First time here? Story Voyager is a climate fiction newsletter I email to subscribers. I’m currently writing a series of non-fiction articles about climate change in the Holocene. Or you can start by readingThere Is Hopemy climate fiction series.
How have you been doing my story voyagers? (Can I call you that? Yes, no? Any complaints? Will the complaints stop me from calling you that?)
I’ve been busy in my day job the past month and a half as we prepare to launch a new partner into the green energy transition. In the writing department, I’ve been working on the second article from my non-fiction series about the history of climate change in the Holocene. While combing through research papers, I’m learning astonishing facts about the lives of our ancestors during the transition from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural lifestyle. For example, due to the harsh work conditions, for thousands of years, European women were physically more active than professional male athletes are today. 🤯
Besides reading about ancient women with legs more muscular than those of a professional football player (what does that even have to do with climate change? well, all that effort didn't only make the women sweat!) I started working on the next short story in my cli-fi series, There Is Hope, at the beginning of November. For those new here, There Is Hope is a series of ten cli-fi stories about life on a planet devastated by climate change and the things that give people hope. Those following the series will be excited to learn that the title of the next story in the series is Dust Pirates. The first draft is going along quite well (no, it’s not!), it’s already over 8,000 words long, and I still have to write the ending. Is this going to be a long, short story? Or a short, long story?
As you can imagine, November wasn’t supposed to be all work and no fun. I was planning on going to the movies on November 3rd to watch the second part of Dune by Denis Villeneuve. You have to understand this is a HUGE deal for me! Last year, at the end of September, I quit watching Netflix to write this newsletter (or the other way around, I started writing this newsletter to stop watching Netflix!). In the past 13 months, I watched tops six films. No series, no streaming. If I so much as hear the da-DAM sound Netflix plays at the beginning of an episode, I swear I get a stomach ache. In any case, what was I saying? Yes, I was REALLY looking forward to going to the movies to watch Dune. Especially since the last film I watched in the cinema was Barbie (somebody please kill me!) and a movie do-over was long due. But it wasn’t meant to be, as the release of Dune Part II was postponed to March 15th, 2024. What to do in the meantime for entertainment? (besides watching YouTube videos) I had an IDEA! My husband’s reaction was, ‘No, not another idea!’ but I assured him that he would not have to be involved this time unless he wanted to. Do you know why? Because now I have YOU! So, no pressure, but…
Let’s read Dune together
I invite you to read the book Dune by Frank Herbert and watch the first part of the film Dune by Denis Villeneuve with me and my online friends (who might be imaginary, though we did have a couple of ZOOM calls that prove otherwise)
Together, the four of us are committed to keeping the spice flowing over the next four months and offering you an immersive experience into one of the most celebrated sci-fi stories of our times.
This is what you can expect:
Read one book and watch one movie with us
Get a reading schedule for Dune by Frank Herbert
Get four monthly Letters from Arrakis directly in your inbox starting from December 15th 2023
Join a lively community of Dune fanatics or mere critics (hey, everyone is welcome! or maybe not?) in the comments section
Bonus: Shall we try to watch Dune Part I (the Denis Villeneuve 2021 edition) together?
So what do you say? Are you in? Do you need more spice to get excited? Shall we tell you why WE want to do this?
Claudia asked me to. Or maybe I asked her? No, I think it was her asking me. Anyway. Sand. Also, I haven't ever reread a book before. I usually panic that there are still all the books left to read. But when Claudia asked me (I'm convinced it was her asking me), I figured sure, why not? After all, Dune is often hailed as the SciFi book, and Denis Villeneuve’s Part 1 is a masterpiece of film.
No matter what one may think of Herbert’s prose, love it, or hate it, the world of Dune hasn’t lost an iota of its allure since it was first published in 1965. My interest this time is largely centred around the cinematic aspect, the choices, and changes, the adaptation for the screen, and whether it delivers on the original vision. Not a Science Fiction fan? Frank Herbert said he writes SF not only for people who like SF but for people who don’t read Science Fiction. Can you confirm? Let’s see, I mean, read!
