Dune News

["Christian Gilmore" <cgilmore@research.att.com>]

I thought this message would be of interest.

Regards,
Christian / Broncalo

-----Original Message-----

A LETTER FROM BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON

Dear Dune Fan,

For 35 years, fans like you have helped keep Frank Herbert's DUNE alive 
-- it is as popular today as ever.

When we set out to create a prequel trilogy to DUNE based on many of the 
notes and papers Frank Herbert left behind at his death, we were pleased 
to see the excitement and enthusiasm this generated among the fans.  A 
lot of rumors and speculations passed through the fan community, and we 
apologize for not getting in touch directly with you before this.  
(After all, we've had a 750-page manuscript to write!)

We are in the process of creating an official DUNE web site 
(http://www.dunenovels.com), the sole purpose of which will be to 
disseminate up-to-date information on new DUNE projects as well as 
activities relating to the works of Frank Herbert.  We will premiere the 
new artwork for the "Prelude to DUNE" trilogy, add photographs, 
scheduling updates, and promotional appearances.  Though the site won't 
be formally launched for another month, feel free to check it out for a 
sneak preview of forthcoming DUNE events.

For starters, though, we wanted to provide some of the most prominent 
DUNE fans with the attached information about HOUSE ATREIDES and the 
rest of the "Prelude to DUNE" trilogy.  The "Afterword" (which will 
appear in the novel) tells how this project came to be, and our thoughts 
on the creation process.  You are free to pass along this information as 
widely as possible, so long as you do so *free of charge* and include 
the Warning below.

Thank you for your continued interest in DUNE.

Brian Herbert
Kevin J. Anderson

=========================WARNING=========================
"DUNE" is a registered copyright and trademark which is owned by The 
Herbert Limited Partnership.  Any unauthorized use or reproduction 
thereof or the establishment of web or other electronic sites that seek 
to profit from "DUNE" or the works of Frank Herbert are expressly 
prohibited and The Herbert Limited Partnership will enforce all of its 
rights and remedies.  The only official "DUNE" website is 
http://www.dunenovels.com.
========================= WARNING =========================

The PRELUDE TO DUNE Trilogy

Bantam Books purchased the rights to a prequel trilogy to DUNE, written 
by Frank Herbert's son Brian (an acclaimed science fiction novelist in 
his own right) and internationally bestselling author, Kevin J. 
Anderson.  These novels will be based in part on Frank Herbert's 
unpublished notes as well as conversations he had with his son.  

This is believed to be the largest single science fiction contract in 
publishing history.  Agents for the deal were Robert Gottlieb and Matt 
Bialer of the William Morris Agency, and Mary-Alice Kier of the Cine/Lit 
Agency.

The trilogyHOUSE ATREIDES, HOUSE HARKONNEN, and THE SPICE WARis an 
immediate prequel going back to the heart of DUNE's readership, to the 
core characters and situations that made this the best-selling science 
fiction novel of all time:  The love story of Duke Leto and Lady 
Jessica, their first battles with Baron Harkonnen, the planetologist 
Kynes sent to the desert world of Dune to investigate the precious spice 
and the sandworms and the Fremen . . . and the power-hungry Crown Prince 
Shaddam, who would do anything to secure the Imperial throne.

The first novel, HOUSE ATREIDES, is completed and will be published in 
hardcover in October 1999.  Brian and Kevin are currently editing the 
manuscript for HOUSE HARKONNEN.  UK rights to the trilogy have already 
been sold to Hodder & Stoughton (who will publish in England this 
September), French rights to Editions Laffont, Italian rights to 
Montedori, and abridged audio rights to BDD Audio.


