Mike and Casey continue their conversation with our friend Sean Duncan, and dig into the weird worlds of author pseudonyms and young adult fiction — and the frenzied moralistic panics the latter can provoke. And in the process, we unpack Mike’s decades-long grudge with ending of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Plus, we look at a possible insane New Year’s Resolution to watch 365 new movies during the next year, and try to give a spoiler-free review of Rogue One. And we ask ourselves, is the Star Wars universe really as versatile as we hope it is?
Plus, Sean shares what is sure to to be the most unpopular opinion ever voiced on our show, and he awaits your hate mail.
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it amuses me a lot when I hear people speak of his dark materials (originally named “the golden Compasses” (the first books Origional Name was “Northen lights.) but due to a misunderstanding was renamed “his dark materials”) who are unaware of its origin. Long story short, Yes the book is Very openly Anti Religion, because the Writer wrote the series Really HATED “Paradice lost”. The book is basically supposed to be Paradise losts counterpart. Even The Name of it is referencing this fact, (Both of them.) How Well It did this concept I cannot say since I haven’t read paradise lost. But then again, the books work well even without this knowledge in mind, But I suppose it was good enough that most people missed it.
The Franklin Dixon thing is called a “house pseudonym” or a ‘house name.” In addition to the Stratemeyers like the Hardy Boys that were all done that way, there were a lot of them in the pulps. “Kenneth Robeson” was mostly Lester Dent on Doc Savage, but on the Avenger it was Paul Ernst, and then when the Avenger was revived in the 1970s it was Ron Goulart. The Shadow’s “Maxwell Grant” was variously Walter Gibson, Theodore Tinsley, and once even Lester Dent again. Sometimes, more rarely, it starts as a real person, like Don Pendleton or Robert Ludlum, and then other hands take it over. Most of the Ludlums have the real writer’s name on there, like the Ludlum Covert One series or the new Bourne novels, but just as often they do not. Every Ludlum book after THE SIGMA PROTOCOL was ghosted posthumously.
I hope you take up the Rouge One discussion in the future. I’m curious on what you specifically didn’t like it.
I think’s a very good movie because it’s in a shared universe. The sum, in this case , better then the parts.
As for a Star Wars comedy, I could see something in the style of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead working. Exploring if being able to manipulate the Force what effect on the laws of probability and the seemingly randomness that dominated our reality, has on the typical inhabitant of theirs.
Mike if you haven’t seen that movie, add it to your list of 365 to watch this year. Then move into the top 10 must watch.