A while ago, Claudia mentioned on Notes that she was going to reread Dune with the other two in preparation for the second film release. I begged them to join because I'd been looking for exchange and collaboration with others on Substack, and what could be more fun than hanging out with fellow writers talking about books?
This is what I have to say:
Dune has been a major inspiration for me ever since I read it for the first time 20 years ago, and it continues to fuel my imagination and influence my fiction writing. I watched the new Dune film (2021) at least six times, and this will be my third time reading the book. I’m so excited to share one of my favorite books with you!
Reading and watching schedule for Dune
The Dune experience will kick start on November 15, 2023, and end on March 15, 2023. During these four months, we will read a book together, watch a movie and write four letters from Arrakis that will land directly in your email inbox.
The book Dune by Frank Herbert is split into three parts called books, and we will spend one month reading each of the three books. At the end of each book, we will write a Letter from Arrakis. We will share our impressions about that book and invite you to join the dialogue in the comments section. After we finish the book, we will watch the first part of the film Dune and send out the fourth and last letter from Arrakis.
This is our Dune schedule, including timelines:
ReadBook I* (~240 pages**)by mid-December 2023 → Get the first Letter from Arrakis
Read Book II by mid-January 2024 → Get the second Letter from Arrakis
Read Book III by mid-February 2024 → Get the third Letter from Arrakis
Watch Dune Part I by mid-March 2024 → Get the fourth Letter from Arrakis
Bonus → Should we write a final Letter from Arrakis after we’ve watched Dune Part II?
*Dune itself is broken into convenient sections, which Frank confusingly termed ‘books’ -
- With Part 2 inbound in March 2024, it seems apt to return to the book and ask some questions: Would I still enjoy it on a reread? Would my time on Substack trying to hone my own writing craft influence the way I interpreted and analysed the prose and worldbuilding? How does Denis’ own vision affect our interpretation of Frank’s world? And would immersing the book in sand enhance the tactile experience of turning each page?
- You don’t need to be a Mentat to read 200 pages in four weeks, nor do we ask you to put your hand in a box, neither will we send a Hunter-Seeker after you, never, but you must know… The Spice Must Flow.
- It's my first time rereading a book I didn't particularly enjoy. Why not join us and watch me criticize Herbert to death or revise my opinion after all?
- I forgot to ask Vanessa if she actually likes Dune before inviting her to join us. Oh well, I guess all opinions are welcomed. Including my climate fiction take on one of the best books since the printing press was invented. Also, doesn’t Timothée Chalamet look like Charlie Chaplin when he wears a stillsuit?
The spice must flow!
XOXO, Claudia
That’s me on Arrakis (ahem, the Mojave Desert)
Do you know someone who would like read or watch Dune with us? Click to share:
Nathan writes a weekly fiction newsletter in which he serialises three fiction novellas in parallel. I love reading every new chapter as it comes hot from the press. Nathan is also one of my first online buddies here on Substack.
Alexander writes weekly speculative fiction, short stories, flash fiction and about his journey writing his dystopian novel Spherean. He is also an inventor of futuristic vehicles like the JCAB and a great writer.
Vanessa recently moved to Japan (yes, she speaks Japanese! how? don’t ask me!) and presently she writes a novel that she serialises on her newsletter with weekly SFF stories & notes from the lab.
I write a climate fiction newsletter. And a series of cli-fi short stories about life on a planet devastated by climate change and the things that give people hope. What, you’re not subscribed yet?
Story Voyager is where we explore climate change through the lens of climate fiction or cli-fi. Under the motto ‘travel your imagination’, we embark on a journey of reading, researching, writing, and exchanging ideas with like-minded people. Let’s change together the narrative about the future of humankind. If you’d like to support this space even more, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your financial support will go toward commissioning illustrations for my first cli-fi series There Is Hope.
