My book on “Dune” is published!

For several years, I’ve been working with N. Trevor Brierly on an academic volume about Dune. The final book, Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, was just published by McFarland last week. My coeditor and I chose 14 essays covering a variety of topics, including eugenics, Byzantine history, environmentalism, and pedagogy (see table of contents).

We were honored to receive a foreword from Tim O’Reilly, the godfather of Dune scholarship, and endorsements from Kara Kennedy and Joshua Pearson, two stars of the next generation of Dune scholarship.

Discovering Dune is an academic text – it went through peer review – but we hope the pricing makes this book accessible to Dune fans everywhere – and not just university libraries. It’s available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, and most other major booksellers.

Let the spice flow!

REVIEW: “Dune: Part One” by Denis Villeneuve

A year after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, I finally had a chance to see this latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel. Given Villeneuve’s work on Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, I fully expected his Dune – the first of two movies – to look gorgeous and feature excellent acting. Dune is a powerful cinematic experience, best experienced on the big screen (I saw it both on IMAX and HBO). It’s a cinematic epic that combines the majestic deserts of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia with the science fiction otherworldliness of Ridley Scott’s Alien. 

As somebody who has not just read Dune several times but also published academic articles about it,* I can’t help but compare the film to the novel. I feel the loss of the scenes omitted from the film. I know that the book provides more detailed explanations for everything from why soldiers use swords to why nobody uses computers. The book suggests that the Harkonnens have red hair. Yet, despite all this, I also find myself agreeing with most of the film’s adaptation choices. This movie is recognizably Dune – or at least the first half of the novel – even while it is also recognizably a Denis Villeneuve movie. 

As I rewatched Dune this weekend, I began to wonder: Why did Dune work as an adaptation, despite the differences from the book? 

“Frank Herbert” by Timothy O’Reilly

For anyone who wants to learn more about Frank Herbert’s life and philosophy, I recommend picking up Timothy O’Reilly’s biography of Frank Herbert. O’Reilly’s book is an intellectual biography of the man, his influences, and his thought process. He also interviewed Herbert for the book. It’s available for free on Tim O’Reilly’s website.

“The Road to Dune” by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Dune has often been called the science-fiction equivalent of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, but compared to that oeuvre we have almost no scholarship about the development of the Dune saga. Certainly nothing like Christopher Tolkien’s fantastic History of Middle-earth series exists. Fortunately, The Road to Dune helps to remedy that, at least partially. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson provide an earlier draft of Dune, deleted chapters, as well as letters from Frank Herbert to his publisher.

“Chapterhouse: Dune” by Frank Herbert

Chapterhouse: Dune continues directly from Heretics of Dune. However, where Heretics seemed like an overly long prologue, Chapterhouse starts to provide push the characters in interesting ways. There’s more conflict, both internal and external. While the Bene Gesserit finally confront the Honored Matres, some of the characters are forced to make difficult decisions. Overall, this is far from my favorite of the Dune saga, but it’s a vast improvement over Heretics and left me wanting more.

“Heretics of Dune” by Frank Herbert

Heretics of Dune is where the Dune saga starts to falter. The book is set 1,500 years after Emperor Leto’s reign and the Scattering of humans into the far reaches of the galaxy. The story focuses on the Bene Gesserit, which is an interesting choice. The Bene Gesserit have been a mainstay of the series since the beginning, but they’ve always functioned as antagonists or secondary characters. As the book starts, the Bene Gesserit discover that the humans who went off during the Scattering are returning, but that they’re not the same.

“God Emperor of Dune” by Frank Herbert

Readers will either love God Emperor of Dune or hate it. It’s quite different from the previous Dune novels, or indeed any other book I’ve read. It takes place 3,500 years after the original Dune. Leto II rules as emperor and has transformed into sandworm. There are no epic battles and Leto’s dominance quickly squashes those few conspiracies against him. Rather, God Emperor of Dune feels like Leto’s attempt to educate the reader about politics and religion. The book is written in a quasi-epistolary format, with significant sections drawn from Leto’s secret journals, Bene Gesserit reports, and other primary sources. The book focuses on the relationship between the Leto, his majordomo Moneo, Moneo’s daughter and rebel leader Siona, and another Duncan Idaho ghola. The narrative follows these four as they attempt to make sense of Leto’s empire and Paul’s legacy.

Mythmoot

This weekend, I’m attending the Mythgard Institute’s fifth Mythmoot, a conference that brings together fans and academics to talk about speculative fiction. I’m presenting a paper on the politics of Frank Herbert’s Dune. The schedule is available on the Mythmoot website. Hope to see some old friends there!

“Children of Dune” by Frank Herbert

Children of Dune continues Dune Messiah‘s deconstruction of the hero. Alia becomes regent of the empire as Paul’s children, Ghanima and Leto II, struggle with their father’s legacy. As Alia struggles to maintain control over the empire, we see her lose her grip on reality. Like Paul, she’s both despot and victim. Meanwhile, a mysterious Preacher starts to criticize the empire and the state-sponsored religion.

“Dune Messiah” by Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert’s Dune is wildly popular. His sequels are not. Dune was a story about a young man’s rise to ultimate power. Dune Messiah is about his fall from grace. If Dune is the prototypical Campbellian Hero’s Journey, Dune Messiah is a deconstruction of the hero. In this book, we learn that Paul Muad’Dib has become a tyrant and that his rule has caused death and destruction, especially to those closest to him.