Lit MACLUNKY -- The Lit Forum Maclunky Thread, v3

While I would call myself a Dune fan, it does have some rather, erm, questionable views on sex and gender. The baron is the only gay man, implying an uncomfortable link between pedophilia and homosexuality. Women engaging in homosexual acts are "just going through a phase". Herbert also has a lot of gender essentialist takes in his novels, but those are always couched into in-universe opinions (e.g. Leto's all-female army), so it is hard to draw a distinction between what is a character's perspective and the narrator's.

 

Oh definitely. When I say sex has a thematic role in the series, I’m not saying it’s necessarily a good thing. Despite how progressive it is in some ways, you do have to remember it was written in the 60s.

 

When I say sex plays an essential role, I mean it's actually a significant part of the plot but not in the way sex is part of GOT. The Bene Gesserit horror at Paul is because Jessica didn't do what was expected of her in their breeding program, she gave birth to a son rather than a daughter. A daughter they wanted to match with Feyd Rautha, to bring the Harkonnen and Atreides lines back together to further their Kwizatz Haderach program. It's a big part of why they are cool with the scheme to destroy the Atreides.

There's an entire thread of Jessica telling Paul that Chani can only be his concubine, not his wife, because it's going to be essential that he marries the Princess Irulan to secure his rule as Emperor.

Dune Messiah and Children of Dune keep it up, with Ghanima and Alia.

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It definitely has elements of it, especially in the last season, but yeah overall I think it is more planetary romance.

Then again, planetary romance can sometimes feel like space opera on a single planet so....honestly hard to draw a line.

 

I mean it’s riffing a bunch of stuff like Star Wars so it’s hard to put it necessarily in one genre camp honestly

 

End of another era and soon the start of a new one

 

I have to say, this is the first time in a long while I've felt excitement at the prospect of delving into the Canon books... eventually.

I read the first few books that came out after the Reboot, up until Aftermath or so, but then I quickly dove back into Legends because there was just not enough there for me just yet. I'm a fast and voracious reader, and one of the things I enjoy so much about the old EU is that wherever you start, you can just keep on going - reading the books, then the comics, then the RPG materials, the Guides, the weird old stuff, going on endless tangents and always discovering more things in some niche that I had missed or passed over previously.

With Canon books, even including the comics, it all felt a lot more insular to me - well duh, since it was new. But seeing those three packed shelves now, and knowing that there's both more already out there (comics, computer games, all that) and that it's growing more and denser quickly, is getting me in the mood to take a grand tour of the Canon (or more likely, a series of medium-grand tours) some time soon. Maybe not quite right now; maybe next year in time for the Andor series, which is the first Canon thing since TROS that I will absolutely have to watch.

 

So to any of my european and UK friends here...like? How bad is the BBC right now? Everyone who I know (Mostly Who Fans) say that the BBC is like a complete wreck right now.

 

You've been fed a diet of bullcrap by fools Jid.

The BBC is fine. Doctor Who will survive Chibnell. Losing Whittaker is a shame but hopefully Big Finish will bag her by offering good material.

 

Something that would have been interesting to share in our old Publishing Q&A thread -- a 14-point Twitter thread by SW author Delilah S. Dawson on writing for an IP (intellectual property):



She had a similar blog post last year, here.

 

Great thread! This should be required reading for everyone before posting opinions about authors on here

 

You know I'm honestly curious if Doctor Who may have the second biggest Expanded Universe component in terms of the big Science Fiction/Fantasy franchises these days.

 

It's quite possible. Especially as Who covers TV, audio, books and comics and has been going longer than Star Trek.

 

true

Only reason I assume Star Wars has the biggest EU is because it seems to be the most prominent in geek circles

 

.

 

Well, and also that it at least strives for consistency. With Doctor Who loose continuity is baked into the very premise of the series.

 

That GIF defies time

 

Also is great for using as an excuse if you're late.

 

Although it's funny since I think Big Finish probably has the most cohesive continuity of all the Doctor Who stuff out there.

 

Considering the latest episode of Owl House, this comic aged well.

(Spoiler-tagged for size and spoilers)

Spoiler: Not A Good Time

Man, would people riot if Hunter or anyone else got in the way of Luz and Amity's date.

Also, unless depicted in an upcoming episode, this is my headcanon as to what transpired. At least at the start.

 

Ooh -- if the interior pages keep the style and palette of the animation, I just might be buying myself a Little Golden Book, lol:

 

You know every time I hear about Karen Traviss work I can only wonder what a reaction to one of her books would be like today.

 

It would be quite interesting in an intellectual curiosity sense, as you'd have a woman author writing books that would be seen by some as being pro toxic masculinity.