Soo excited to see this happening. Not only is it great to return to a book and reread it in depth and think about plot, characters, wordlbuilding etc, but perhaps more so it's because this has all come about and is fuelled by the community aspect of Substack (and your initiation, Claudia). Four people who didn't know each other this time last year, come together to work on a little project in their spare time and share it online. It's so great :)
Yes, I still remember us emailing back and forth about this in July. Honestly, it would've most certainly stayed an idea without you and Alexander. So thank you both for pushing this forward. It's a joy having everyone so excited! But I must admit that I'm starting to feel the pressure now. I hope that I can rise to the occasion. 😅
You mean you haven't already written and submitted your 10,000 word essay to Alexander for Book I? I sent mine in this morning ...
😆
Seriously, though, I'm sure that collectively we can offer something of interesting, and if nothing more it'll be a place to spark discussion from those who are reading it the first time to those who've reread it multiple times.
Count me in! I too have read the Dune Collection ( I once referred to them as the‘ Chronicles’ ) one time , and the first 3, the Trilogy, a few times. IMO, what separates Frank Herbert from his contemporaries was the construction of the narrative with psychology, sociology, and culture having greater weight than technology and some mythical evolution of Human kind as a basis for the story. He was like no other.
I look forward to reading these great stories again and sharing with you all the wonderment that accompanies them!
Welcome to our pop-up book & movie club! I also love that, despite the cool technology, Dune is about everything else than technology. I remember reading somewhere that the future will not be about technology, it will be about life in a world with technology, meaning that the technology is in the background because it's part of everyday life. This is where Frank Herbert imagined the future more accurately than the rest.
I LOVE this idea! I’ve been a Dune fan since I was a child though I’ve never read all of the book 🤣 My journey to Arrakis was rather odd as it started with the 1984 adaptation as a child, then I got into the PC game Dune 2 and became obsessed with the world. I’m definitely up for this!
Awesome, Stephen! I, too, went through my dune phase in the 80s! Time to revisit! I posted a screenshot of an Ornithopter from the game in our Discord chat the other day, as a comparison to Denis's version. Glad to have you aboard!
Let's do this! I've been meaning to read Dune for years and this seems like the right time to jump in and get it done. I love science fiction, and I don't mind reading a little hard sci-fi here and there. Gotta exercise that gray matter!
I like the enthusiasm, this is the way to go into this! We're staring on the 15.11. But feel free to start anytime. The deadline for the first book (or part I) is 15.12. Enjoy the reading!
Very cool! Read it not too long ago, so I won’t participate, but love the idea! I want to do this kind of read along with the Three Body Problem since the new show is coming out soon on Netflix and this is inspiring me even more to organize that! It’s also sort of climate science-fiction, or has some elements of that genre.
Thinking January or Feb. The Netflix release date just got announced for March 21. It’s a very popular book, especially in China, that you will probably continue to hear about. I first read it because I saw Obama blurbed it while he was still president, and I was like, what book on earth gets a blurb from the president?!
And there are actually four books in the series, if you include a final book written by a fan, which many still include. So I also need to consider if I’m just going to do the first book or maybe the first two. All of them would be a lot.
There is also a 40 hour Chinese Tv version already out which I watched and loved! lol I’m a super fan of the series.
Netflix hasn’t revealed that yet. I’m sure it will depend on if the show is successful. Already seems they have made some alterations to characters. It’s produced by the same people who made Game of Thrones though, so expectations are high.
The Chinese show does have subtitles and it’s on YouTube on Tencent’s channel. Only thing is it also has annoying commercials, but I still watched it. It was very faithful to the first book and only did the first one, so 40 hours for just one book. Pretty wild.
As Charlotte said, it's majorly popular in China. Liu Cixin is the top SciFi writer in China, I believe. The book is very clever and philosophically deep. I think you'd enjoy it.
This is my dilemma. I only want to read the books. Netflix and especially a series doesn't come into question for me. At least not in the foreseeable future. I might change my mind at some point. But not yet.
Totally fair enough. I can heartily recommend the first book. Whenever you get to it, let me know, because that'll spur me on to then read the second one. I'm hoping I can play catch up a bit with my reading over December/January, and try to sort out a sort of priority list of reads.
