Lena’s
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(group member since Nov 17, 2014)
Lena’s
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from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.
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https://www.readingorder.co/series/dune/Here are all the Dune books both in chronological and publication order.
I have been surprised how hard it is to read about Duke Leto. He's walking around those pages, a vibrant man fate is wrapping in a pall.
Someone spliced all three visions of Dune in a three minute video, it’s nice work: https://youtu.be/JfUYOZqCaEY. Maybe I’ll live to see a fourth. In 2061: Odyssey Three they mention Gone With the Wind has been redone. That’s sacrilege... but I want to see it!
Fiona, have you seen the movie or the TV series? I saw the movie many times before I read the book. Rather like Star Wars, it was a SciFi household favorite. Like Canavan mentioned, this is a deep dive right out of the gate. Generally not something I tolerate in fantasy but sometimes in science fiction.
No she doesn’t. *I like the idea of genetic memory and it’s still alive and well in SciFi - Assassin’s Creed, Jupiter Ascending, Æon Flux, etc.
The Kwisatz Haderach... The Bene Gesserit only train women and the drug will kill you without the training - plus lots of special breeding to get to the point where these women have special powers to train in the first place.
Advantage - all female memories.
Disadvantage - no male memories.
At some point they figured a male child from their line could be trained, survive the drug, and then receive both sets of memories. They gave it a cool name and began plotting, lol.
I did not remember how often Paul says terrible purpose in italics. It’s annoying.
*(view spoiler)
From the introduction by Michael Dirda:“The Fremen are, in short, fanatics. Yet nearly everyone in the book is some kind of true believer, zealous to the point of martyrdom, whether pledging fealty to the Atreides family, to an apocalyptic religion, to the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, or to their own personal ambition. No cozy fantasy, Dune may conclude with a largely ‘happy’ ending, but even without the sequels you know that it is not a ‘happily ever after’ one.”
So yeah, somewhere between Solarpunk and Horror. Layers...
Good point Canavan. Did you ever see My Big Fat Greek Wedding Graeme? “The man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck.” One of the many lines I enjoyed from that movie.
“Hero and anti-hero just depends on when you stop the story.” Paraphrased but a good point. To me Paul was a young man put in an extreme position and who achieved great things - great power - through violence. How those actions are viewed through history, at different points, gives labels like hero/anti hero. The Black Prince was like that, over the years opinions on his actions have vacillated.
J, that was a great! The recording takes place before book two and Herbert says he had so far only made $15,000 from Dune. Early days indeed.Highlights from the video:
“Ecology is the science of understanding consequences.”
“The name of the game is power, as it is today.”
Moral vs ethical dilemmas.
Berlin beavers as example for humanity’s essential tribalism.
He made a Dune Tarot and now I must find it.
I knew most of this stuff from years of geekdom but I had never heard him point out that the Bene Gesserit purposely stay in the background to avoid the madness or power. Oh, they would love to control the ultimate power, and actively seek to, but only through someone else - a nice expendable male, lol.
We probably could have read this in Solarpunk. Frank Herbert spoke at the first Earth Day. Dune, among several layers, is a book about people living in harmony with the land vs those who do not. I’ve had the Folio Edition awhile and peaked at the afterward by Frank’s son. This is going to be fun!
Temper nothing! The best thing about Dune is it is written in the farthest of futures, you could get a nosebleed thinking about it. It’s when people try to tear it apart into current problems that, shockingly, they find problems. What is considered right and wrong, the very definition of words, can change every ten years. Now add ten thousand, add more. And more. So release your expectations and enjoy.
Theater. I can’t remember the last time I went to the theater.
Fiona mentioned she had not read this classic and the rest of us gasped and offered to read it again. That’s what book friends are for! We start Friday the 11th! 
I quite liked this one too.
I was going to do one. It’s one of my favorite stories. Start tomorrow? Or this weekend? As you like. Paul as hero or non hero? I guess I don’t think of him in those terms. More politics, vengeance, and power - delicious drama.
The American version certainly was, the four hour version was substantially better. There is something slightly un-epic about all the dull American accents. There is a reason fantasy has a British accent(s).
