

The Incomparable Mothership
Jason Snell
The Incomparable Mothership is the flagship of the Incomparable podcast network. It’s all about geeky media we love, including movies, books, TV, and more, featuring a rotating panel of guests and hosted by Jason Snell and friends.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 4, 2022 • 1h 23min
604: Team Creepy
Let’s hold hands and sneak through some eerie city ruins. Video game club is back in session to discuss “Little Nightmares II”, the creepy prequel to the beloved spooky platformer, Little Nightmares. We play as Mono, a bag-faced boy, as he and his companion navigate a world of puzzles and monsters lurking in the dark, only to be led to his own nightmare.
Little Nightmares 2
Tiff Arment with James Thomson and Brian Hamilton
Referenced Works
Little Nightmares II
Show Notes & Links
Recently Played: Little Nightmares
Little Nightmares II on Wikipedia
Tarsier Studios
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Feb 25, 2022 • 1h 22min
603: Witness for the Airship
This episode features a book with fantasy zombies and a book with alien hive minds. Talk about range! Our Book Club reconvenes to discuss the fantasy mystery “Witness for the Dead,” a standalone book set in the world of “The Goblin Emperor”, and “A Desolation Called Peace,” the conclusion of the duology begun in the award-winning “A Memory Called Empire.” Plus: What are we reading?
Book Club: "A Desolation Called Peace" and "Witness for the Dead"
Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Glenn Fleishman, Scott McNulty and Erika Ensign
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Referenced Works
Witness for the Dead
[Amazon] [Apple]
A Desolation Called Peace
[Amazon] [Apple]
Show Notes & Links
What are we reading?
Scott:
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World - KJ Parker
Jade Legacy - Fonda Lee
Light From Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki
Erika:
Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan Maguire
City of Stairs - Robert Jackson Bennett
Glenn:
Palatino: The Natural History of a Typeface - Robert Bringhurst
Index, A History of the - Dennis Duncan
The Glass Key - Dashiell Hammett
Dan
The Liar’s Knot (Rook and Rose) - M.A. Carrick
Braking Day - Adam Oyebanji
The Steerswoman - Rosemary Kirstein
Jason:
A Master of Djinn - P. Djeli Clark
The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik
The Shattered Skies - John Birmingham
Family Trade / Merchant Princes series - Charles Stross
Time codes for skippers:
00:32:35 - Discussion for “A Desolation Called Peace”
00:58:54 - “What Are we Reading?”
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Feb 18, 2022 • 1h 7min
602: The Show You Think You Saw
Remember that cool bounty hunter from The Empire Strikes Back? What happens when you give him his own show? “The Book of Boba Fett” is the answer—or is it? After all, parts of this show are really episodes of a different, arguably better show. Our panel discusses the seven-episode season and tries to figure out if this mess is hot or cold.
"The Book of Boba Fett"
Dan Moren with Erika Ensign, Chip Sudderth and Kathy Campbell
Referenced Works
The Book of Boba Fett
Show Notes & Links
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Feb 11, 2022 • 1h 20min
601: The Most Holden Move
In this episode we break down the final season of Prime Video’s “The Expanse.” Was it too abrupt? What was all that Laconia stuff? Then, after a brief intermission for TV viewers to depart, we discuss “Leviathan Falls” and the end of the Expanse book series. One story, so many endings!
"The Expanse" season 6 and "Leviathan Falls"
Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Aleen Simms, Jen Burt and Chip Sudderth
Referenced Works
The Expanse (TV series)
The Expanse (Book Series)
[Amazon]
Show Notes & Links
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Feb 4, 2022 • 1h 56min
600: The Machine Was a Vampire
In this six-hundredth episode of The Incomparable, recorded across two separate sessions, we talk about a whole bunch of novels—namely, our picks for the best SF/F novels of the first decade of The Incomparable, the 2010s! For our purposes, we’re designating the “decade” as 2010-2019. Along the way, we may ponder the most important question a reader should ask: Are there Zeppelins?
2010s book draft
Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Dan Moren, Glenn Fleishman, Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign and David J. Loehr
Show Notes & Links
Round One:
Scott - The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
Dan - The Rook - Daniel O’Malley
Glenn - This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Jason - Among Others - Jo Walton
Aleen - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
Erika - A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers
David - The Human Division - John Scalzi
Round Two:
Scott - My Real Children - Jo Walton
Dan - Caliban’s War - James S.A. Corey
Glenn - The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstein
Jason - 11/22/63 - Stephen King
Aleen - The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal
Erika - The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
David - The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - P. Djeli Clark
Round Three:
Scott - Luna: New Moon - Ian McDonald
Dan - Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Glenn - The Magician’s Land - Lev Grossman
Jason - A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
Aleen - The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
Erika - Borderline - Mishell Baker
David - The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi
Round Four:
Scott - Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - KJ Parker
Dan - Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance - Lois McMaster Bujold
Glenn - The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
Jason - Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
Aleen - Strange Practice - Vivian Shaw
Erika - Libriomancer - Jim C. Hines
David - Day of the Doctor - Steven Moffat
Round Five:
Scott - New York 2140 - Kim Stanley Robinson
Dan - City of Miracles - Robert Jackson Bennett
Glenn - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N.K. Jemisin
Jason - Gnomon - Nick Harkaway
Aleen - Hollow Kingdom - Kyra Jane Buxton
Erika - Delia’s Shadow - Jamie Lee Moyer
David - Noir - Christopher Moore
Also Mentioned/Not Picked (Compiled by Listener AJ):
Glenn:
Uprooted - Naomi Novik (also Jason, Erika)
Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu
Exhalation: Stories (including The Lifecycle of Software Objects) - Ted Chiang
Scott:
Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee
Barsk - Lawrence M. Schoen (also Jason)
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone
Dan:
Gideon the Ninth (but not so much Harrow the Ninth) - Tamsyn Muir
The Martian - Andy Weir
The “Penric and Desdemona” series of novellas, starting with Penric’s Demon - Lois McMaster Bujold
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman (also Aleen)
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett
Jason:
The Galaxy and the Ground Within - Becky Chambers (also Dan)
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter - Theodora Goss
Tiamat’s Wrath - James S A Corey
A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers (2020s)
Aleen:
The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo (also the Netflix series)
The Caledonian Gambit - Dan Moren
Erika:
The Midnight Bargain - C. L. Polk (bonus 2020s pick!)
