Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Me! I could do better than KJA, Just watch me go!

trang wrote:1. Robert Silverberg (personal favorite)

Same here. I have more Silverberg books on my shelf than any other author.

I left him off my list, though, because his output has slowed so dramatically. I think he's pretty much going to go quietly from this point, serving as an anthology editor and cashing his royalty checks. And more power to him; he deserves it.

A younger Silverberg, though, would be a brilliant choice. And he's done the "dead author" thing before, most notably with Isaac Asimov, a man he actually met and considered a friend, unlike Kevin "I Never Actually Even Met Frank Herbert" Anderson.

Matthew Stover and Richard Morgan are way to much "thriller" writers to do Dune justice, I love their work but it's just not right. Bill Ransom would be my number one choice, but he's dead, so I'd vote Ian M Banks - his "voice" is the closest to FH's that I've read in a while and he's a great all-round writer.

Are you sure Ransom is dead? Do you have a link?

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Bill Ransom would be my number one choice, but he's dead,

Is he? I don;t think so....
http://www.sfwa.org/members/ransom/

Agreed though - I think Ascension Factor was pretty much all him, but it still reads like a FH story.

Crysknife wrote:Are you sure Ransom is dead? Do you have a link?

... ooops. I was thinking of McNelly.

I did have in my head that Ransom was dead though - if he's alive then WHY THE FUCK ISN'T HE WRITING THE NEW DUNE? That BH would have the possibility of collaborating with someone who actually wrote with FH, and was capable of capturing FH's voice to the point where you'd swear he was channeling a ghost if you believed in such things, but chose to not write with him (to be fair, maybe Ransom wasn't interested) makes my very sad indeed.

That's a fair and interesting question. It should be asked by someone who hasn't been beaten with Byron's ban-stick ...

It wouldn't surprise me, though, if Bri-Bri the Airplane Guy and the snake-oil salesman holding his leash pretty much wanted to eliminate anyone who could get in the way of their "vision." So they do everything they can to discredit the Dune Encyclopedia, then they ignore the fact that Ransom is, like, right there.

Once that's taken care of, they are free to write hundreds of chapters with zap-guns, FTL ships, and Bene Jedi without any fear of contradiction ... and they never have to hear the voice of reason from someone with the authority to say, "Guys, this sucks."

Like I said though, it could simply be that Ransom wasn't interested. Writing Ascension Factor was probably very emotionally draining and finishing it maybe would have felt like the real end of writing with FH... that's probably how I would feel anyways if my friend died and I had to finish a project we were working on by myself, I don't know if I'd have it in me to go back and try and add on to his greatest works posthumously.

Someone should put the question to Byron though as to whether Ransom was even asked if he'd want to be involved, which would have (IMO) been the right thing for BH to do.

When all else fails: William Tenn.

Last I checked he was still alive...

Have posted this before, but....

From my last wade around in Dreamer, I kinda wonder if there wasn't/isn't a bit of jealousy of Ransom on Brian's part. Nothing specific that Brian writes, just the things he writes about.

Ranson and he are about the same age, and FH seemed to get along fantastically with Ransom at a time in their lives when Brian and Frank weren't.

Is Brian the sort of person to hold a grudge all this time? He's definitely the sort who won't get on an airplane of any size after a near-accident on a small one decades ago: what do you think?

Sole Man wrote:When all else fails: William Tenn.

Last I checked he was still alive...

I think he's still kicking.

http://dpsinfo.com/williamtenn/

I once sent Ransom an email after I read the Jesus Incedident. I asked if he was ever approached about doing a dune book and he said he hadn't been , and would have probably turned it down anyway. He said it was great writing with Frank, but that Dune was a masterpiece and he wasn't sure he was worthy to touch it. I am paraphrasing here because I don't have the original email.

A Thing of Eternity wrote:

Crysknife wrote:Are you sure Ransom is dead? Do you have a link?

... ooops. I was thinking of McNelly.

I did have in my head that Ransom was dead though - if he's alive then WHY THE FUCK ISN'T HE WRITING THE NEW DUNE? That BH would have the possibility of collaborating with someone who actually wrote with FH, and was capable of capturing FH's voice to the point where you'd swear he was channeling a ghost if you believed in such things, but chose to not write with him (to be fair, maybe Ransom wasn't interested) makes my very sad indeed.

my interpretation of the events leading to BH and KJA linking up are that KJA contacted BH and talked him into the venture. BH was not comfortable with the idea before that.

This is just an interpretation from the interviews online etc.

Maybe no-one else was asked because KJA made the opportunity for himself?

<edit>bad grammar as always!</edit>

Before then? I think he's still uncomfortable with it.

I also happen to think KJA has him tied up in his basement and has a Sadomaschitic sexual relationship with him.

One of our early podcasts was going to feature a section like that...but Teg thought it might be too much.

Sole Man wrote:Before then? I think he's still uncomfortable with it.

too true...

Not to try and keep pushing my pick, but I found this awesome quote about Gene Wolfe:

"Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today. Let me repeat that: Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today! I mean it. Shakespeare was a better stylist, Melville was more important to American letters, and Charles Dickens had a defter hand at creating characters. But among living writers, there is nobody who can even approach Gene Wolfe for brilliance of prose, clarity of thought, and depth in meaning."
-Michael Swanwick, Nebula and Hugo award winner

SandChigger wrote:One of our early podcasts was going to feature a section like that...but Teg thought it might be too much.

Haha...surely you jest

Personally, i don't think i would have objected much if any more Dune was written by Simmons, Silverberg or, to an extent, King (as long as he wrote with someone else. I love the guy's stuff, but he has a tendancy to waffle a bit at the end). If th HLP wanted to carry on Dune, they could have done a hell of a lot worse then these guys. Oh, wait, they fucking did.

NEIL GAIMAN. He has expressed several times in interviews his love for the series & in particular duncan Idaho's character. He would probably be the only professional author i know of that i would trust. although who was the person who did the fanfic a few years back? They had actually nailed it and focosed on the face dancers for the 'final' book. I forgot the title? but it was actually pretty good.

MICAH wrote:although who was the person who did the fanfic a few years back?

Kevin J. Anderson.

MICAH wrote:NEIL GAIMAN. He has expressed several times in interviews his love for the series & in particular duncan Idaho's character. He would probably be the only professional author i know of that i would trust. although who was the person who did the fanfic a few years back? They had actually nailed it and focosed on the face dancers for the 'final' book. I forgot the title? but it was actually pretty good.

Dune Advent?

Marco van Leeuwen

http://www.usul.net/fandom/marco/frames.html

I thought it was pretty good too. It was more Dune than KJA squeeze.

C.S. Friedman. In Conquest Born owed so much to Herbert. I think she could pull it off.

R. Scott Bakker - currently reading his Prince of Nothing trilogy, and the the way he uses language just makes me think of Herbert.

Sole Man wrote:Me! I could do better than KJA, Just watch me go!

Sadly, you might just be right...