Move Over Harry

With all the news about Harry Potter this weekend I would like to remind you of a major literary event on August seventh, the release of the Sandworms of Dune.

I was a senior in college in 1967 when the cover art on the left caught my attention. While I thought the $1.25 price was outrageous I bought it anyway. I was hooked on the universe that has been created by science fiction giant Frank Herbert. Over the next two decades I waited for the next installment. Frank wrote a total of six Dune novels that took place over several thousand years. Shortly after the publication of the sixth book, Chapterhouse Dune, in 1986 Frank Herbert died suddenly. Chapterhouse was the beginning of the end but not the end of the story and Frank's death left us addicts hanging.

Ten years after Frank's death his son Brian, also a writer, along with Kevin J. Anderson began the task of finishing Frank's epic with the help of notes and rough drafts that were discovered in a safety deposit box in 1997. They started with two three volume prequels, Prelude to Dune and Legends of Dune. When they began work on the sequel to Frank's final novel Chapterhouse Dune it became obvious that they would need to do it in two novels. In August of 2006 the first of those was published, The Hunters of Dune. Now after over 40 years the Frank Herbert's epic will be concluded in two weeks. Sorry Harry, this is what I've been waiting for - the Sandworms of Dune.

More on the Dune Universe.