In this hard-hitting episode, the guys share their thoughts on the summer superhero block-breaker Deadpool.  At least until the discussion devolves into a discussion on the topsy-turvy world of modern geekdom.  Anyway, George and Peter liked it.

Nathan gets into literally photogenic walking simulator Firewatch.  George and Nathan share some touching (and confusing) memories of the Prydain Chronicles.  George buys a soundtrack, Nathan tells a pun, and Peter's dog votes to make his carpet great again.

Then George's computer dies in a fire.

It's time to discuss The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu's Hugo-Award-winning novel about bodies, problems, orbital mechanics, human collaborators to alien invaders, and the evil version of The Last Starfighter. Among other things. In this episode, we apologize to Ken Liu (who is definitely listening) and mangle some Mandarin names despite an excellent pronunciation guide by Mo of Mo's Reads.

This episode contains extensive spoilers, so consider reading the book before listening.

The book for Episode 00018 is The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin, which is nominated for this year's Hugo Award for Best Novel.

As always, you can write to us at lizardpeopledearreaders@gmail.com, tweet to us at @DRLizardPeople, or purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

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In this episode the guys share their thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, tackling some deep philosophical questions.  What's the best kind of lightsaber fight?  Are wookies mammals?  Does JJ Abrams know how space works?  Where are all the A-Wings?

After that, George, Nathan, and Peter talk about the Martian, and the many rescues and non-rescues of Matt Damon.  Super-hero / noir series Jessica Jones gets a lot of love, and George gets up on his soapbox, which it turns out is full of comic books.

Meanwhile, Peter's been playing The Witness, and reading Lev Grossman's Magician series, which Nathan agrees is pretty great.

George invents a new segment of drive-by-pop-culture-ry, and some good times are spent with The Library at Mount Char, Grimes, and assorted boardgames.  Nathan fiends for the Black Blood of the Earth, and George shares his (terrifying) historical reading list, featuring Colt 6000 and Command & Control.

It's our first episode with a guest host! We're joined by virtual reality talk show host Will Smith to discuss Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson. 

What's Aurora, you ask? Well, you should probably read the book before you listen to the episode, but it's a touching tale of generation ships, systems ecology, island biodiversity, emergent AI, and what happens when you throw a bunch of people into a sealed tube for 140 years.

This is the kind of book that should be right up our metaphorical alleys, since most of us have a deep love of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series and all of us are into spaceships.

Check out Will's virtual reality talk show, FOO TV, and follow him on twitter at @willsmith

As always, you can reach us at lizardpeopledearreaders@gmail.com or tweet to us at @DRLizardPeople. 

Episode 00016's book won the 2015 Hugo Award for best novel. It's The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu! Get excited!

It's a mild winter here in, uh, Earth, but not warm enough to stop us from hibernating for two months instead of uploading this episode! Weird! 

First: In this culture club episode, George and Peter are into Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Nathan is sleep-deprived but manages to make words about Humans and Sens8. 

Next: the first half of the current season of Doctor Who! Pacing issues! Sonic sunglasses! Two-part arcs! Clara's last name! It's Barton, we're pretty sure.

Then: One-Punch Man! 

And: John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy: The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and In The Mouth of Madness. 

Also: Cigarette Burns, John Carpenter's episode of Masters of Horror.

AND THEN: Our impressions of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens! From...six weeks before it came out! Revel in our inaccurate guesses, you with perfect vision of the immediate past, which to us at the time was the future. Also, we talk about the correct order in which to show the Star Wars movies to your kids.

NEXT TIME: We finally discuss Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora, with a special guest host!