I watched the trailer the other day and I'm very excited! I've only read the first book of Three Body Problem, but it was wild and creative and insane and clever and trippy and ... the trailer seems to have captured a lot of that.
That's great, Taegan, so happy to have you on board! 🤗 I'm looking forward to your notes. I hope that our Letters from Arrakis will do the book justice. At least, we're enthusiastic about reading it! 😅
You've been to Arrakis! 😅 I brought back some sand when I was in Egypt in the 90s. Took an empty film roll and filled it with Spice, err sand. Excited to dive deep, thumpers to max, the Spice Must Flow!
Wow, so much love for the sand. Did it also inspire your Samuel Carter series with its Egyptian motives? The copters will fly, the melange quotas will be filled under your supervision, we're ready!
I still have the sand! Egypt and the places I visited certainly inspired parts of Carter, but also Indonesia (another location in the Carterverse). And yes, I need all those silos filled to the brim! The Spice Must Flow! 😁
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I'm getting responses to my earlier comment threaded under the comment. But when I go to respond it says comments have been limited on this post, so I'm not being rude, I'm trying to respond to the conversation but can't 🫠🫣
"doesn’t Timothée Chalamet look like Charlie Chaplin when he wears a stillsuit?"
Omigoodness, I hadn't noticed that before but now I can't unsee it!!! 😂
Anyway, as I said to Nathan this sounds like fun! Can't wait to see your thoughts on the book!! 🥳 Especially as it's one I've never been able to get through!
I get to the desert and I just get stuck. I’ve tried six times, and I just can’t push through. It’s been long enough at this point since I’ve tried that I’m really not sure why. Not finishing a book is very unusual for me too—I’m an English major and have read lots of books I didn’t enjoy, so it’s not that. The only other book I can’t get through like Dune is Neuromancer. Maybe there’s a connection? 🤷🏻♀️
I read Neuromancer as well. I understand why it's hard to get through. 80s sci-fi was written in a pretty annoying style. I finished the book but the author lost me in many scenes with the storytelling style.
But Dune... I actually love it when it gets to the desert part... 🤣
I'm afraid I'm going to be more of a hitchhiker than a voyager for this (so more like clinging onto the outside of a train or jumping into a cargo wagon than travelling in the passenger carriage). But I will watch, read the letters and follow this collaboration with keen interest. I think this kind of activity is what Substack can catalyse so well.
I have read Dune at least 3 times. It is on my list of favorite novels. I have read the others in the series. The first is the best. The second is the worst. The movie in the 1980s was terrible. This new version is much better. I will join you in the reading.
Welcome to the club! That's really cool. I could never finish the '80s version of the film, the Harkonnens were too grotesque. Also the Bene Geserit. I'm happy with the 2021 version as well. Did you watch the documentary about Alejandro Jodorowsky's attempt at producing Dune in the '70s?
Oh, you'll enjoy it! He spent 1 year in Europe creating a story book with great artists and drawing the entire film scene-by-scene in that book. The film never got made but the art he created went on to inspire some of the most iconic films in Hollywood such as Star Wars and Alien. He even managed to cast Salvador Dali in the role of the emperor. It's a wild story!
Soo excited to see this happening. Not only is it great to return to a book and reread it in depth and think about plot, characters, wordlbuilding etc, but perhaps more so it's because this has all come about and is fuelled by the community aspect of Substack (and your initiation, Claudia). Four people who didn't know each other this time last year, come together to work on a little project in their spare time and share it online. It's so great :)
Yes, I still remember us emailing back and forth about this in July. Honestly, it would've most certainly stayed an idea without you and Alexander. So thank you both for pushing this forward. It's a joy having everyone so excited! But I must admit that I'm starting to feel the pressure now. I hope that I can rise to the occasion. 😅
You mean you haven't already written and submitted your 10,000 word essay to Alexander for Book I? I sent mine in this morning ...
😆
Seriously, though, I'm sure that collectively we can offer something of interesting, and if nothing more it'll be a place to spark discussion from those who are reading it the first time to those who've reread it multiple times.
