Gom Jabbar: A Dune Podcast

In Dune Messiah, Paul Atreides receives a dangerous gift: Hayt, a Tleilaxu ghola of Duncan Idaho. Abu and Leo cover pages 50 to 99 of Dune Messiah and take a listener's question about why Paul couldn't simply call off the jihad.

Scytale's visit to Farok, a retired jihad commander, turns sinister, though not before the old Fremen describes standing in a sea for the first time. In the Imperial council, Irulan tries the Voice on her husband and Paul explains to Stilgar why he cannot simply look for Tupile. The takeaways dig into Muad'Dib as a living god and the echoes of Duke Leto in his son, and the spice morsels cover face dancers and the rumor that Tleilaxu eyes enslave the people who wear them.

This episode contains NO SPOILERS beyond the books and pages covered thus far.

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DUNEgeon Master Noah Perito guides Abu Zafar and Leo Wiggins through original adventures inspired by Frank Herbert's stories and the Dune Encyclopedia.

As hosts of the #1 Dune podcast Gom Jabbar, Abu and Leo have spent six years exploring every nook and cranny of the universe. Noah has developed and led campaigns across nearly 250 episodes as the host of Try Not To Die. Now they're joining forces to tell the most authentic (and fun!) tales set in their favorite fictional universe.

Unlike most actual play podcasts, Spice & Dice campaigns are short, accessible, and self-contained. So there's always an easy place to jump in, whether you're a seasoned D&D fan or you've never held a d20.

New episodes release every Thursday, starting November 5.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spice-dice-a-dune-d-d-podcast/id6824631381

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WhXXDP5tw6JVuBkhtZPu8

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The final trailer for Dune: Part Three is out, and this emergency episode breaks it down shot by shot. Abu and Leo pull apart what they see as deliberate misdirection in Denis Villeneuve's marketing and trade theories on what the trailer actually gives away.

It opens on Paul using the Voice to break Irulan, which Abu reads as a sign that Edric's ability to block prescience will matter far more on screen than it does in Dune Messiah. A red headband spotted puts a teenage Leto II and Ghanima at Chani's desert meeting with Scytale, and a Reddit theory about two separate conspiracies, the assassination plot and the Guild's scheme to get a sandworm off Arrakis, might explain what Chani is really doing out there. Abu pushes back on the "Hello, Grandfather" alternate timeline theory, and Leo offers his own explanation for why Paul keeps Chani at arm's length.

This episode contains SPOILERS for Children of Dune.

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Leo made a videogame! Abu and Leo chat about Heretics Amulet, a single player video game with its fair share of Dune references, available now on Steam.
Check out Heretics Amulet here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5372090/Heretics_Amulet/

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Dune Messiah opens twelve years into Muad'Dib's jihad, with Emperor Paul Atreides worn down by his own visions. Abu and Leo kick off their Dune Messiah Book Club with the first 50 pages, just in time for Dune: Part Three.

Bronso of Ix gets the first word, and the hosts fall a little in love with the historian as he needles Muad'Dib's priests. Scytale's meeting with Gaius Helen Mohiam, Princess Irulan and the Guild Steersman Edric gets read for its subtext within subtext, while Paul's late night with Chani shows a man weighing one beloved life against the agony of multitudes. With help from the Dune Encyclopedia, the hosts trace how a Landsraad revolt turned into a holy war, then close on spice morsels about the Qizarate and the Dune Tarot, plus a fruitless hunt for the meaning of Mirabhasa.

This episode contians NO SPOILERS beyond the books and pages covered thus far.

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Abu and Leo conclude their reluctant coverage of Sandworms of Dune, the final part of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's conclusion of the Dune saga. They summarize the remainder of the book and discuss what it's all about, in the end.

This episode contains SPOILERS for all six of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, plus Hunters of Dune and all of Sandworms of Dune.

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Abu and Leo reluctantly launch into their coverage of Sandworms of Dune, the final part of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's conclusion of the Dune saga. They summarize the first half of the book, and vent their feelings along the way.

This episode contains SPOILERS for all six of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, plus Hunters of Dune and the first half of Sandworms of Dune.

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Princess Irulan Corrino, Shaddam IV's eldest daughter and Paul's wife in name only, finally gets her own character deep dive. Abu and Leo dig into what the Dune Encyclopedia says about her life and legacy, with an eye on Florence Pugh's return to the role in Dune: Part Three.

Dune historians are brutal about Irulan's Bene Gesserit abilities, yet they also credit her as an independent thinker who never fully bought into the Sisterhood, and her near silence about her own mother hints at what the record leaves out. Her schemes in Dune Messiah get written off as "small spurts of rebellion," and the hosts make the case that her history was sanded down to fit the cult of St. Irulan the Virgin that rose a century after her death. They also run through highlights of the writings recovered in the Rakis Finds, including The Chakobsa Way, Arrakis Awakening, and a drama called Ornithopera. The episode closes on how Denis Villeneuve might move her to the center of the conspiracy.