Summer in Orcus - T Kingfisher
Terminal Alliance - Jim C. Hines
School for Sidekicks - Kelly McCullough
David:
Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang (also kind of Glenn, on his blog)
The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu
Blackout (but maybe not All Clear, which is the second half of the same book?) - Connie Willis
Six Wakes - Mur Lafferty
Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse
Alif the Unseen - G Willow Wilson
The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley
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Jan 28, 2022 • 1h 17min
599: Have You Tried This Arrow?
It’s time to channel that Tired Dad Energy, because we’re going to discuss Marvel’s “Hawkeye,” bro. Kate Bishop! Yelena! Echo! Surprise cameos, including one by an owl! It’s a TV series nobody watching “The Avengers” would have ever wanted, yet a worn and exasperated Jeremy Renner as the mentor to a young woman with strong archery skills ends up being a delightful holiday adventure.
"Marvel's Hawkeye"
Jason Snell with Cicero Holmes, Dan Moren, Chip Sudderth and Lisa Schmeiser
Referenced Works
Hawkeye
Show Notes & Links
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Jan 21, 2022 • 1h 6min
598: Tropiest of Spaghetti Westerns
We’ve rounded up a posse and are saddling up to discuss the Netflix original film “The Harder They Fall,” a revisionist western starring Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, and Regina King. This movie is more ornery than a pole cat with a hangnail! We ride at noon!
"The Harder they Fall"
Cicero Holmes with Nathan Alderman and Shareef Jackson
Referenced Works
The Harder They Fall
Show Notes & Links
Edited by Steven Schapansky.
'The Resurrection of Bass Reeves'
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Jan 15, 2022 • 1h 7min
597: Get Me Pictures of Seven Spider-Men!
Get your college applications ready and prepare to gross out about organic web shooters—it’s time for us to discuss “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the conclusion of Tom Holland’s origin trilogy as the web-slinging hero… and a surprisingly substantial follow-up to five other Spider-Man movies, too. It’s “Spider-Man: Endgame,” and with great podcasts, there must also come great responsibility… to talk about Spider-Man.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Chip Sudderth and Kelly Guimont
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Referenced Works
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Spider-Man
Show Notes & Links
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Jan 8, 2022 • 1h 31min
596: Tom Bombadilification
More than three decades since the Wheel of Time book series began, it’s arrived as a TV series on Prime Video. We discuss the first season with the help of our resident Wheel of Time book expert and three non-book-readers. How much is or isn’t it the “next Game of Thrones?” Why would it need to be be? And how does a book series that was wildly progressive for the 1990s approach a modern audience?
"The Wheel of Time" season 1
Moisés Chiullán with Glenn Fleishman, John Siracusa and Kathy Campbell
Referenced Works
The Wheel of Time
Show Notes & Links
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Jan 1, 2022 • 1h 54min
595: I Didn't Have a Tab - The Best of 2021
Hot dog! It’s time for our annual look back at the year gone by. And it was certainly a year! Some of us caught up on stuff, while others who usually abandon their lists as winter turns to spring decided not to bother making lists at all! As is traditional, our panelists and listeners pick favorite Incomparable episodes and moments in this episode. Did the best moment of the year happen in last year’s clip show? Are there multiple clip loops running now? Has The Incomparable finally ground Jason down into mush? The answers are within!
2021 year in review and clip show
Jason Snell with Steve Lutz, Erika Ensign, Jean MacDonald, Dan Moren, David J. Loehr, Monty Ashley and Moisés Chiullán
Show Notes & Links
Our picks:
Steve - Ted Lasso (TV), One Cut of the Dead (Film), Persona 4 Golden (VG)
Erika - Covert Affairs (TV), Local Podcasts
Jean - Dune (Film), WandaVision (TV), Vera Stanhope series (audiobooks)
Dan - No Time To Die (Film), Leverage: Redemption (TV), The Mask of Mirrors (book), Learned League (game)
David - In The Heights (Film), Only Murders in the Building (TV), Murder Under Her Skin (Books)
Monty - RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars S6E3 (TV), Malignant (Movie), Cyberpunk 2077 (VG)
Moises - Metroid Dread (VG), The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (documentary), What We Do in the Shadows (TV), For All Mankind (TV), Killing Eve (TV), Search Party, The Other Two
Jason - Piranesi (Book), For All Mankind/Hacks (TV), Promising Young Woman (Film)
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