What have you done to spread the word?

orald · Post by **orald** » 27 Aug 2008 08:37

Do you tell people about the wonders of Dune and Frank Herbert?

Do you go from house to house converting people to Orthodox Herbertism?

Do you lecture unfortunate co-workers about the differences between the Lynch movie and the books?

Well, I don't, as much as it might surprise you.

I'm usually surrounded by idiots who won't understand it anyway, or might look askew at the "sci-fi" tag on the books.

But today, after mentioning Dune to my(hottie) dentist, I brought the book along. Unfortunately it's the Hebrew translation, since I don't own an English copy, and she's still not too proficient in Hebrew I guess(though she's long since lost her accent, she's Romanian) so she declined it and will persue after an English copy.
Instead, the(hottie) assistant took it, so maybe she'll be converted.

I was also prudent(?) enough to mention there are only six books and that the new ones are abominable shit.

I'm thinking of buying the dentist an English copy too sometime next month after I get my salary.

Any interesting conversion tales to tell?

chanilover · Post by **chanilover** » 27 Aug 2008 11:04

No one seems interested, it must be the way I explain it. Even when I watched the TV miniseries with my other half, he just kept calling me a geek and saying it was a pile of shit.

Harumph. The world is full of philistines (despite your ancestors' attempts to wipe them out, Orald).

Post by **Freakzilla** » 27 Aug 2008 11:21

Trying to discuss Dune with a woman [usually] is a long shot at best. If you find one that's truely interested you'd better grab her.

Serkanner · Post by **Serkanner** » 27 Aug 2008 13:13

Freakzilla wrote:Trying to discuss Dune with a woman [usually] is a long shot at best. If you find one that's truely interested you'd better grab her.

I did .. I did ... we are together for four years already. I managed to get her truly sci-fi addicted

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » 27 Aug 2008 13:15

In high school, I converted two female friends and one male one to the OH legacy.

One of the girls finished the entire series and loved it, one got through it all except Chapterhouse, but couldn't quite finish that one. The guy is still trying to get through God Emperor. In his words, "There's just so much in there, after reading a chapter I have to put it down. Too much to think about."

I also got someone who sort of liked the prequels to denounce KJA and BH after a rereading of the classic six.

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 27 Aug 2008 13:51

While I can't officially tell people "This book sucks" at my job (Major Book retailer) I am in the position to tell them, "Start Here, Stop there."

Tyrant · Post by **Tyrant** » 27 Aug 2008 15:54

I have bestowed the gift of dune upon one of my world of warcraft friends...she had never read them... and she is extremely intelligient in alot of ways so i told her about them...she loves them .... she's read them twice this year already..and she started less than 6 months ago ...and i warned her about the kja/bh crap...and she is too scared to read them...even though i told her she should anyway just to see how bad they are ....but i dont think she's going too ....her favorite book is also mine..God Emperor of Dune ...funny that our favorite is the saddest book in the series

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 27 Aug 2008 16:42

saddest? Its why I want to go into politics! I'd be a good benevolent dictator...

Spicelon · Post by **Spicelon** » 27 Aug 2008 16:59

GEoD is an acquired taste, but once acquired assumes a position of
dominance.

Or so I'd like to think.

The Sons of Idaho · Post by **The Sons of Idaho** » 27 Aug 2008 17:06

Lord knows I try... but with no luck so far.

For a while, I ranted about it so much that my friends all got pretty sick of hearing about it - how ingenious Dune is and how it applies to this or that in life. Unfortunately, I ranted so much for a while, that now if I mention Dune to my friends, they take it as a joke - they immediately don't take it seriously and kinda tune it out (I'm ashamed to say I kinda hurt the cause- I turned them off it by overdoing it). Not having anyone who would listen to my ramblings is what eventually led me to DN, and then here.

I'm not discouraged though. I recently gave my copies of 1-3 to my brother as a going away present (he just joined the army). I also bought a complete paperback set as a gift for my dad's birthday (Which he DID start reading). I probably have the most hope for my dad if anyone. He is a pretty smart guy, and has a masters in theology, which is fitting for a Dune fan, I think. He also introduced me to Tolkien when I was a boy, so I think a gift of Dune is a worthy payback.

Nekhrun · Post by **Nekhrun** » 27 Aug 2008 19:56

I spread the good word on Facebook and Amazon. I also have about 15 kids a year read it and a few go on to read the rest of FH's Dune books. 1 read the prequels and came into school yelling at me about how shitty they were. I tried to warn him.

Anathema · Post by **Anathema** » 29 Aug 2008 14:04

I once bought someone an English copy as a birthday present, but I don't think he ever read it. In retrospect I think I should have gotten him a Dutch translation because I think it could be an issue of laziness with him.

I lent out my own copy to a couple of different people, two of them returned it with the excuse they hadn't gotten around to reading it. One of them said he liked it but I never had an actual discussion with him about Dune so he might just be saying it out of politeness.

I'm a lousy missionary

orald · Post by **orald** » 29 Aug 2008 15:01

chanilover wrote:The world is full of philistines (despite your ancestors' attempts to wipe them out, Orald).