This episode contains SPOILERS for Children of Dune.

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Abu and Leo dig into "Greenslaves" and "Occupation Force," two stories Herbert wrote in the decade before Dune made him famous, to see what they reveal about the mind behind the books.

"Greenslaves," published in Amazing in March 1965 and later expanded into the novel The Green Brain, follows a Brazilian extermination program built to wipe out every last insect, and the swarm that has learned to disguise itself to survive it. In "Occupation Force," published in Fantastic in 1955, a U.S. general readies the nukes against an alien ship parked over Washington, only for its ambassador to deliver a reveal about exactly how long humans have actually been under alien rule.

This episode contains SPOILERS for Frank Herbert's short stories Greenslaves and Occupation Force. There are NO SPOILERS for the Dune novels.

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Abu and Leo finish their Lost Entries run through Carl B. Yoke's psychology manuscripts, uncovered at the Fullerton Archives. This week they read two unpublished Dune Encyclopedia entries on the psychology of the Sardaukar and the Harkonnens.

The Sardaukar entry centers on the Dhama ti Kama, the corps' secret training manual, which Lady Margot Fenring somehow stole for the Bene Gesserit. Its author, the Sardau shaman Kiwan Kalama, lays out a Freudian program for turning children into warriors, and it is every bit as grim as that sounds. The Harkonnen entry introduces Dr. Amertine Moritani Harkonnen, a granddaughter of Shaddam IV who married into the family after the Baron's death and made him the subject of her Study of the Dark Side.

This episode contains SPOILERS for Children of Dune.

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Abu and Leo finish Hunters of Dune, the first book in Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's conclusion of the Dune saga. They break down the back half of the book and vent their feelings about how this is all just so wrong.

They cover the Ithaca's stalled journey through the Scattering, Duncan Idaho's fixation on the absent Murbella, and the ghola children growing up aboard the no-ship. On Chapterhouse, Murbella's war against the Honored Matres comes to a head, including the reveal that the Honored Matres descend in part from Tleilaxu women. Uxtal's doomed attempt to resurrect a Tleilaxu master and Khrone's efforts to reawaken a young Baron Harkonnen push the ghola storylines toward their conclusions. Along the way, the mysterious old couple behind the Scattering's chaos finally comes into focus, setting up next episode's dive into Sandworms of Dune.

This episode contains SPOILERS for all six of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, plus the entirety of Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

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An unpublished Dune Encyclopedia manuscript called Psychology of the Fremen never made it past Willis E. McNelly's editing desk, until now. Abu and Leo dig into what got cut, in part one of a two-episode dive into the Fullerton archives' unreleased psychology entries.

Carl B. Yoke, a Kent State University professor, wrote it as one of five planned psychology profiles that also covered the Bene Gesserit, the Sardaukar, the Harkonnens, and the Imperium. Yoke's Fremen entry builds its case through an invented smuggler-poet, whose writings and observations of Fremen psychology survived in the Bene Gesserit archives on Wallach IX. From there, Abu and Leo trace a psychological system mapped almost entirely onto Carl Jung.

This episode contains NO SPOILERS for the Dune novels.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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Abu and Leo return to the Lost Entries series with two Dune Encyclopedia manuscripts that never made it into print. Both were written by one of the Encyclopedia's most prolific contributors, and detail the life of Dune's Oppenheimer: a man named Roj Amalkin, who invented the deadliest weapon in the galaxy.. They read the manuscripts in full, and argue about why McNelly left them on the cutting room floor.

This episode contains SPOILERS for Dune and Dune Messiah!

IN THIS EPISODE

• How a sickly kid on Salusa Secundus grew up to invent the stone burner, and what his mother did to make sure he survived long enough to build it
• The Bocca drill, the Lucifer gems it left behind, and the one illegal modification that turned a mining tool into a weapon
• Why the Fedaykin hunted every stone burner out of existence

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Abu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ complete their read-through of Chapterhouse Dune by diving deep into chapters 46-48. They reflect back on their journey covering every single Dune book by Frank Herbert, and look ahead to what's next.

This episode contains NO SPOILERS beyond the books and pages covered thus far

Read along with us by following the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chapterhouse Dune book club schedule⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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

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

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

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Abu and Leo officially announce Spice & Dice, a new Dungeons & Dragons actual play podcast set in the far corners of the Dune universe, with Noah Perito back in the dungeon master's chair. The show is built to welcome newcomers to D&D as much as longtime tabletop players, and this episode closes with a preview from the debut campaign. Spice & Dice targets a Q4 2026 launch, timed just ahead of Dune: Part Three.

This episode contains SPOILERS for Dune and Dune Messiah

IN THIS EPISODE

• The debut campaign, Voices of the Jihad, sends Abu and Leo's Fremen operatives after Emperor Paul Atreides himself
• Meet Trionfi Maniaco, the mysterious tarot reader whose cards may or may not be interfering with Paul's prescience
• Why Spice & Dice is built around short, contained campaigns instead of the 50-plus episode sprawl typical of actual play shows

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