Old wounds are reopened this week as Sarah and Amelia viciously fight over who which of them is the classiest and most devoted disciple of Ursula K Le Guin--and then swerve into a tangent about Mickey Mouse's sexual practices two minutes later. But mostly this is an episode about gender, politics, and surviving on an alien planet where the temperature rarely gets above freezing. And also, which piece of fanfiction deserves to be broadcast via ansible to the stars.

In which Sarah and Amelia aren't destroying this episode, they're just making it new--because their first version got messed up and they had to record it twice. Featuring hot takes on the new Annihilation movie, like the fact that Nataie Portman is a twunk not a twink, and lockets are relevant again. Also, a disturbing look into Sarah's bear fetish, horrific photos Amelia had printed at CVS, and the hit sci-fi writer "Oscar Isamov."

Catch our episode on Jeff VanderMeer's novel Annihilation in preparation for the movie! Sarah describes how the Destroy of Worlds starfish is puking its own stomach onto the coral reefs, and it's only the fourth most horrifying thing we talk about this week. Sarah also invents a fun new word.

This week, Sarah and Amelia fantasize about an alternative ending to Richard Preston's nonfiction work The Hot Zone wherein the Ebola virus in Reston actually does decimate their whole hometown, at last solving the problem of Northern Virginia traffic. Amelia spreads disease all through Europe. Sarah invents Bacteria Jesus. At no point do we say "Here's out hot take on The Hot Zone", or quote the Celebrity Jeopardy skit that Amelia wouldn't shut up about for the past two weeks.

This episode we cover "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. Join us for discussions about grieving the beauty of our world, the improbability of human existence, and what would happen if Hiro from Heroes froze time and ejaculated 30 times in every direction. So you know, classy stuff. Also featuring "julian bashir is a space twink," post-apocalyptic Shakespeare fanfiction, and Amelia getting up in the middle of the recording to show Sarah her new Black Sails DVDs. It's only slightly justified in context.

This episode, Sarah repeatedly mixes up the Hugo award-winning fantasy novel this episode is about with that one Bruce Willis movie, and Amelia mixes up the name of a major character with the name of Sarah's bioware boyfriend. Also, Sarah takes a drug test, Amelia makes an important purchase, and we try to maintain our composure for long enough to have a serious discussion about institutional oppression, with moderate success.

Sarah and Amelia embark on a historical tour of women and the sea, from female admirals to female pirates (and the sea-faring women whose lives were ruined by pirates). Featuring tales of Artemisia of Caria, Grace O'Malley, Lady Jane Franklin, Cheng I Sao--and of course, the Black Sails favs Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Also, a rather egregious historical error on Amelia's part. She researched pirates, not US Presidents.

This week, Sarah and Amelia read the whole gosh dang Hunger Games trilogy (sort of). Half the episode involves discussions about oppression, literary analysis, gender theory—you know, the deep stuff. The second half is two garbage people weighing their odds of winning the Games. Spoiler: they're low.

Sarah and Amelia slam some whiskey milkshakes and review the World War Z movie, because alcohol is basically the only thing that can make this travesty of an adaptation watchable. Also featuring Sarah's absent-minded adventures with law enforcement, the funniest death in zombie warfare, and a good chunk of time spent gushing about Thor Ragnarok.

This week, S&Am tackle a survival staple and stab it in the brain: we read World War Z by Max Brooks and talk worldwide zombie survival strategies, favorite zombie-killing weapons, and how "Fear The Walking Dead" might be the worst title ever. Sarah gushes about how much she loves large scale logistical bureaucracies and then completely misinterprets a popular idiom. Amelia is still excited about cannibalism.