Publications

Books

new book

My next book will be titled Adaptations of Dune: Frank Herbert’s Story on Screen.

This book will explore the three screen adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune and how faithful they are to the book. It covers the 1984 film by David Lynch, the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries by John Harrison, and the 2021 film by Denis Villeneuve.

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Frank Herbert’s Dune: A Critical Companion (2022) [view the press release]

Frank Herbert's Dune: A Critical Companion book cover*Please note that I do not make money from sales of my book on the Springer/Palgrave site or Amazon, due to the nature of the academic publishing industry. I only benefit if you purchase using an affiliate referral link (and accept cookies).

Springer/Palgrave offers a much more generous referral link percentage to authors, so if you’d like to buy Frank Herbert’s Dune: A Critical Companion, please do so here from them (use coupon code FALL40 for 40% off until September 26) – free shipping for hardcover, ebook is instant PDF download. If you still prefer Amazon, please use this Amazon referral link. Thanks for supporting independent scholars!

 

Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe: Tracing Women’s Liberation through Science Fiction (2021) [view the press release]Women's Agency in the Dune Universe book cover

*Please note that I do not make money from sales of my book on the Springer/Palgrave site or Amazon, due to the nature of the academic publishing industry. I only benefit if you purchase using an affiliate referral link (and accept cookies).

Springer/Palgrave offers a much more generous referral link percentage to authors, so if you’d like to buy Women’s Agency in the Dune Universe, please do so here from them (use coupon code FALL40 for 40% off until September 26) – free shipping for hardcover, ebook is instant PDF download). If you still prefer Amazon, please use this Amazon referral link. Thanks for supporting independent scholars!

I also have a chapter titled “Liberating Women’s Bodies: Feminist Philosophy and the Bene Gesserit of Dune” in the book Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad’Dib (2022), available on Amazon in paperback or ebook. My chapter includes new material not in my first book about the theories of philosopher Iris Marion Young and bodily mobility in relation to the Bene Gesserit.

Other Books

If you haven’t yet read Dune, you can find it on Amazon, your local bookstore, or local library. If you’re interested in other recent scholarship about the Dune series, check out Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga (2022), which is a collection covering topics such as philosophy, political science, disability studies, religion, environment, and history.

Articles

Kennedy, K. (2021). Spice and Ecology in Herbert’s Dune: Altering the Mind and the PlanetScience Fiction Studies, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 444-461. [pre-production version, hosted on ResearchGate]

Kennedy, K. (2021). Frank Herbert, the Bene Gesserit, and the Complexity of Women in the World of Dune. Tor.com

Kennedy, K. (2021). Lawrence of Arabia, Paul Atreides, and the Roots of Frank Herbert’s DuneTor.com

Kennedy, K. (2020). The Softer Side of Dune: The Impact of the Social Sciences on World-Building. In M.J.P. Wolf (Ed.), Exploring Imaginary Worlds: Essays on Media, Structure, and Subcreation (pp. 159-174). Routledge. [pre-production version, hosted on this site]

Kennedy, K. (2016). Epic World-Building: Names and Cultures in Dune. Names, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 99–108. DOI: 10.1080/00277738.2016.1159450 [production version, hosted on ResearchGate]

 

Interviews


Dune Pod Interview about my book on the Bene Gesserit; available on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Dune Pod interview about Bene Gesserit

Digital Nomads podcast on the Fremen in Dune

Dune article in New York Magazine Vulture

Dune article in Esquire Netherlands

Dr Kara Kennedy interview on Frank Herbert's Dune

 

How does Frank Herbert’s Dune address women’s agency?