Pick a GOOD author to continue the Dune series

[Lundse]

Neal Stephenson, hands down.

I love Gaiman, and What I have read of Ian M. Banks has some of that 70's science fiction flavour and... 'realism'? But Stephenson has the layers, the intrigue, and the drive for making the reader think for himself.

If he could collaborate with Ransom or McNelly, that would have been great.

Read Anathem; wonderful book, spins your head... And there are a few nods to Dune, if I interpret it correctly.

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/09 ... -step.html

/Lundse

PS: I am not getting paid for this.

[SandChigger]

I've nearly added Anathem to an Amazon order several times now....

Hmmm.

[cmsahe]

TheDukester IMO I do not feel that Dune needs of sequels of prequels, the finale is excellent, the Ithaca vanishing to who knows where, that's the Golden Path, the survival of mankind.

Six novels are enough.

..

Instead, they agree to hire a real writer. One with talent. One who will also value the Dune legacy. And, better yet, in this alternate reality, you are a member of the HLP ... and you've been asked for your opinion. You've been asked to submit a list of three names, and it's been hinted that you might just be casting the deciding vote.

Choose wisely, my friends. Who would you pick to continue the Dune series? (dun-dun-DUN!)

[TheDukester]

TheDukester IMO I do not feel that Dune needs of sequels of prequels ...

I don't, either. I never have and never will.

You've seriously misinterpreted the intent of this thread; it's just an exercise in idle speculation.

[SandChigger]

(Pssssst! The no-ship never had a name in the real Dune books. The name Ithaca is a McDune addition. One of the more stupid ones, IMHO. )

[cmsahe]

(Pssssst! The no-ship never had a name in the real Dune books. The name Ithaca is a McDune addition. One of the more stupid ones, IMHO. )

O shit! their crap has infected me! What can I do? I should have never read those Dune 7 episodes on line...

[SandChigger]

There is no cure except burning it from you with the fevered hate of hackery everywhere!

[cmsahe]

TheDukester IMO I do not feel that Dune needs of sequels of prequels ...

I don't, either. I never have and never will.

You've seriously misinterpreted the intent of this thread; it's just an exercise in idle speculation.

No, I understood it as you describe it. But FH died and anyone writing more novels wouldn't be able to write an authentic Dune novel.

[cmsahe]

There is no cure except burning it from you with the fevered hate of hackery everywhere!

Bi-la Kaifa!

[Ampoliros]

(Pssssst! The no-ship never had a name in the real Dune books. The name Ithaca is a McDune addition. One of the more stupid ones, IMHO. )

O shit! their crap has infected me! What can I do? I should have never read those Dune 7 episodes on line...

Simple, as the keepers of the torch of OH lets name it. What name do you think Frank Herbert had in mind for it? I'll go with Attitude of the Knife.

[TheDukester]

Mike Resnick?

Oh, I'm a pistol!

[SandChigger]

Oh ... goody. He came back.

FUN TIME.

[GamePlayer]

Okay, this is going to get good

[A Thing of Eternity]

Good times. Maybe we should make a little sample package of KJA's fabulous prose to illustrate the hacky-ness better for this idiot.

[SandChigger]

That's the problem, though, isn't it? Presumably this guy isn't a complete idiot.

So you have to at least wonder, what is it he sees that we don't?

Besides a tangled network of past give-and-take and mutual backscratching, I mean.

[Ampoliros]

Mike, have you read DUNE? I'd assume so. It won the Nebula. And the Hugo. Now 2 new authors have taken the reins, and driven it into the ground and turned an award-winning work into pulp fluff for kids.

If this is the opening move in positioning KJA for his own Nebula, you can (or should) imagine that most of us will be incredulous. I myself, and I imagine a few others here will read his award-winning work. If the award was gifted to him, rather than actually deserving of it based on it's own merit, then the Nebula's reputation will be cheapened.

I know I myself ridicule KJA's work outside his "Dune" stuff. If he writes a Sci-Fi work actually deserving of the Nebula or other awards, you'll see many jaw-drops here. It won't stop us hating what he's done to Dune.

