• pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    Interesting dude. I wonder if Ursula and him were friends.

    After his novel The Dragon in the Sea was published in 1957, Herbert traveled to Florence, Oregon, at the north end of the Oregon Dunes. Here, the United States Department of Agriculture was attempting to use poverty grasses to stabilize the sand dunes. Herbert claimed in a letter to his literary agent, Lurton Blassingame, that the moving dunes could “swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways.”[5] Herbert’s article on the dunes, “They Stopped the Moving Sands”, was never completed (and only published decades later in The Road to Dune), but its research sparked Herbert’s interest in ecology and deserts.[6]

    Herbert further drew inspiration from Native American mentors like “Indian Henry” (the name Herbert’s son recalls him using for a man otherwise likely called Henry Martin, of the Hoh tribe) and Howard Hansen. Both Martin and Hansen grew up on the Quileute reservation near Herbert’s hometown. According to historian Daniel Immerwahr, Hansen regularly shared his writing with Herbert. “White men are eating the earth,” Hansen told Herbert in 1958, after sharing a piece on the effect of logging on the Quileute reservation. “They’re gonna turn this whole planet into a wasteland, just like North Africa.” The world could become a “big dune,” Herbert responded in agreement.[7]

    This also goes with my theory about the republicans using it as a con:

    Herbert was also interested in the idea of the superhero mystique and messiahs. He believed that feudalism was a natural condition humans fell into, where some led and others gave up the responsibility of making decisions and just followed orders. He found that desert environments have historically given birth to several major religions with messianic impulses. He decided to join his interests together so he could play religious and ecological ideas against each other. In addition, he was influenced by the story of T. E. Lawrence and the “messianic overtones” in Lawrence’s involvement in the Arab Revolt during World War I. In an early version of Dune, the hero was actually very similar to Lawrence of Arabia, but Herbert decided the plot was too straightforward and added more layers to his story.[8]

    Source

  • 9point6@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Oh I was really hoping it was Haynes and there was an expanded line art diagram of an ornithopter on the front

  • yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 hours ago

    The Dune literary phenomenon offers fascinating insight into human psychology because the book series is such absolute unadulterated slop.

    • criss_cross@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      I haven’t read the full series but the first book isn’t terrible. But I did have to listen to it on audiobook to finish it.

      It’s very weird because Herbert is genius at world building but real bad at actual storytelling and pacing. The political landscape of the world and how everything ties in together is so fascinating. But saying at the beginning “hey this guy is gonna betray everyone!!!” And waiting 10 chapters to get there kinda falls flat for me.

      • StillAlive@piefed.world
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        4 hours ago

        And the theme of ‘beware charismatic leaders’ doesn’t work for me when I read about this teenager whose father (a good man from what we are told) is murdered in a game of politics, has prescience, and struggles with what his actions should be and what their consequences might be.

        Herbert should’ve refrained from giving him the ability to see the future.

      • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        I enjoyed the first book a lot it went very quickly downhill from there, and I stopped after “God Emperor”, though I have the next book and some people telling me it gets better.

        • TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Idk I quit after God Emperor, too, that kind of felt like the end of things to me. The book after just wasn’t interesting anymore

          • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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            1 hour ago

            Yup. I started the next book once (Heretics?), but even from the start it just felt like Frank Herbert had locked himself in with these characters and this universe, and no longer had any idea what he wanted to do with it, the story just had to go on regardless.

            I think a lot of what makes the first book so good is that there’s this whole new and mysterious universe, and he keeps it rather mysterious throughout. You don’t really know what the Bene Geserit are, what a Mentat is, or even really understand what spice is. You’re stuck on a strange planet in a strange universe, learning how things work as you go. That puts you in Paul’s shoes, and makes the book great.

            Once all these concepts are established and have lost their novelty, I honestly don’t feel like there’s much appeal to the storytelling. Throughout God Emperor and the first chapters of Heretics it started feeling like a slog, just based on the same established concepts and characters, with very little real development.

            • davetortoise@reddthat.com
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              4 minutes ago

              Exactly! This is what I always say. If a book introduces elves or tentacled aliens, then you basically know what you’re dealing with as they have an established cultural narrative. But FH’s worldbuilding is so fanrasitcally different to everything else, yet fits together so neatly, that it’s really compelling despite the weirdly paced plot.

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      It’s like clan of the cave bear. Cool ideas at first and diminishing returns with each successive book.

      • WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        I think you’re right but I did care about at least the main story of every book even if the story itself wasn’t told the best way (I’m looking at you sex ninja/sorcerers) Taken as a whole I like the story though and enjoyed it while reading it.