Dune
Book 1 of Dune
Language: English
1 of 1975 Locus Award for All-Time Best Novel 1 of 1998 Locus Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 2-award-winner Anatomy of Wonder 1 Core Collection Authorship Dune (Imaginary Place) Ecology Fiction General Hugo Award Winner Library - Science Fiction and Fantasy Literary Collections Literary Criticism Nebula Award Winner Novel Precognition Religion Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Space Opera Top004 Win of 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel _isfdb galactic empire hugo award for best novel finalist hugo award for best novel winner into-movie into-tv mega-fauna nebula award for best novel winner revolution secret breeding program
Publisher: Chilton
Published: Dec 2, 1965
Description:
### Amazon.co.uk Review Originally serialised in Analog during the early 1960s, *Dune* has sold over 10 million copies, becoming the most successful science fiction novel ever and giving rising to five sequels and a prequel, *Prelude to Dune: House Atreides*. With *Lord of the Rings*, *1984* and *Catch 22*, it is, regardless of whether one normally reads science fiction, a defining novel of the 20th century. Author Frank Herbert always preferred the original magazine illustrations by Hugo Award-winning artist John Schoenherr to those of other artists, and this illustrated edition features 12 colour plates by Schoenherr together with an evocative dust-jacket painting. *Dune* is epic space opera, a saga of dynastic rivalry rooted in history and ecology, the story of the planet Arrakis 10 000 years from now, and of the conflicts over possession of Melange, a psycho-mutagenic "spice" vital to maintaining the galactic Imperium. It is the story of Paul Atreides, the man who would become *Dune Messiah*, and of the giant sand worms which haunt the desert landscapes. More elaborate and complex than preceding SF, Frank Herbert laid the foundations that made *Star Wars* and *Babylon 5* possible. Dan Simmon's *Hyperion* and David Zindell's *Neverness* launched even richer, more dazzling and thrilling galactic epics, but *Dune* retains its premiere place in the collective imagination. Decades after initial publication it is still the benchmark for popular SF, a book everyone should read, if only to know what everyone else is talking about. --*Gary S Dalkin* ### Review 'Unique among SF novels . . . I know nothing comparable to it except *The Lord of the Rings*.' (Arthur C. Clarke ) 'One of the landmarks of modern science fiction . . . an amazing feat of creation.' (Analog )From Publishers Weekly
This companion volume to Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction classic collects manuscript material, correspondence and cut chapters related to Dune as well as previously published Dune-related short stories coauthored by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. Particularly interesting are texts related to Dune's publication, including letters, reviews and press releases that acknowledge the dizzying scope of the ambitious novel. Its length meant that Herbert had a hard time placing it, and he ended up selling it to automotive-guide publisher Chilton, but its publication-and the awards it won-ushered in a new era for science fiction publishing. The sheer novelty of Dune stands in contrast to B. Herbert and Anderson's Spice Planet, an alternate Dune novelette constructed from Herbert's original notes and a by-the-numbers action-adventure of interest only in contrast to the book Herbert ultimately wrote. Three of B. Herbert and Anderson's short stories bridge some of the events in their coauthored novel prequels; the fourth takes place during one of the battles in Dune and provides an interesting point-of-view switch. Although this miscellany of material fails to cohere, the glimpse it provides into Herbert's thoughts and the difficulty of writing and publishing illuminate one of the most important SF novels ever published.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
This collection of essays, stories, and selections from Herbert's papers will certainly be high-priority reading for Dune fans. It includes two versions of Spice Planet, an unpublished novel containing many elements that later appeared in Dune, but that is a separate story. Of particular interest are the communications between Herbert, John Campbell, and others during and after the release of Dune and unpublished sequences from Dune and Dune Messiah. The collection also includes four short stories laid in the Butlerian Jihad era. Dune was a social and publishing phenomenon; it moved sf into general publishing (and marketing) awareness and spurred a wide public awareness of ecological balance. This account of its genesis should interest fans and students of popular culture. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Amazon.com Review
This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.
The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.
Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck
From Library Journal
Dune is to science fiction what The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy. Though fans believed they had bid a sad farewell to the sand planet of Arrakis upon Herbert's death in 1986, his son Brian has assumed writing the Nebula and Hugo award-winning series with the help of Kevin J. Anderson. But the original is always the most popular, and Ace here offers a good-quality hardcover complete with maps, a glossary, and appendixes. The book's huge fan base should expand even more thanks to a six-hour miniseries premiering on the Sci-Fi Channel later this year that is said to be more faithful to the book than David Lynch's truly awful 1984 feature film.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.