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Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 20 May 2010 11:22
by lotek
http://www.sffworld.com/authors/m/merri ... ives1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here we go :lol:
My first clear memory of my grandpa was when he lived in Port Townsend on Ivy Drive near a wooded cove surrounded by pines and water. It was June of 1972 and I was seven years old.
"Do you know what those big white letters on the cover say?" he asked.
I scanned the book's surface and saw the letters he was referring to. "Fffrrrannnk Herrrbbberrt," I said, then looked up in astonishment. "That's your name!"
No wonder he can't understand Dune if at 7 he read like a 4 year old :)
My memory spun back to the meeting in Grandpa's study when I was seven. "I write." I had no idea what that truly meant... until now.
I believe it is "until then" ;)
Unless... no he can't have meant what now means :(
I spent several summers with Grandpa after that and learned a lot from him. I took him stories I'd written and watched as he meticulously went over them. He would give me pointers on plot structure, the use of adjectives, and many other things that helped me weave tales. But I could never create a world as complex as his no matter how hard I tried. It seemed an impossible feat to create, as my Uncle Brian Herbert said of the original Dune novel in his Afterword to Dune: House Atreides - "a magnum opus that stands as one of the most complex, multilayered novels ever written." How did Grandpa do it? What grain of sand wafted into that brain of his, creating such an incredibly textured universe?
again poor understanding of how art works in general, it is not some form of spontaneous creation, talent needs research and work to create a masterpiece(otherwise you're just a hack with delusions of grandeur)
After Grandpa's death, I still hadn't realised how important he was. I missed him terribly, an emptiness that one feels when a family loses someone close to them. What I hadn't realised was how it would affect others
wow...
almost felt empathy there, but...
he last Dune novel Grandpa wrote, Chapterhouse Dune, ended on a cliffhanger, promising something greater and more profound in the final book. [...] Besides, [Brian] didn't know exactly where his dad was going with the Dune series before he died.
After more haranguing by agents and publishers, Brian was contacted by an editor who introduced Brian to [...] best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, and they began throwing ideas around. After months of painstaking research and deliberation, they decided to start setting the groundwork for three prequels to the original Dune (Dune: House Atreides, Dune: House Harkonnen, and Dune: House Corrino), but still had no clear idea how the final book should end. What did Frank Herbert have in mind for 'Dune 7'?
Next Page
:puke:
"Just keep a backup copy of everything you write off premises," Brian told me he had said to his father on several occasions. "It was the insurance agent in me talking," he recalled later. "Fire, flood, or any number of disasters could have ruined his work if he wasn't careful. Little did I know he would take my advice to the extreme." Brian's advice would bear fruit he couldn't have imagined.
did the housemaid in him advise Frank to clean up his notes?
In the middle of June 1997, my own mother (Penny Merritt) called me. There was an air of excitement in her voice. We went through the usual 'how are you' and 'I'm fine how are you' type conversation, then I finally had to ask:
"What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to sound calm and collected, but failing miserably.
"Mom. What's going on?"
"Oh honey, it's just wonderful," she said in a quavering voice.
"What is?"
"We've found notes for a seventh Dune book. They were discovered in a safety deposit box in Seattle after all these years."
and you know what that means dontcha?
Kaaching'!!
Image

The rest is history!

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 20 May 2010 11:37
by Nekhrun
I'd like to see what those tips about adjectives were that he gave Byron. Maybe we could forward them on to Keith.

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 20 May 2010 11:47
by TheDukester
That whole story has changed so many times. Keith and the HLP should just put "Professional Liars" on their business cards.

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 20 May 2010 14:52
by MrFlibble
Nekhrun wrote:I'd like to see what those tips about adjectives were that he gave Byron. Maybe we could forward them on to Keith.
Well spoken :lol:

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 20 May 2010 14:57
by merkin muffley
MrFlibble wrote:
Nekhrun wrote:I'd like to see what those tips about adjectives were that he gave Byron. Maybe we could forward them on to Keith.
Well spoken :lol:
Yes.

It's so frustrating.

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 24 May 2010 00:02
by SandRider
say, quit bumping up that cocksucker's view count and making him think somebody
other than us pays any attention to his babbling .... read all Merritt's bullshit
here, and bump the archive's viewcount ...

http://tau.solahpmo.com/viewforum.php?f=623" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 24 May 2010 02:36
by SandChigger
I don't think that's view4all, is it? :?

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 24 May 2010 02:37
by Omphalos
Indeed it tis.

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 24 May 2010 02:57
by SandChigger
Then why is the T(A)U board insisting I log in first? :?

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 24 May 2010 03:13
by SandRider
you've pissed off The Tidwell ..... :dance:

Re: Frank Herbert Lives by Byron Merritt

Posted: 24 May 2010 12:40
by Omphalos
Ah! Probably has to do with permission settings, and not that I've hidden it. I obviously need to set it so that unregistereds have the right to see. Will figure it out later tonight. This damn board is a lot more sophisticated than the last one. I always miss shtuff like that.