Movie Club follows the money to discuss 1976’s “All The President’s Men,” in which the power of dogged reportage and journalistic freedom triumphs over the banality of evil. Jason Snell with Philip Michaels, Shelly Brisbin, Micheline Maynard, Steven Schapansky, Dr. Drang and Jean MacDonald.

Our survey of award-nominated novels rolls on with “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,” “When We Were Real,” and “Sour Cherry.” Not gonna lie: we’re struggling with the reading a bit this year. But at least one of these novels threw us a lifeline. Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms, Heather Berberet and Paul Weimer.