DRAGONS DADDIES DEEP SPACE

After a year of on-again/off-again journeying with Aelin Galathynius, FKA Celaena Sardothien, DDDSpod has finally finished the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. In this week’s episode, your hosts focus on Kingdom of Ash’s Part 2: Gods and Gates, but they’re ready to pass judgment on the mammoth final volume and the series as a whole. Was it time well spent? Honestly, they're not sure.

But first, Jacob is underwhelmed by Project Hail Mary (movie) and overwhelmed by Crimson Desert (videogame), William is still at the beach, and they’re both very ready to move on with their literary lives as they head to the sensual world of Terre D’Ange in Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart. Their chat through Chapters 1-30 drops April 2nd.

At long last, DDDSPod is finishing it's year-long read of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. There are a lot of pages and characters in this book! Aelin is trapped in a box, Lysandra is cosplaying as the heir of fire without any of the fire magic, Dorian is trying to learn how to shape shift, Manon is uniting the witch tribes, and many, many other characters kill time as we await any meaningful resolution to come in part two.

But first, Jacob and William celebrate genre movie wins at the Oscars and William mourns the Buffy reboot.

Things are getting FREAKY this week on DRAGONS DADDIES DEEP SPACE as William and Jacob discuss There Is No Antimemetics Department by qntm, a genuinely terrifying, sci-fi/horror phantasmagoria. This club has everything: unknowable entities that eat memories, ideas that kill you if you're aware of them, Lovecraftian monsters composed of dismembered body parts, and a LOT of giant spiders that are currently all around you–you just can't perceive them. It's trippy, it gave both of your beloved hosts nightmares, and it's quite possibly the scariest book either of them has ever read.

But first...William gets back in the sack with Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, defies critics by loving The Bride!, and both hosts share their love for Netflix's How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.

UPCOMING EPISODES:

• 3/19: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas Part 1 (Chapters 1-67)
• 3/26: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas Part 2 (Chapter 68-End)

This week, Jacob and William dive headfirst into the chaotic, neon-soaked world of Matt Dinniman’s latest sci-fi thriller, Operation Bounce House.

Your hosts break down why Dinniman (of Dungeon Crawler Carl fame) remains a master of the "absurdly high-stakes" genre. They discuss the book's sharp, uncomfortable reflections of our current political climate and how Dinniman manages to make a story about murderous Twitch streamers and their unwitting victims feel like a biting commentary on modern surveillance and civil unrest.

• It's fun!: The pacing feels like a shot of adrenaline and the set pieces left them breathless.

• Political Resonance: A look at the eerie parallels between the book’s fictional collapse, today's news cycle, and ever-more-omnipresent AI. Is it satire, or is it a warning?

• The "Unmemorable" Paradox: Jacob and William grapple with a strange critique—how can a book be this well-made and polished, yet feel like it might slip through the cracks of their memory in a few months?

• Full Spoiler Breakdown: We’re talking the ending, the big reveals, and that one twist involving the synthetic atmosphere that we’re still processing.

Hot off the presses, Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman, author of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, is bringing zany hijinks and serious sociopolitical commentary to DDDSpod this week. Oliver, a third-generation colonist on the faraway planet New Sonora, is living a simple life on a remote ranch with his sister Lulu, his rockband The Rhythm Mafia, and a small army of worker robots. That all changes when Apex Industries descends on the planet with a diabolical 5-day "eviction event" to eradicate a nonexistant terrorist threat, called Operation Bounce House, where gamers from Earth will livestream a real-life game where the enemies are the New Sonorans themselves. It's dark, it's quick, it's fun–it's extremely of the moment.

But first, Jacob finishes Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio, and William decides that jousting just isn't for him.

Warning: This episode contains 20% literary analysis and 80% Jacob and William thirsting over Ser Duncan the Tall [tv version].

That's right, DDDSPod is in Westeros this week, as William and Jacob are talking all about The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin, the source material for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, currently airing on HBO. This buddy dramedy spin on Westeros has Jacob enthralled, and William completely confused as to who anybody is.

But first...William journeys to a fantastical lesbian enclave with Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree and Jacob accidentailly overdoses on OTC stress-relief vitamin gummies.

UPCOMING EPISODES:

• February 19: Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman, Sections 1& 2
• February 26: Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman, Full Spoiler Review

William and Jacob have made it to the end of The Blacktongue Thief and, after a wildly promising takeoff, they're not sure the plane landed in one piece.

Before that, Jacob talks about his time with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter which inspires a novel DDDSpod merch idea. William struggles with SwimP3 technology (look it up), and enjoys a return trip to the universe of Mercy of the Gods via the novella Livesuit by James SA Corey.

Kinch, the protagonist of Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief, is avoiding death by kraken and goblin in this week's episode, while Jacob and William are starting to see some of the seams in this inventive adventure novel. They're not sure about the love story, but they're excited to see how it all concludes in next week's episode.

But first...Jacob still isn't sure about Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio, William is Bob...uh reading We are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, and both Jacob and William visit The Bone Temple and Predator: Badlands.

It's time for some high fantasy hijinks as William and Jacob dive in to their first of three episodes about The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. Kinch Na Shannack has luck on his side (sometimes) as he works to pay off his debt to the Taker's Guild by joining up with a mysterious and badass warrior on a quest to investigate the threat of invading giants in a land wartorn by goblins. There's a lot of world building, a fantastically original voice, and a driving plot–what's not to like?

But first, your hosts provide dispatches from the realms of entertainment as Jacob recounts his latest forays into scifi and fantasy TV (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy), William visits the 28-o-verse in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and both hosts have a religious experience with The Testament of Ann Lee.

William and Jacob are diving back into What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, where a metatextual twist blows up all of 2119 scholar Thomas Metcalfe's assumptions about 2014 poet Francis Blundy and his wife, Vivien Blundy. The 'truth' is far juicier and melodramatic than Thomas ever imagined, and your hosts are strangely moved, even if they can't fully put their finger on the why.

But first... a spoiler-free review of Pluribus season one, thoughts on The Traitors jumbo-sized season premiere, and William shares what came home with him from a reptile expo.