Afterword


Brian Herbert:
For more than a decade there had been rumors that I would write another 
novel set in my father's Dune universe, a sequel to the sixth book in 
the series, CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE.  I had published a number of acclaimed 
science fiction novels, but wasn't sure I wanted to tackle something so 
immense, so daunting.  After all, DUNE is a magnum opus that stands as 
one of the most complex, multi-layered novels ever written.  A 
modern-day version of the myth of the dragon's treasure, DUNE is a tale 
of great sandworms guarding a precious treasure of melange, the 
geriatric spice.  The story is a magnificent pearl with layers of luster 
running deep beneath its surface, all the way to its core.  
	At the time of my father's untimely death in 1986, he was beginning to 
think about a novel that carried the working title "DUNE 7," a project 
he had sold to Berkley Books, but on which there were no known notes or 
outlines.  Dad and I had spoken in general terms about collaborating on 
a Dune novel one day in the future, but we'd set no date, had 
established no specific details or direction.  It would be sometime 
after he completed DUNE 7 and other projects.  
	In ensuing years I thought about my late father's uncompleted series, 
especially after I concluded a five-year project writing DREAMER OF 
DUNE, a biography of this complex, enigmatic man -- a biography which 
required that I analyze the origins and themes of the Dune series.  
After long consideration it seemed to me that it would be fascinating to 
write a book based upon the events he had described so tantalizingly in 
the Appendix to DUNE, a new novel in which I would go back 10,000 years 
to the time of the Butlerian Jihad, the legendary Great Revolt against 
thinking machines.  That had been a mythical time in a mythical 
universe, a time when most of the Great Schools had been formed, 
including the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats and the Swordmasters.  
	Upon learning of my interest, prominent writers approached me with 
offers of collaboration.  But in tossing ideas around with them I 
couldn't visualize the project coming to fruition.  They were excellent 
writers, but in combination with them I didn't feel the necessary 
synergy for such a monumental task.  So I kept turning to other 
projects, avoiding the big one.  Besides, while Dad had sprinkled many 
provocative loose ends in the fifth and sixth books of the series, he 
had written an afterword for CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE that was a marvelous 
dedication to my late mother Beverly Herbert -- his wife of nearly four 
decades.  They had been a writing team in which she edited his work and 
acted as a sounding board for his overflow of ideas . . . so with both 
of them gone it seemed a fitting conclusion to leave the project 
untouched.
	The trouble is, a fellow named Ed Kramer kept after me.  An accomplished 
editor and sponsor of science fiction/fantasy conventions, he wanted to 
put together an anthology of short stories set in the Dune universe -- 
stories by different, well-known authors.  He convinced me that it would 
be an interesting, significant, project, and we talked about co-editing 
it.  All the details weren't finalized, since the project had a number 
of complexities, both legal and artistic.  In the midst of this, Ed told 
me had received a letter from best-selling author Kevin J.  Anderson, 
who had been invited to contribute to the proposed anthology.  He 
suggested what he called a "shot in the dark," asking about the 
possibility of working at novel length, preferably on a sequel to 
CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE. 
	Kevin's enthusiasm for the Dune universe fairly jumped off the pages of 
his letter.  Still, I delayed answering him for around a month, not 
certain how to respond.  Despite his proven skills, I was hesitant.  
This was a big decision.  By now I knew I wanted to be involved closely 
in the project, and that I needed to participate to such a degree in 
order to ensure the production of a novel of integrity, one that would 
be faithful to the original series.  Along with JRR Tolkien's LORD OF 
THE RINGS and a handful of other works, DUNE stood as one of the 
greatest creative achievements of all time, and arguably the greatest 
example of science fiction world-building in the history of literature.  
For the sake of my father's legacy, I couldn't select the wrong person.  
I read everything I could get my hands on that Kevin had written, and 
did more checking on him.  It soon became clear to me that he was a 
brilliant writer, and that his reputation was sterling.  I decided to 
give him a telephone call.
	We hit it off immediately, both on a personal and professional level.  
Aside from the fact that I genuinely liked him, I felt an energy between 
us, a remarkable flow of ideas that would benefit the series.  After 
obtaining the concurrence of my family, Kevin and I decided to write a 
prequel -- but not one set in the ancient times, long before DUNE.  
Instead we would go to events only thirty or forty years before the 
beginning of DUNE, to the love story of Paul's parents, to the 
Planetologist Pardot Kynes being dispatched to Arrakis, to the reasons 
for the terrible, destructive enmity between House Atreides and House 
Harkonnen, and much more.  Our concept quickly grew to three books, a 
trilogy.
	Before writing a detailed outline, we set to work rereading all six Dune 
books my father had written, and I took it upon myself to begin 
assembling a massive DUNE CONCORDANCE -- an encyclopedia of all the 
characters, places and wonders of the Dune universe.  Of primary concern 
to us, we needed to determine where Dad had been heading with the 
conclusion of the series.  It was clear that he was building up to 
something momentous in DUNE 7, and without intending to do so he had 
left us with a mystery.  There were no known notes or other clues, only 
my memory that Dad had been using a yellow highlighter on paperback 
copies of HERETICS OF DUNE and CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE shortly before his 
death -- books that no one could locate after he was gone.
	In early May, 1997, when I finally met Kevin J.  Anderson and his wife, 
the author Rebecca Moesta, new story ideas fairly exploded from our 
minds.  In a frenzy the three of us either scribbled them down or 
recorded them on tape.  From these notes, scenes began to unfold, but 
still we wondered and debated where Dad had been going with the series.  

