(Image is of the Gerry Grace cover for Children of Dune)
Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 01:15 // Remarks 26:51 (narrative transformation of Fremen and House Atreides, Pharaonic Imperium, The Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth, agency in an established timeline) // Media 39:32
Intro 00:07 // Synopsis 01:39 // Remarks 13:21 (humans as special weapons, Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax, shapers and mechanists, law and chaos, changing face of Arrakis, plot structure and pacing, noble houses under siege) // Media 30:12
Introductions 00:07
The Cover 04:46
The Foreword 09:44
Synopsis 10:41 (The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God’s Amulet, The Sword of Dawn, The Runestaff)
Favorite bits 23:43 (Count Brass, Soryandum, the Black Jewel, Granbretan, the Multiverse, gods)
Sequence 43:33
Dirk’s Eternal Champion 51:59
Intro 00:07 // The Cover 00:39 // Foreword 01:15 // Summaries 02:18 (The Eternal Champion, Phoenix in Obsidian, The Dragon in the Sword) // Favorite bits 19:10 (Arrival of Erekose, The Good One, no good deaths, endings) // 31:48 This volume in sequence // Mirenburg FC (thanks John Hagan) 34:27
Synopsis 03:47 // Act 1 (Viriconium Knights, The Pastel City, Lords of Misrule) 04:13 // Act 2 (Strange Great Sins, A Storm Of Wings, The Dancer and the Dance, The Luck in the Head, The Lamia and Lord Cromis) 09:47 // Act 3 (In Viriconium, A Young Man’s Journey To Viriconium) 19:19 // Themes 26:54 // Artists 26:55 // Symbols and foreshadowing 29:25 // Time and “mutant future” 31:48 // The City (Glory, Thief: Dark Project) 34:49 // Roleplaying 40:24 // OSR and Appendix N (Sorcerer and Sword, DCC, Plot Points podcast, etc.) 40:25 // City building tools (Corpathium, City Accelerated) 56:07
Rhi and Paul join Ralph to talk about Iain M. Banks’ Excession and The Culture. Post-scarcity, intelligent starships, body modification and first contact.
Show Notes
Excession (and other Culture novels) by Iain M. Banks
Rhiannon Lassiter, Paul Mitchener and Ralph Lovegrove
Overview of The Culture 00:50
Synopsis of Excession 05:40
Themes 12:05
Diverging human cultures
What do utopians do with their free time?
Benevolent interference in other civilisations
The edge of ascension
Contact and Special Circumstances
Sex positive
Transhumanism before it was famous
Death
Aside:The Player of Games 32:50
RPGs 38:30
Mindjammer by Sarah Newton
Flotsam (Josh Fox, based on Dream Askew by Avery Alder)
Microscope and Kingdom by Ben Robbins
Dramasystem by Robin D. Laws
First Contact scenarios 48:05
Event Horizon
Unto Leviathan by Richard Paul Russo
Eon by Greg Bear
2001 and 2010
The Fifth Element
Music Credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
The Babel-17 wiki page lists other works that were influenced by this book including Stephenson’s Snow Crash and Ted Chiang’s Story Of Your Life (made into the film Arrival).
Synopsis 02:15 // Comments 06:15 // Slipstream 23:30 // Baz’s RPG ideas 27:40 // Moorcock’s Revenge of the Rose 28:00 // FAE and Spirit of the Century 28:25 // Castle Falkenstein 34:00 // Lace and Steel 34:45 // James Lovegrove’s The Hope 39:15 // Paranoia (as Brazil) 40:25 // Lost boys and Blades in the Dark 42:15 // Closing remarks 44:45
Enough About Me, Bill Paxton
Shortly after we recorded this episode Bill Paxton died on the 25th of February. Roleplayers will fondly remember his contributions to speculative genre films such as Aliens, Near Dark and Edge of Tomorrow.
Slipstream was a commercial and critical flop despite starring Paxton alongside Mark Hamill, Kitty Aldridge, Bob Peck, Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham among others and directed by Star Wars collaborator Gary Kurtz. It’s not a great film. Perhaps if it had been made today with modern CGI and post-Fury Road sensibilities (a diverse cast, maybe) then the apocalyptic scope of the film would be realized.
RIP Bill Paxton.
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie
Mo Holkar, Elizabeth Lovegrove and Ralph Lovegrove
Synopsis 00:30 // Comment starts 08:00 // “Puzzle Planets” 13:30 // The History Problem 18:00 // Liz’s game 19:45 // Mo’s game 22:00 // Ralph’s game 25:20
Other “Puzzle Planet” Books
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Dune by Frank Herbert
For another treatment of Grass and its literary and historical roots, see this article (infinityplus)
Music credits
“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie
“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie