Timehost: Our TIME chat guests
tonight are Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, authors of Dune: House
Atreides, the latest in the legendary science-fiction series
Dune. Seventeen million copies of the Dune series are in
print and it has been translated into twenty languages. It is now 8 p.m.
EST. . . I don't know what time it is on the planet Arrakis, but it's
time to welcome Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson to the chatroom. Thanks
for joining us. Plenty of Dune fans are here.
Brian Herbert: Thank you! We're
glad to be here.
davidlynchfan asks: What did
you think of the 1984 movie Dune?
Brian Herbert: Well, my opinion
reflects what my father said to me in large degree, and I've come to
form more thoughts on it over the years. My dad thought it was a "visual
feast." He pointed out that David Lynch had been a painter in his
earlier
years, and there are many artistic touches in the film. The scenes are
beautiful; so are the costumes. The casting is excellent. Unfortunately,
the movie does not always follow the plot of the book. For example, Paul
does not make rain in the book, which is how the movie ends. Also, in
the movie, the baron is sort of a cartoon character, not the frightening
antagonist he should be.
Kevin Anderson: The best part of
the movie is that the movie tie-in edition of Frank Herbert's novel sold
and additional million copies thanks to the promotion. Twenty years
after Dune's initial publication, the book reached number one on
the New York Times bestseller list. Whether you like the movie or not,
this is a good thing.
Brian Herbert: Over the years,
the fans have come to appreciate the movie much more. I think they are
overlooking the minor discrepancies in the movie, and Kevin concurs with
me on that one. There will a six-hour miniseries of the novel
Dune produced by New Amsterdam Productions in association with
ABC. Filming begins in about twelve days in Prague, Czechoslovakia and
Tunisia. We only know one cast member at this point, and he is the
Oscar-winning actor William Hurt, who will play the part of Duke Leto
Atreides. We are very excited about the project.
wc201 asks: What was Frank's
inspiration for the idea of Spice and folding space to travel?
Brian Herbert: Spice represents
the treasure of mythology that is guarded by the dragon. In Dune,
the dragon is the great sandworm, Shai-Hulud. Spice also represents the
finite resource oil. We're not sure where he came up with that concept,
but it is one of the most imaginative concepts in the Dune
universe.
a83904mfkghq34 asks: How did
you come to collaborate on a Dune book?
Kevin Anderson: Dune has
always been my favorite science-fiction novel of all time. I loved all
six of Frank Herbert's original chronicles. And after Frank passed away
in '86, I longed for the story to continue, especially since the last
novel, Chapterhouse Dune, ended on such a cliffhanger. Brian and
I got together through a mutual friend, Ed Kramer, and we started
talking about continuing the Dune story. As soon as we began our
conversation, my wife says we started talking a different language,
finishing each other's sentences, and trying to outdo each other's
enthusiasm for Dune. We immediately sensed that we both had the
same passion for this great universe.
Brian Herbert: Shortly after we
began working on the project, we were astounded to learn about the
existence of Frank Herbert's safety-deposit boxes, which had been lost
to the family. Inside those boxes were the notes for an unpublished
Dune novel, which Dad was just beginning to work on at the time
of his death. We also located more than 1,300 pages of Frank Herbert's
Dune notes in a storage loft of my home. We had plenty of
material to work with.
Timehost: This next question
dovetails nicely with TIME's Visions of the 21st Century . . .
diieeselllll asks: How close
do you think your book comes to what will be the reality of life in the
21st century?
Timehost: and what do you see
for reality in the 21st century?
Brian Herbert: Our novel is set
thousands of years in earth's future, in a different part of the
universe. Elements of the 21st century might be carried forward into the
events that occur in the time of our novel.
Kevin Anderson: While the
specific events in our Dune novel are at such a great distance
from the 21st century, the subject matter has a lot of relevance to how
we must watch over the earth in the next century. One of the main themes
of Atreides, and of all the Dune novels, is the critical
reliance on a single limited resource-- spice. Obviously, on earth, in
the next century, we will be forced to look at our diminishing resources
and how to cope with that. Frank Herbert also devoted much of his work
to increasing awareness of conservation and ecological matters. We'll
all have to pay attention to that in the next century.