Sadly, the first part of your sentence is correct.
However, nowhere in the bible were the philistines been the target of genocidal attacks by the Hebrews. Trust me, I've read that shit way more than you have.

Maybe I'll try giving my book to a co-worker who isn't as dumb as the rest of them, once(and if?) I get it back from the assistant.

I hope it won't follow my Two Towers copy's way into obscure oblivion(long story that involved me being taken to hospital with appendicitis during watch duty in the army- you'd think the fuckers would notice this huge conspicous book near all my other stuff, but oh nooooo!).

trang · Post by **trang** » 29 Aug 2008 19:38

Along with joining Dune and Sci-fi discussion boards on Facebook, TBD, Shelfari I have shared the book with six people in the past two years. We talked about it at work ( I have since moved to another job, limited access to people, but doing what I can) and in emails.

I almost have it down to a science, I think most of them see the passion in my eyes, heart, and delivery, that convince's them. Sharing Dune is more like a mentoring program than just reccomending a book.

Dune is another language to these people, even some veteran Sci Fi readers who never took the plunge with FH. They need someone to help them aquire it (most folks work thru it in the first 150 pages of the first book) afterwords its pretty easy.

You have to keep them informed of how the flow goes, and keep them talking about it as they move forward.

I might not be as Cerebral as some, and maybe more so than others, but I feel Im doing my part, and will continue into the future. The reward is seeing the delight in the eyes of the people you share it with.

Dune is an everyday thing for me, and will remain that way till I meet FH on the other side.

Fairday,
Trang

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » 30 Aug 2008 18:44

I've successfully converted a lot of people to Dune nerddom. Mostly on the internet, though.

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 31 Aug 2008 02:58

Mandy wrote:I've successfully converted a lot of people to Dune nerddom. Mostly on the internet, though.

Fear of the deadly nipples no doubt

Rob

SpacemanSpiff · Post by **SpacemanSpiff** » 01 Sep 2008 15:35

Convinced my wife to give it a try.

Ghost · Post by **Ghost** » 04 Sep 2008 10:14

orald wrote:Do you tell people about the wonders of Dune and Frank Herbert?

Of course, even more when i can i post a pic of my entire Dune compilation so the people can see them and tell how great i'm.

orald wrote:Do you go from house to house converting people to Orthodox Herbertism?

No, the last thing that i tried was to try to name my son-to-born daughter as Alia or Jessica, i failed miserably.

orald wrote:Do you lecture unfortunate co-workers about the differences between the Lynch movie and the books?

No, they are like Futars, ones is commie and the other vegan, dont want intorduce them to this wonderfull universe

orald wrote:Well, I don't, as much as it might surprise you.
I'm usually surrounded by idiots who won't understand it anyway, or might look askew at the "sci-fi" tag on the books.

Had the same feeling.

Secher Nbiw · Post by **Secher Nbiw** » 06 Sep 2008 10:02

I find it easier to convince women to pick up Dune...

Religious people tend to like it because it's provocative and centers around the principles of faith. One girl, an old classmate of mine, got all religious one day and after a year or so we started to talk about random stuff, and the subject of books came up. My argument was that Dune took the religious experience and expanded it. She borrow my copy, read it, and then decided to buy the first three books.

She felt compelled. Where I took the book as a very cynical view towards religion and faith in general, she took it as a hopeful view on the matter. Detailing the diffirence between faith and religion, and how false gods are a danger to us all, but also how religious institutions will always try to trap us.

Emancipated women seem to really like the idea that women are the driving force behind everything. I convinced a couple of girls to read it because the whole issue of gender was adressed. They agreed with me after reading it. Noting that the male character were ultimately flawed and weak, while the female characters represented order and stability, and were presented as the true power behind society. Men destroy, women build. Those girls tended to drop it with God Emperor, too phallic, too male-oriented despite the role of Siona and Hwi. I tried to convince them, but they disagreed vehemently. Siona was too impetious and she was being taught by a man how to be a woman, and Hwi was literally a man's creation to please another man. And Leto was just too obvious.

I convinced others to read it by promoting it as a very pointed observation on how current attitudes are towards oil and power. That tended to do well with the more political types. Telling them that the book was written in the sixties gave the whole thing (especially after 9-11) a bit more of a push, making it have a weird prophetic tone to it all.

I managed to convince one muslim to read it. Basically it's: "Muslims in Space" and it was written ages ago. Which managed to convince that guy of trying it.

Most people who've read it loved it. About the sequels they tend to come in a wide variety, ranging from loving them, to hating them.

My mother loved Dune, liked Messiah and Children, but hated God Emperor, and found Heretics and Chapterhouse to be too far removed from the original to still be as entertaining. To her those last three books weren't "Dune" anymore.

My cousin and uncle both read it, though my uncle isn't in love with it. He ranks Lord of the Rings higher, but finds Dune to be of considerable quality. My cousin is basically the same, but will be more vocal in favour of Dune on occaision.

But yeah... I'm pimping Dune like there's no tomorrow...

J A C U R U T U

What have you done to spread the word?

What have you done to spread the word?

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