William Shatner Appeared on DROPPING NAMES and Here’s the Scoop |

October 15, 2026 • 0 Comments

William Shatner Appeared on Dropping Names and Here’s the Scoop

What an interview! The legendary Canadian actor sat down with Jonathan Franks and Brent Spiner, and you can listen to it now wherever you get your podcasts. (Link to the YouTube version below.)

The Conversation with “Brent & Jonny”

It’s always fun watching these two chat about their Hollywood histories. Their recent conversation with Noah Wyle (The Pitt) was a monumental landslide of name drops. Check it out, because Wyle has a remarkable memory. In the most recent episode, throwing Shatner in the mix is just comedy gold. Here’s what you can expect:

on smoking cigars
Shatner’s health
on Neil deGrasse Tyson
on Stephen Hawking’s appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation
on Shatner’s music

on selling kidney stones, how much money was raised, and what happened to the money
on working with Christopher Plummer in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Shatner’s European background
On the Ukraine/Russia war
On US aggression toward Canada, and resulting Canadian empathy

Spiner recreates his famous Night Court character, Bob Wheeler
Shatner’s pre-Trek life in Queens
on the nature of humanity, the brain, and the universe
on AI and asking questions, and the possible positives
how AI made Shatner cry
on medical breakthroughs

plugging Shatner’s podcast
plugging Shatner’s album with Brad Paisley
plugging Shatner’s heavy metal album
on where he gets inspiration to write songs
plugging Shatner’s show Unexplained

It’s an enormously entertaining conversation, so I’m highlighting it today here at TechnoThriller Central, also known as Life After Gateway. Check it out at the below link. There are lots of funny stories and Shatner’s vigour in his mid-nineties (!!!) is pretty darn incredible.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN FRAKES, BRENT SPINER, AND WILLIAM SHATNER

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 15 October 2026

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007