My book on “Dune” is published!

For several years, I’ve been working with N. Trevor Brierly on an academic volume about Dune. The final book, Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, was just published by McFarland last week. My coeditor and I chose 14 essays covering a variety of topics, including eugenics, Byzantine history, environmentalism, and pedagogy (see table of contents).

We were honored to receive a foreword from Tim O’Reilly, the godfather of Dune scholarship, and endorsements from Kara Kennedy and Joshua Pearson, two stars of the next generation of Dune scholarship.

Discovering Dune is an academic text – it went through peer review – but we hope the pricing makes this book accessible to Dune fans everywhere – and not just university libraries. It’s available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, and most other major booksellers.

Let the spice flow!

Two New Reviews

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog. I finally have some news. I reviewed two new books about speculative fiction and politics: Chris Kempshall’s The History and Politics of Star Wars and José Maria Miranda Bono’s Law, Government, and Society in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Works. I highly recommend both works. You can read my reviews below:

• “Review of The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy,” SFRA Vol. 54(1) (2024).
• “Law, Government, and Society in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Works by José Maria Miranda Boto,” Mallorn, Vol. 63 (2023).

REVIEW: “How the Force Can Fix the World” by Stephen Kent

I’m a longtime listener of the Beltway Banthas podcast, so I’m familiar with Stephen Kent’s thoughts on the intersection between politics and Star Wars. How the Force Can Fix the World is a distillation of some of his discussions on the podcast. However, it’s probably better to characterize this book as a self-help manual than a political analysis. Howt the Force Can Fix the World does discuss how Star Wars can inform our approach to politics, but more than that it’s about how Star Wars can help us live more mindful lives and become better citizens.

REVIEW: “Dune: Part One” by Denis Villeneuve

A year after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, I finally had a chance to see this latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel. Given Villeneuve’s work on Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, I fully expected his Dune – the first of two movies – to look gorgeous and feature excellent acting. Dune is a powerful cinematic experience, best experienced on the big screen (I saw it both on IMAX and HBO). It’s a cinematic epic that combines the majestic deserts of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia with the science fiction otherworldliness of Ridley Scott’s Alien. 

As somebody who has not just read Dune several times but also published academic articles about it,* I can’t help but compare the film to the novel. I feel the loss of the scenes omitted from the film. I know that the book provides more detailed explanations for everything from why soldiers use swords to why nobody uses computers. The book suggests that the Harkonnens have red hair. Yet, despite all this, I also find myself agreeing with most of the film’s adaptation choices. This movie is recognizably Dune – or at least the first half of the novel – even while it is also recognizably a Denis Villeneuve movie. 

As I rewatched Dune this weekend, I began to wonder: Why did Dune work as an adaptation, despite the differences from the book? 

“Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir

Andy Weir’s The Martian was one of my favorite books of the past decade. The focus on smart scientists solving hard science problems was both a welcome throwback to the Golden Age of science fiction and a clever new take on the space-disaster genre. I thought Artemis was a bit of a misfire, largely because Weir seemed to struggle writing a female protagonist. Project Hail Mary retains Weir’s trademark glorification of science and scientists, but also differs from his previous two books. It’s a more emotional story and takes some very unexpected turns.

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View 2

My favorite Star Wars books as a kid were the “Tales of…” series edited by Kevin J. Anderson. Those books imbued the Galaxy Far, Far Away with the sense that Greedo, Dengar, Bib Fortuna, and the hundreds of minor background characters from the films each had stories of their own. Those books – and the fan hunger for more stories – are a major part of the reason why the Star Wars franchise has been able to grow beyond the Skywalker saga through shows like The Mandalorian.

The “From a Certain Point of View” books continue that tradition – but in both more expansive and limited ways. The first book, released in 2017, celebrated the 40th anniversary of A New Hope by collecting stories from a variety of science fiction and fantasy authors. As the title suggests, the stories are told from the point of background characters. This latest volume does the same for The Empire Strikes Back.

“Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man” by Steve Alpert

During the past few years, I’ve become a fan of Studio Ghibli’s animated movies. I recently decided to learn more about the company and the people behind the films. I’ve read Susan Napier’s Miyazakiworld, which is more of an intellectual biography of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki. Steve Alpert’s Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man is a peek into the corporate side of the studio, something which doesn’t get as much attention from scholars and fans.

“Star Wars: Queen’s Peril” – by E.K. Johnston

Star Wars: Queen’s Peril is a prequel to E.K. Johnston’s other novel about Padme Amidala, Queen’s Shadow. However, I think this novel works better because it’s an origin story for Padme’s handmaidens. Where Queen’s Shadow seemed to assume we were already invested in the handmaidens, Queen’s Peril shows how and why they came to serve the queen – and therefore make me feel more invested.

“Poe Dameron: Free Fall” by Alex Segura

“You were a spice runner?” 

JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio wanted to create conflict between the main characters in The Rise of Skywalker and so gave each one a secret they were hiding. For Poe, this meant he now had a shady past as a drug dealer. This proved controversial. Some fans pointed out that the new backstory seemed to contradict other Star Wars stories about Poe Dameron, such as the novel Before the Awakening. Others noted that making the first Latino lead in the franchise a drug runner played into some unfortunate stereotypes. In the film, Finn and Rey seem to quickly forgive and forget Poe’s shady past, but Alex Segura’s Poe Dameron: Free Fall seems to exist largely to explain this new backstory.

“Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge”

I had the opportunity to visit the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge theme park in Disney World last December, just a few months before it closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, it was an incredible experience. I cam away extremely impressed with the attention to detail and the quality of the merchandise, food, and other amenities. Disney’s Imagineers went the extra mile to make the park feel immersive; once you enter, you can’t see anything to remind you that you’re still on Earth.

I had read Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire novel and the Galaxy’s Edge comics before I went, so I understood the importance of Batuu to the Resistance and the First Order. I loved having read about Dok-Ondar and then seeing him. My wife and I had fun trying to identify the Resistance spy.

Unfortunately, the park itself doesn’t make that backstory accessible to most visitors.