Louisk39 asks: Did you study
Islam and the Arab world to get a feel for the cultural references in
the Dune series?
Kevin Anderson: I spent some
time in Morocco studying Arabic cultures, Islamic architecture, and
philosophy. I stayed in Tangier, Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, and many
other historical sites. I also have spent many years studying the desert
ecology, from Death Valley in California to the Great Sand Dunes in
Colorado. All together, these details were added as "spice" in our
novel.
Brian Herbert: The languages in
Dune, while primarily of a desert origin, are also related to
many other languages around the world, including Navajo. Frank Herbert
studied not only the languages, but also everything else that came to
his attention. He was a sponge for information. I spent five years
writing a biography of him, entitled Dreamer of Dune, in which I
researched the origins of Dune, and connected that book to all
his other writings, both published and unpublished. I also spent a year
putting together a Dune concordance, which is a very detailed
reference work which Kevin and I refer to quite often. That work
contains all the references that Frank Herbert used.
Timehost: This next question is
for Kevin . . .
Almost_Heaven_West_Virginia
asks: What has it been like to work with so many "franchised" brands
such as the X-Files, Star Wars, and now Dune,
Kevin?
Kevin Anderson: First off, I
wouldn't consider Dune a "franchised" brand. I'm working with
Frank Herbert's son, and we make all our own decisions rather than
changing a plot line for an episode being shot next week. But to answer
your question, I have always been a science fiction fan first and
foremost. I loved Star Wars, and I loved the X-Files. Being chosen to
write stories based on those universes has been an enormous amount of
fun for me. Dune, though, is something even more special. It's
like walking across sacred ground because the original books mean so
much to me. Knowing that Frank Herbert wanted to continue his series,
and that he had talked with Brian with doing that, makes this an even
more important project for me. I have, however, written over a dozen
original novels, and I will continue to do so. I love doing both.
birdowen asks: Brian, were you
very close to your father's stories as you grew up?
Brian Herbert: When I grew up,
my father insisted that the house be completely quiet so he could write.
I heard him reading stories to my mother, including many of the same in
Dune. I did not become close to my father or to his writings
until I was in my twenties. For the last ten years of my father's life,
he and I were very close, and he helped me a great deal with my own
writing. The very last novel that Frank Herbert wrote, Man of Two
Worlds, was written with me. I am still on a journey to understand
this very complicated man, whom I love and whom I admire greatly.
kara829 asks: I really enjoyed
Duncan Idaho. How hard was it to take your established characters and
keep the continuity?
Brian Herbert: Dad always taught
me to know everything about a character and build what he called
"character files" on every one of them. He would know, for example, who
lived next door to a character, who his grandparents were, and what they
enjoyed eating. Each detail didn't make it into the novels, but Dad made
sure he had them to his fingertips to allude to. He had a technique of
over-writing and then cutting back. Kevin and I have been able to use
the clues that Dad left over for such characters as Duncan Idaho, and we
also have Frank Herbert's notes for the original series, so we are able
to fill in details about characters' early years. It is very important
to make the early events that we are describing consistent with the
characters' later lives, as written by Frank Herbert.
Kevin Anderson: Since we know
what kind of person Duncan Idaho will be (for the next 5,000 years), we
take the challenge of creating a scrappy young character who will be the
later hero of Frank Herbert's novels-- and tell a good story at the same
time. Playboy Magazine liked that piece of the story so much that they
published an excerpt, "The Flight of Duncan Idaho," in their November
issue. So, for all of you who wanted an excuse to buy Playboy, now you
have one!
Brian Herbert: After Frank
Herbert killed Duncan Idaho in Dune, he received so many letters
of protest
from fans that he decided to resurrect this character in subsequent
novels as a ghola. The Dune series has a number of advantages
compared with Star Wars. For example, we should be very
interested to learn how George Lucas is going to bring Chewbacca back.
Timehost: This is a question I
imagine many fans have . . .
surfn4ajob asks: Is there any
way to get an autographed copy of Dune: House Atreides if you
aren't coming into our area?
Kevin Anderson: You can look on
our website, www.dunenovels.com to see all the places where we have
done book signings and where we will be doing signings in the future.
