Frank Herbert and McNelly First Butlerian Jihad Chapter

[Serkanner]

"I can't remember exactly what I was thinking at that particular moment," Brian said ...

Pure comedy gold!

... indeed it is.

[Secher_Nbiw]

Two weeks after that phone call Brian found himself, along with an estate attorney and the bank manager, covering their ears as two safety deposit boxes were drilled open for lack of any keys.

Exactly, I knew it was from Byron! I was searching for it.

Lack of any keys....I was thinking that maybe after BH received the call he searched for a key, but didnt found it.

But why KJA would be wrong in such a trivial information? If the box hadnt any key why he would say BH came upon a key to open it?

strange...

KJA contradicting himself:

After we had decided what to do, we met together in Brian's Seattle home, brainstormed the whole "Prelude to Dune" trilogy -- and THEN the Herbert estate lawyer called to say he had discovered an old safe deposit box key that had belonged to Frank. Inside the box was, among other things, the full and complete outline for Dune 7, the climactic novel Frank had intended to write. Later, while clearing out his garage to convert part of it into a writing office, Brian also found a large box of Dune notes Frank had stored there years before. Suddenly, we were faced with an overwhelming amount of material, clues, details, storylines, quotes-all of which we have incorporated into our books.

http://www.wormholebook.com/interviews/brian_kevin.htm

Erm is it just me, or does this suggest and admittance of guilt over trying to re-write Dune?

[Frybread]

I feel pretty confident that there are some notes; I just doubt that they were very extensive or that they were followed to any degree.

This is kinda what I believe. <i>If</i> these notes even exist I bet they are very early notes that FH scribbled without much thought. Kind of like brainstorming notes with no structure before he would have refined them and made them into an outline or storyboard.

[SandChigger]

Obvious problem with the safety deposit boxes story:

How current/up-to-date were the outline and notes in the boxes? If FH was making frequent trips to the bank, doesn't it stand to reason that someone in the family (Brian, new wife Theresa?) would have noticed and asked about/looked into it? (As his own health failed, how often would he have felt like making the trip?)

I've never seen any mention of any attempt to date the contents of the boxes. Anyone?

[GamePlayer]

So, did you get an answer on DN or was the post deleted?

[Ampoliros]

I'm sure all the answers we are asking for will be revealed in the New BH/KJA Pentology; Dune: House Anderson's Limited Facilities.

No but really its not a lie, he did find a page with Dune 7 among some recipes, he just playfully omitted the rest of the title: Dune 7-grain bread.

I'm sure that they will just retconn it that they found the keys inside the box, after they drilled into it. so then they did have a key for the other box.





Seriously, just admit that KJA called you and begged to write Dune since he was getting kicked out of Star Wars EU for being utter crap. You embellished the existing notes to lend credibility to his work in order to sell the new books to a publisher. Sigh, don't we all feel better now?

[Omphalos]

No but really its not a lie, he did find a page with Dune 7 among some recipes, he just playfully omitted the rest of the title: Dune 7-grain bread.

Dude, that is fucking hilarious!

[SandChigger]

Definitely.

You know it's really something like that.

Like how in Sadworms they quoted the Publisher's Weekly review of Grunters as

"Entertaining."

There was MUCH more to it than that.

[A Thing of Eternity]

Dune 7-grain bread

[Ampoliros]

'Entertaining' is a word i use to tell people who are hyped about something that I didn't find it to be a total waste of my time, but it was close.

I hate the circus, but I'm sure it's 'Entertaining'. Thats what the fucking Circus is for.

KJA is "Entertaining". I really enjoy bashing his books online.

[SandChigger]

There's yet another slightly different account of events by Brian at the end of Dreamer of Dune (535-6; emphasis added):

Then eleven years after the death of my father I began to consider the possibility of writing new Dune novels in collaboration with the noted science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson.* We were trying to figure out what Dad had in mind for "Dune 7," the book he was just beginning to think about when he passed away. That novel would have been a direct sequel to Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. In Chapterhouse: Dune, the Honored Matres—the dark side of the Bene Gesserit—were laying waste to much of the galaxy, destroying planets, killing our Bene Gesserit heroines, driving them back. But something else was out there in the galaxy as well, somethig terrible that was chasing the Honored Matres . . . and Frank Herbert did not reveal what it was.

He left us with a tantalizing mystery.

A short while after beginning my discussions with Kevin, I was contacted by an estate attorney and informed of the existence of two safety deposit boxes that had belonged to my father. For years they had slipped under the proverbial radar screen, and had been languishing in a bank vault in Bellevue, Washington. An attorney inventoried the contents of the boxes, and found old-style computer disks and comprehensive notes on "Dune 7"—the grand finale of the series. This was a tremendous surprise to all of us, since we didn't know that my father had made any notes at all. As if this was not enough, we subsequently located more than fifteen hundred pages of working notes that Dad had been using to write the entire series—notes that were in manuscript boxes inside a storage room.


*For more details on our collaboration, refer to the Afterword of Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Notice the main difference between this and the passages quoted by Freak earlier:

Here it doesn't sound like Brian was present for the opening of the boxes; earlier he was present when they drilled them.

The "fifteen hundred pages" of notes were in a "storage room"; earlier they were in Brian's garage; elsewhere they're in the attic of his garage.

And again, something I can't help think is significant: "...we didn't know that my father had made any notes at all."

What to think? Does anyone believe anything these people say anymore?

Anyway, we now have a location for the bank: Bellevue, Washington, across Lake Washington from Seattle.

I guess it's time to do some googling and write some emails, huh?

[Lisan Al-Gaib]

...and found old-style computer disks and comprehensive notes on "Dune 7"

Two and half pages outline doesnt seems to be comprehensive notes.

[TheDukester]

Does anyone believe anything these people say anymore?

I don't. Not a word.

Seriously, I do think Brian is somewhat ... uh ... let's say "addled" ... and KJA is a too-slick used-car salesman. Not only do I not believe a word that comes out of either of their mouths, I honestly don't think Brian does any writing for the series. The books read exactly like KJA's other space opera dreck.

The whole thing is a cash-grab, pure and simple. Bri-Bri has the correct name; KJA can "write" quickly; the HLP sells out FH for a few paychecks.

[Ampoliros]

well its all reflexive of Frank's foreshadowing of what happens when great power is inherited. Frank was Muad'dib, BH is Alia and KJA is the "Fat Evil" Baron.

[Rakis]

well its all reflexive of Frank's foreshadowing of what happens when great power is inherited. Frank was Muad'dib, BH is Alia and KJA is the "Fat Evil" Baron.

Nah, you give BH and KJA too much credit...

I think they fit the role of Omniboss and Eranus a lot more...

[Raveem]

well its all reflexive of Frank's foreshadowing of what happens when great power is inherited. Frank was Muad'dib, BH is Alia and KJA is the "Fat Evil" Baron.

The fat evil baron is a genius. What you mean is the fat disgusting dumb caricature of the baron seen in the Lynch film. BH is to FH what the Lynch baron is to the book baron.