Gom Jabbar: A Dune Podcast

The 2026 Hugo Awards hand Best Novel to Alix E. Harrow's The Everlasting and give Murderbot its first-ever trophy, while WorldCon finally reveals the price for the 2023 Hugo scandal: a lifetime ban for administrator Dave McCarty and lesser bans for three others. Plus, Silo closes its most divisive season yet to a critic/audience split the internet doesn't seem to agree with, and the Bobiverse's fifth book proves the series still has it.

Stellar Dispatch drops every Tuesday. New main episodes every Friday on the Stellar feed.

Stories this week:

2026 Hugo Awards winners announced at LAcon V

WorldCon censures and bans four 2023 Chengdu Worldcon officials

Silo season 3 finale review

Not Till We Are Lost (Bobiverse #5) review
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Abu and Leo begin the book club coverage of Hunters of Dune, the first novel completing Frank Herbert's saga after his death. They walk through the first half of the book's tangled plot before turning to the continuity breaks and creative choices they think do real damage to the Dune canon.

This episode contains SPOILERS for all six of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, plus chapters 1-44 of Hunters of Dune!

Listen to "The 7 Deadly Sins of Brian Herbert" episode HERE

IN THIS EPISODE

Why the Ithaca crew revives gholas of Paul Atreides and Leto II Atreides while passing over Ghanima and Alia

Murbella's shaky start as Mother Commander of the merged Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres, and the power struggles taking shape at Chapter House

The Oracle of Time and a Golden Path retcon that Abu and Leo argue contradict rules Frank Herbert spent six books establishing

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Get ad-free episodes and more: patreon.com/gomjabbar

Say thank you with a tip: buymeacoffee.com/gomjabbar

Buy custom-designed Dune merch: gomjabbar.shop

Watch video episodes and clips: youtube.com/@loreparty
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Since we're in our #BrianHerbertEra, Abu and Leo revisit an episode from 2022 covering the history of Dune as told by Brian Herbert in his book, The Road to Dune.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Get ad-free episodes and more: ⁠patreon.com/gomjabbar⁠

Say thank you with a tip: ⁠buymeacoffee.com/gomjabbar⁠

Buy custom-designed Dune merch: ⁠gomjabbar.shop⁠

Watch video episodes and clips: ⁠youtube.com/@loreparty
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Frank Herbert spent five books showing how faiths merge, mutate, and drift beyond recognition. Then, in Chapterhouse: Dune, he wrote in a community of Jews who had not changed at all. Abu and Leo gather critical takes from Jewish readers and scholars, then sit down with historian DZ Kalman to ask whether representation that gets things wrong can still be worth having.

This episode contains SPOILERS for all six of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, up through Chapterhouse: Dune!

IN THIS EPISODE

Rebecca, the Rabbi, and the deal the Bene Gesserit struck with a people nobody could find

Where Kwisatz Haderach actually comes from in Jewish mysticism, and why nobody knows how Herbert found it

A theory about Beverly Herbert's death, the to-do list she left behind, and what Daniel and Marty have to do with any of it

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

DZ Kalman's essay on the Jews of Dune: jellomenorah.com

DZ Kalman's podcast, Belief in the Future: podcasts.apple.com

Michael Weingrad, Jews of Dune: jewishreviewofbooks.com

Jonathan Weidenbaum, The Holy Versus the Sacred: doi.org

Leigh Kimmel's Chapterhouse Dune review: billionlightyearbookshelf.com

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Get ad-free episodes and more: patreon.com/gomjabbar

Say thank you with a tip: buymeacoffee.com/gomjabbar

Buy custom-designed Dune merch: gomjabbar.shop

Watch video episodes and clips: youtube.com/@loreparty
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abu⁠ and ⁠Leo⁠ close out the book club with a live listener Q&A, the first one recorded with every page of Frank Herbert's saga behind them. It's a reflective hang about how this series thinks about power, governance, and the limits of art as political commentary, and about what it feels like to reach the end of a six-year read-through.

This episode contains SPOILERS for all six of Frank Herbert's Dune novels.

IN THIS EPISODE

Whether the Bene Gesserit's surveillance-and-no-confidence structure is Frank's ideal government, or a system he builds up only to critique through the Honored Matres

Our theories for why Abomination disappears after Children of Dune, from the inner Mohalata to Siona's descendants being immune

What Daniel and Marty really represent, and why Chapterhouse works as Frank's farewell with no seventh book needed

What the Dune Encyclopedia's contraception entry reveals about the Bene Gesserit breeding program, axolotl tanks, and their opposition to abortion

Whether Dune: Part Three can handle the jihad honestly, with Andor Season 2 held up as the gold standard for political storytelling

A live, no-holds-barred re-ranking of all six novels, with Leo putting Dune fifth and God Emperor dead last

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Get ad-free episodes and bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/GomJabbar

Say thank you with a tip: https://buymeacoffee.com/gomjabbar

Watch video versions of select episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@loreparty

Get yourself some custom-designed Dune swag: https://www.gomjabbar.shop
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