	In the last two books, HERETICS OF DUNE and CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE, he had 
introduced a new threat -- the reviled Honored Matres -- who proceeded 
to lay waste to much of the galaxy.  By the end of CHAPTERHOUSE, the 
characters had been driven into a corner, utterly beaten . . . and then 
the reader learned that the Honored Matres themselves were running from 
an even greater mysterious threat 
. . . a peril that was drawing close to the protagonists of the story, 
most of whom were Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers.
	A scant two weeks after our meeting, I received a telephone call from an 
estate lawyer who had handled matters involving my mother and father.  
He informed me that two safety deposit boxes belonging to Frank Herbert 
had turned up in a suburb of Seattle, boxes that none of us knew 
existed.  I made an appointment to meet with the bank authorities, and 
in an increasing air of excitement the safety deposit boxes were opened. 
 Inside were papers and old-style floppy computer disks that included 
comprehensive notes for an unpublished "DUNE 7" -- the long-awaited 
sequel to CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE! Now Kevin and I knew for certain where 
Frank Herbert had been headed, and we could weave the events of our 
prequels into a future grand finale for the series.
	We turned with new enthusiasm to the task of putting together a book 
proposal that could be shown to publishers.  That summer I had a trip to 
Europe scheduled, an anniversary celebration that my wife Jan and I had 
been planning for a long time.  I took along a new laptop computer and a 
featherweight printer, and Kevin and I exchanged FedEx packages all 
summer long.  By the time I returned at the end of the summer, we had a 
massive 141 page trilogy proposal -- the largest that either of us had 
ever seen.  My allied DUNE CONCORDANCE project, the encyclopedia of all 
the marvelous treasures of the Dune universe, was a little over half 
completed, with months of intensive work remaining before it would be 
finished.
	As we waited to see if a publisher would be interested, I remembered the 
many writing sessions I had enjoyed with my father, and my early novels 
in the 1980s that had received his loving, attentive suggestions for 
improvement.  Everything I had learned from him -- and more -- would be 
needed for this huge prequels project, which we were entitling "Prelude 
to Dune." 

-- Brian Herbert



Kevin J. Anderson:
I never met Frank Herbert, but I knew him well through the words he 
wrote.  
I read DUNE when I was ten years old, and reread it several times over 
the years; then I read and enjoyed all of the sequels.  GOD-EMPEROR OF 
DUNE, hot off the presses, was the very first hardcover novel I ever 
purchased (I was a freshman in college).  Then I worked my way through 
every single one of his other novels, diligently checking off the titles 
on the "Other Books By" page in each new book.  THE GREEN BRAIN, 
HELLSTROM'S HIVE, THE SANTAROGA BARRIER, THE EYES OF HEISENBERG, 
DESTINATION: VOID, THE JESUS INCIDENT, and more and more and more.
To me, Frank Herbert was the pinnacle of what science fiction could be -- 
thought-provoking, ambitious, epic in scope, well-researched, and 
entertaining --  all in the same book.  Other science fiction novels 
succeed in one or more of these areas, but DUNE did it all.  By the time 
I was five years old, I had decided I wanted to be a writer.  By the 
time I was twelve, I knew I wanted to write books like the ones Frank 
Herbert wrote.
Throughout college, I published a handful of short stories then began to 
write my first novel, RESURRECTION, INC., a complex tale set in a future 
world where the dead are reanimated to serve the living.  The novel was 
full of social commentary, religious threads, a large cast of 
characters, and (yes) a wheels-within-wheels plot.  By this time, I had 
enough writing credits to join the Science Fiction Writers of America . 
. . and one of the main benefits was the Membership Directory.  There, 
before my eyes, was the home address of Frank Herbert.  I promised 
myself that I would send him the very first signed copy.  The novel sold 
almost immediately to Signet Books . . . but before its publication 
date, Frank Herbert died.
I had avidly read the last two Dune books, HERETICS and CHAPTERHOUSE, in 
which Herbert had launched a vast new saga that built to a fever pitch, 
literally destroyed all life on the planet Arrakis, and left the human 
race on the brink of extinction -- that's where Frank Herbert left the 
story upon his death.  I knew that his son Brian was also a professional 
writer with several science fiction novels under his belt.  I waited, 
and hoped, that Brian would complete a draft manuscript, or at least 
flesh out an outline his father had left behind.  Someday soon, I hoped 
that faithful DUNE readers would have a resolution to this cliffhanger.
Meanwhile, my own writing career did well.  I was nominated for the Bram 
Stoker Award and the Nebula Award, two of my thrillers were bought or 
optioned by major studios in Hollywood.  While I continued to write 
original novels, I also found a great deal of success in dipping my toes 
into established universes, such as STAR WARS and X-FILES (both of which 
I loved).  I learned how to study the rules and the characters, wrap my 
imagination around them, and tell my own stories within the boundaries 
and expectations of the readers.  
Then in the spring of 1996 I spent a week in Death Valley, California, 
which has always been one of my favorite places to write.  I went hiking 
for an afternoon in an isolated and distant canyon, wrapped up in my 
plotting and dictating.  After an hour or so I discovered that I had 
wandered off on the wrong trail and had several extra miles to hike back 
to my car.  During that unexpectedly long walk, out in the stark and 
beautiful desert scenery, my thoughts rambled over to DUNE.  
It had been ten years since Frank Herbert's death, and by now I had 
pretty much decided that DUNE was always going to end on a cliffhanger.  
I still very much wanted to know how the story wrapped up . . . even if 
I had to make it up myself.  
I had never met Brian Herbert before, had no reason to expect he would 
even consider my suggestion.  But DUNE was my favorite science fiction 
novel of all time, and I could think of nothing I would rather work on.  
I decided it would do no harm to ask. . . .
We hope you enjoyed revisiting the Dune universe through our eyes.  It 
has been an immense honor to sift through thousands of pages of Frank 
Herbert's original notes, so that we might recreate some of the vivid 
realms that sprang from his researches, his imagination, and his life.  
I still find DUNE as exciting and thought-provoking as I did when I 
first encountered it many years ago.

-- Kevin J. Anderson





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