Many of these stores are happy to mail copies. I know in particular that
Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego and University Books in Seattle do a
brisk mail-order business.
Stamm444 asks: Do you think
that the Internet will have an effect on the form of the sci-fi novel?
or content? You should take its existence into account for the future,
even the far future, right?
Brian Herbert: In the universe
of Dune there are no computers; with respect to the Internet in
the next few years on earth, we will see many more books published in
electronic form. Readers will be provided with the electronic devices to
read these books, and there will be multiple books available for these
devices. Microsoft expects to see a huge jump in this realm in the next
fifteen years.
Kevin Anderson: As an author,
the Internet and the web have proven to be a tremendous boon for doing
research for novels, distributing information on our new books, and
maintaining direct contact with our friends and readers. Everything has
changed so much in the past five years, I get a headache thinking of
what might happen in the next two decades.
gitarman_99 asks: Have you all
encountered any negative reactions from the so called "sci-fi" elitists
about writing a book of this magnitude?
Brian Herbert: Before we even
published House Atreides, there was a very small amount of
negative commentary.
Some of these people, after reading our novel, have apologized to us,
and we are grateful for their change of heart. When Kevin and I were
guests at Dragoncon, in Atlanta, the largest science-fiction/fantasy
convention in the United States, we expected some negative comments from
Dune fans. We did not receive a single one. On the contrary, fans
thanked us effusively for continuing the Dune series. This is
true today as well: while a few fans still do not like the idea of
continuing the series, the vast majority of fans want to see it
continue. It's important to add here that Frank Herbert wanted to
continue the series himself, but he passed away while working on a
Dune novel.
Timehost: Do either of you read
any science fiction authors, or what do you read, science fiction or
otherwise?
Kevin Anderson: We read
voraciously in all different subjects, much of which is research for our
own novels. I have always been a science-fiction addict, and I continue
to enjoy SF novels, but I also enjoy thrillers, westerns, and historical
novels. These days, though, I spend more time writing and editing my own
writing rather than reading someone else's.
Brian Herbert: I tend to like
the earlier science-fiction novels, such as Brave New World,
1984, and Fahrenheit 451. I read a tremendous amount of
mainstream literature, including the classics. I also research
voraciously on many subjects including religion, philosophy, and
politics. Of the current authors, I enjoy Greg Bear, Kevin Anderson and
Terry Brooks. I also read Dean Koontz voraciously, and admire his
plotting and the way he can build suspense.
daltoncb asks: What's the
story behind the Dune computer games?
Brian Herbert: The Dune
computer game is a spin-off of the 1984 Universal Pictures movie
Dune. I am a managing general partner of the Herbert Limited
Partnership, which holds the copyrights to Frank Herbert's works. We had
nothing to do with the Dune computer games. We understand that it
is very popular, but we do not think that it is close enough to
Dune itself. We would like to have the production company contact
us to add more accurate details, and hopefully something can be worked
out in the future.
Timehost: The religious
undertones of Dune are particularly striking. Where does that
come from?
Brian Herbert: The BeneGessurit
Sisterhood is based upon Frank Herbert's 13 maternal aunts, who were
Irish Catholics. In his youth, they tried to convert him to Catholicism,
but didn't succeed. Dad referred to them as female Jesuits, which
suggests the correct pronunciation of Gessurit. As a result of this
experience in his youth and others, Frank Herbert did not believe that
any one religion could lay claim to
holding one path to God. This is an important aspect of Dune,
which he wrote about in the appendix.
Timehost: Several chatters have
asked if you plan any more Dune books, and plan to add to the end
as well as the beginning?
Kevin Anderson: Brian and I have
completed the manuscript for Book Two, House Harkonnen, which
will be published next October during our book-signing tour. We finished
the plotting for Book Three, House Corrino which we'll start
writing this January. This prequel trilogy will end with the birth of
Paul Atreides, the hero of Dune. We also have many of Frank
Herbert's notes, including the complete outline of Dune 7, the
sequel of Chapterhouse Dune, and we also are considering the
story of the Butlerian jihad. There should be plenty of new Dune
stories to come.
Timehost: Thank you very much
for spending this time with us. It's been a pleasure.
Brian Herbert: Thank you.
Kevin Anderson: Thank you.
