From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Grosses with Fresh Air Weekend.

Today a satirical parable about partisanship and why many people hold onto their beliefs

after they're proven factually wrong.

We talk with Matt Johnson about his new futuristic dystopian novel Invisible Things and about

subjects he's written about in earlier novels and essays, like Being BIRacial and caring

for his mother who died a couple of months ago.

Also we hear from comedian Joel Kim Booster.

He wrote and stars in the new Romcom Fire Island, inspired by a trip he took to the Gave

Acation Destination with fellow comedian Bowen Yang who also stars in the film.

And podcast critic Nick Qua explores how reality TV is influencing the podcast world.

My first guest, Matt Johnson, calls his new satirical novel A Parable About partisanship.

He said in the future, when Earth is on the verge of destruction and in NASA mission sets

off to one of Jupiter's many moons to explore if it could be a place that humans could inhabit.

What they find is an artificial ecosystem, the size of an American county, constructed

to look like an American city.

It's populated with earthlings who have been abducted, dating back to 1623 and their

offspring.

Life in this dome is in some ways a replica of life on Earth, even with products that

have brand names that anyone on Earth would recognize.

There's a class system in which the privileged feel like they've fulfilled the dream and

everyone else is shut out.

The political system is designed to favor the privileged.

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