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Jeff and Jay talk Mars, including the Martian, The War of the Worlds, John Carter of Mars, the Twilight Zone, and the Martian Chronicles. How does Mars appear in literature and film? What does Mars mean to us? And if we can raise the money, Jeff would totally go to Mars.

We bring on Brandon Warne, host of the Alive & Social podcast, "The Breakdown," to talk baseball writing. We discuss John Updike and George Vescey and how they stack up against Fire Joe Morgan and Baseball Prospectus. Has the internet changed how we talk about sports?

With guest co-host Emily Sohn we discuss the stories we tell ourselves about science and the environment, journalistic purity, and the release of the 2015 compilation of the Best American Science and Nature Writing. Plus hypnotism, drunkenness, and hummingbirds.

We talk author readings, their Dickensian origins, what makes them good, and our favorite readings we've seen. We pick the readings to see this fall season. Rain Taxi's Eric Lorberer visits to talk about the journal and the Twin Cities Book Festival.

Television. How we watch, what we watch. Is it High Art? And what's good and not good in the upcoming fall season? We get an official podcast dog and recommend shows you may not have seen before.

With Julie Schumacher guest-hosting, we discuss literary humor in Nicholson Baker, George Saunders, and Jane Austen. Plus kittens.

We discuss Jack Zipe’s new translation of the brothers Grimm, the Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac, and the dark side of fairy tales in contemporary film. Plus an interview with author Sharma Shields.

Episode 2: Superheroes, from A to W. We talk Ant Man and the Marvel Universe; Captain Marvel, the A-Force, and women in comics; and Jill Lepore's book on Wonder Woman.

Episode 1: The End. We talk post-apocalyptic fiction, Station 11, Fury Road, the Hunger Games and Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, and an interview with playwright Anne Washburn.