You'll for sure submit your 10,000 word essay before me! 🤣
I honestly want to have a good time reading and talking about the book with everyone involved whether reading or writing with us. Is this enough?
100% enough ☺
Great! ☺️
100% enough! Now... chop chop! The Spice... ;)
Count me in! I too have read the Dune Collection ( I once referred to them as the‘ Chronicles’ ) one time , and the first 3, the Trilogy, a few times. IMO, what separates Frank Herbert from his contemporaries was the construction of the narrative with psychology, sociology, and culture having greater weight than technology and some mythical evolution of Human kind as a basis for the story. He was like no other.
I look forward to reading these great stories again and sharing with you all the wonderment that accompanies them!
Welcome to our pop-up book & movie club! I also love that, despite the cool technology, Dune is about everything else than technology. I remember reading somewhere that the future will not be about technology, it will be about life in a world with technology, meaning that the technology is in the background because it's part of everyday life. This is where Frank Herbert imagined the future more accurately than the rest.
Great to have you aboard, Pierre! Dune has prevailed over the centuries and I wager the new movies will only add to its growth!
I LOVE this idea! I’ve been a Dune fan since I was a child though I’ve never read all of the book 🤣 My journey to Arrakis was rather odd as it started with the 1984 adaptation as a child, then I got into the PC game Dune 2 and became obsessed with the world. I’m definitely up for this!
Also, welcome on board! 🤗 Excited to read your notes about Dune!
Your first introduction to Dune was David Lynch's adaptation? 🫠
Snap! Dune 2 was one of the first PC games that really hooked me. Those early RTS days. Good times.
Awesome, Stephen! I, too, went through my dune phase in the 80s! Time to revisit! I posted a screenshot of an Ornithopter from the game in our Discord chat the other day, as a comparison to Denis's version. Glad to have you aboard!
Let's do this! I've been meaning to read Dune for years and this seems like the right time to jump in and get it done. I love science fiction, and I don't mind reading a little hard sci-fi here and there. Gotta exercise that gray matter!
I like the enthusiasm, this is the way to go into this! We're staring on the 15.11. But feel free to start anytime. The deadline for the first book (or part I) is 15.12. Enjoy the reading!
I may have to jump in a little early. I read at about the same speed that I type - slow. 😂
The important thing is to read! The spice must flow.
I'm a mega slow reader, too, so don't worry. If you're a little ahead or behind when the posts drop, they're always going to be there for reference.
How do you mean you're a mega slow reader? How many books did you read this year?
Not enough ... 😉
Hmm, I wonder what 'not enough' means for you...
Same
There's always the audio version. Don't forget to stop after Book I (which is part I of III of the first book of Dune; now I'm confused myself)
Hahahaha what? 😂😂😂 Yeah good point RE audio. I'll have a look 👍🏼
It's a good alternative.
Excellent! Glad to have you, David!
Awesome! Glad to have you on the journey, David.
Thank you for having me!
It's our pleasure!
Very fun! I just reread this book earlier this year, and I think I may just have to rereread!
That's great! Like this it's going to be fresh in your memory when you watch the film.
Ahh, we have an expert among us! Most splendid. Will keep us on our toes and in check, then! Glad to have you aboard, Brian!
How do you mean an expert? Did I miss something?
anyone who rerereads! :)
True.
You can be the expert in the comments telling us what we *should* have said, Brian 😉
Lol, no shoulding allowed!
Hehehe.
Very cool! Read it not too long ago, so I won’t participate, but love the idea! I want to do this kind of read along with the Three Body Problem since the new show is coming out soon on Netflix and this is inspiring me even more to organize that! It’s also sort of climate science-fiction, or has some elements of that genre.
This is the second time I hear of the Three Body Problem today. I don't know what it is 😳 but if it's for reading I'm in! When do you plan to do that?
Thinking January or Feb. The Netflix release date just got announced for March 21. It’s a very popular book, especially in China, that you will probably continue to hear about. I first read it because I saw Obama blurbed it while he was still president, and I was like, what book on earth gets a blurb from the president?!