I literally think this is pure and simple, a sales decision. KJA's edited volumes of "Tales from (Star Wars)" are iirc the best selling anthologies ever. He does have several edited editions under his belt.

However I think what the OH community feels is that this decision feels to us like a cheapening of the Nebula award. Because of the association of his name we will have a pre-judged opinion of course!

[Lolronica]

I'm with those who suggested Gene Wolfe, great writer, a little dark, but no more than Frank Herbert himself. Would go further, Wolfe is a similar writer in some ways and shares more than a few background points with FH. If the terrible twosome had asked before they published a huge volume of bullshit, the idea may have had a chance.

Haven't seen a thread about it here, but from reading prefaces and such, it seems the short stories in Road to Dune were originally intended as part of a collection where reputable SF authors would sign up and write their own pieces in the Dune setting. That plan is from about ten years ago, and can't see that they've had a single taker (understandable looking at what K&B do with it).

Who knows, without all of the rubbish, there may have been a chance of a really good anthology. All SF magazines I notice seem to be quite intent on ignoring the Dune pre-, se-, and interquels.

[SandChigger]

Yeah, Mr Teg and I were talking about that on the phone last weekend or so, specifically about the stuff in the House Atrocious afterword. It almost reads like KJA wormed his way in and the anthology went out the window.

When a bunch of us were still over on Dune Novels, we suggested that the HLP do some anthologies or even a fan fiction contest of their own. From comments he made in an interview (in 2009 I think, during or before the Jessica's Winds tour), it now looks more like it's Brian standing in the way of other authors writing in the Dune setting. I quoted him back when we did the fan fiction contest over the summer:

“[Short stories by other authors, done inside the Dune setting] ... would require a huge amount of fact-checking, so it would be easier for Kevin and I to just write short stories ourselves...” —Brian Herbert*


*Interview: Brian Herbert: The Chronicler Heir of Dune, by R.J. Carter, The Trades, Published: August 15, 2009. (Top)

Edit: spelling.

[Freakzilla]

So much for the fact checking.

[Lolronica]

Probably already cited here, but relevant to comments above. Even the Wikipedia entry for the short stories is written in passive voice to imply that the project 'by well-known authors actually went ahead (as is phrasing in the quote below), instead of becoming a few (six?) lame Macdunalds stories by Hackerson and Bribri.

BH: In 1996, I was approached by Ed Kramer. And Ed is an editor of anthologies. Ed talked me into editing an anthology of new Dune short stories written by well known authors. I reminded Ed that I didn't want to write a Dune book and I told him the reasons why. It was hallowed ground and my mother and father were a writing team and it should end right there. He convinced me to at least edit a collection of new short stories and one of the people invited was Kevin J. Anderson. Kevin said in a letter, "Not only would I love to write a Dune short story, but if I may be so bold as to suggest it, I'd be interested in writing a new novel."

[SandChigger]

Six?! WTF?! SHITTERHOOD will be the ELEVENTH McDune.

[Hunchback Jack]

IIRC, the anthology went belly-up before KJA met BH. Its demise may have even been the motivation for KJA to contact BH directly as a last ditch attempt to get on the gravy train.

HBJ

[lukecash12]

A passionate amateur who loved Dune, went to Harvard, and never could get a publisher to work with him. Hand him the notes, stick him in your basement and feed him the minimum number of calories per day. He will spend his days watching internet porn and researching for the book. After a year of procrastination, you expose him to the light. This will motivate him to write a book somewhat worthy of Frank Herbert's series, just maybe. And if you look in my basement:

[SandChigger]

Dismembered cats in various stages of decay? M'I right?



Fucking pretentious sod. Did we have a yawn smiley?

[Freakzilla]

A passionate amateur who loved Dune, went to Harvard, and never could get a publisher to work with him. Hand him the notes, stick him in your basement and feed him the minimum number of calories per day. He will spend his days watching internet porn and researching for the book. After a year of procrastination, you expose him to the light. This will motivate him to write a book somewhat worthy of Frank Herbert's series, just maybe. And if you look in my basement:

Why Harvard?