Wow, now that's a recommendation. Well, count me in! Looking forward to your announcement post.
❤️❤️🙏🙏
And there are actually four books in the series, if you include a final book written by a fan, which many still include. So I also need to consider if I’m just going to do the first book or maybe the first two. All of them would be a lot.
There is also a 40 hour Chinese Tv version already out which I watched and loved! lol I’m a super fan of the series.
This is amazing! Will each Netflix season be based on a book? You could read each book before the season is released.
Does the Chinese show have subtitles? where did you find it?
Netflix hasn’t revealed that yet. I’m sure it will depend on if the show is successful. Already seems they have made some alterations to characters. It’s produced by the same people who made Game of Thrones though, so expectations are high.
The Chinese show does have subtitles and it’s on YouTube on Tencent’s channel. Only thing is it also has annoying commercials, but I still watched it. It was very faithful to the first book and only did the first one, so 40 hours for just one book. Pretty wild.
40h for only one book? That's a lot! But huge hit with fans as everyone likes long form content these days.
I feel like this is the discovery of the day. Thank you, Charlotte!
Didn't know that! Wow.
As Charlotte said, it's majorly popular in China. Liu Cixin is the top SciFi writer in China, I believe. The book is very clever and philosophically deep. I think you'd enjoy it.
I had no idea. And it seems like I'm the only one. I'm starting to feel slightly ashamed.
Nothing to be ashamed of at all. If anything, going in fresh without any prior knowledge of it is a good thing.
(Thing is, though, you'd have to briefly return to Netflix if you want to watch the series ...!)
This is my dilemma. I only want to read the books. Netflix and especially a series doesn't come into question for me. At least not in the foreseeable future. I might change my mind at some point. But not yet.
Totally fair enough. I can heartily recommend the first book. Whenever you get to it, let me know, because that'll spur me on to then read the second one. I'm hoping I can play catch up a bit with my reading over December/January, and try to sort out a sort of priority list of reads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel) ;)
I watched the trailer the other day and I'm very excited! I've only read the first book of Three Body Problem, but it was wild and creative and insane and clever and trippy and ... the trailer seems to have captured a lot of that.
Three Body Problem! Yes! Let's hope the series will be good! Trailer looks great.
I'm so, so tempted by this. I've just signed up to read Wolf Hall on here, that starts in 2024 so...
I've never read this but absolutely LOVED the film and I've even even the David Lynch version... Do I get points taken off or added for that?! 🤣😅🪱
You get 1000 extra points 🏆 for watching the whole David Lynch version!
Join us, join us, join us! I promise we'll make it as fun as we can!
I'm just locating a second hand copy. Let's hope it gets here quickly.
Send a thopter ✈ to pick it up!
🤣
Lynch and Denis version have both their place! Ah, you must join us, Susan. The Spice Must Flow! :)
I'm just downloading the audio book!
Yay 🥳
Excellent! 👍
He who controls the spice controls the Universe.
And we must fulfil our melange quotas.
Having one Melange right now!
Amazing! Really looking forward to the crew’s take on the book. No one more equipped to do this book justice. I’ll dust off my copy and follow along.
That's great, Taegan, so happy to have you on board! 🤗 I'm looking forward to your notes. I hope that our Letters from Arrakis will do the book justice. At least, we're enthusiastic about reading it! 😅
Excellent, Taegan!
I just finished the serialized Dracula Daily. Would love to do something similar with Dune!
Dracula? Are you talking about my uncle? (Just a bad joke since I'm Romanian 😅)
Happy to have you onboard! There are no vampires on Dune this is the only minus point for Frank Herbert, but hey, nobody is perfect!
Excellent! Read with us, Jack. Happy to have you.
You've been to Arrakis! 😅 I brought back some sand when I was in Egypt in the 90s. Took an empty film roll and filled it with Spice, err sand. Excited to dive deep, thumpers to max, the Spice Must Flow!
I used to go places. 🤣
Wow, so much love for the sand. Did it also inspire your Samuel Carter series with its Egyptian motives? The copters will fly, the melange quotas will be filled under your supervision, we're ready!
I still have the sand! Egypt and the places I visited certainly inspired parts of Carter, but also Indonesia (another location in the Carterverse). And yes, I need all those silos filled to the brim! The Spice Must Flow! 😁
You're a cruel master! We shall oblige!
Indonesia you say? I need to catch up with Carter! He's moving too fast.
Carter Part 2 is due for Christmas, you have time, between spiced wine and melange ;)
I will make sure to take some time and a nice spiced tea and read along.
and Nürnberger Elisen Lebkuchen for me :)
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I'm getting responses to my earlier comment threaded under the comment. But when I go to respond it says comments have been limited on this post, so I'm not being rude, I'm trying to respond to the conversation but can't 🫠🫣
Oh, I’m not sure who limited the comments on the post but it wasn’t me. Let me figure out if I can change anything in the settings…
Hi Susan, I checked everything and did some tests but it works for me. Are you getting this issue when you try to reply to this article or this one?
https://vanessaglau.substack.com/p/letters-from-arrakis-part-one
Thank you!
I can reply here. Will try my original comment. Thanks 🙏🏻
"doesn’t Timothée Chalamet look like Charlie Chaplin when he wears a stillsuit?"
Omigoodness, I hadn't noticed that before but now I can't unsee it!!! 😂
Anyway, as I said to Nathan this sounds like fun! Can't wait to see your thoughts on the book!! 🥳 Especially as it's one I've never been able to get through!
Finally, someone sees what I see! 🤣 I was beginning to doubt the associations my brain makes.
How come you've never been able to get through the book?
I get to the desert and I just get stuck. I’ve tried six times, and I just can’t push through. It’s been long enough at this point since I’ve tried that I’m really not sure why. Not finishing a book is very unusual for me too—I’m an English major and have read lots of books I didn’t enjoy, so it’s not that. The only other book I can’t get through like Dune is Neuromancer. Maybe there’s a connection? 🤷🏻♀️
I read Neuromancer as well. I understand why it's hard to get through. 80s sci-fi was written in a pretty annoying style. I finished the book but the author lost me in many scenes with the storytelling style.
But Dune... I actually love it when it gets to the desert part... 🤣
You can enjoy the desert part for me!!! 😖😁
I'll write you a letter from Arrakis 😜
I'm afraid I'm going to be more of a hitchhiker than a voyager for this (so more like clinging onto the outside of a train or jumping into a cargo wagon than travelling in the passenger carriage). But I will watch, read the letters and follow this collaboration with keen interest. I think this kind of activity is what Substack can catalyse so well.
So basically you're saying that you are not going to read with us?
Yes. (You'd make a good editor 😛.)
I would like to be an editor. Unfortunately, English is not my mother tongue...
It's hard to tell!
I feel flattered. I thank ChatGPT. Just kidding. I use Grammarly. It helps a lot.
I have read Dune at least 3 times. It is on my list of favorite novels. I have read the others in the series. The first is the best. The second is the worst. The movie in the 1980s was terrible. This new version is much better. I will join you in the reading.
Welcome to the club! That's really cool. I could never finish the '80s version of the film, the Harkonnens were too grotesque. Also the Bene Geserit. I'm happy with the 2021 version as well. Did you watch the documentary about Alejandro Jodorowsky's attempt at producing Dune in the '70s?
No, I have not seen the documentary!
Oh, you'll enjoy it! He spent 1 year in Europe creating a story book with great artists and drawing the entire film scene-by-scene in that book. The film never got made but the art he created went on to inspire some of the most iconic films in Hollywood such as Star Wars and Alien. He even managed to cast Salvador Dali in the role of the emperor. It's a wild story!
Let's see how this reading goes. We might continue with the rest of the saga if there's interest.
Thanks for all the suggestions and hints. You seem to be a way better informed about the Duniverse than I am ! 🤣