TwitterDum's Dune
Posted: 16 Mar 2010 19:39
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DUNE Universe
Review
by James C. Harwood
Visit the Wiki page for "Dune Universe" [Click Here]. I will make use of other Wiki listings for the Dune novels as an aid for this review.
The official Dune Novels website is [Click Here].
Introduction
This is not intended to be a "professional" book review, but rather a very "personal" review of the Dune novels - the Dune universe - and its significant impact on my life. So there will be some relating information about my life in the first part of this posting.
One of the reasons why I'm doing this now is because I will not likely live to see my next birthday. My esophagus is damaged beyond repair, and will continue to deteriorate until it fails and results in my death.
Also, until recently, I was not aware of the extreme hatred some Dune fans - fans of Frank Herbert's novels - have of the prequels and sequels written by Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert, and co-authored by Kevin J. Anderson. I posted in a special section at Twitter a tweet about my interest in seeing a TV series created, which would start with the first book of the Legends of Dune trilogy. I was severely attacked by a grossly immature troll who likes to flame the Dune prequels and sequels, and especially to flame Kevin J. Anderson without mentioning co-author Brian Herbert. The use of "McDune" to refer to the prequels and sequels made it look like a personal attack on Kevin J. Anderson as he was singled out. A second person at Twitter joined the attack on me, but his postings were a bit more reasonable and perhaps worthy of consideration and respect.
Anyway, I was never before aware of any Dune fans who hate the prequels and sequels as well as their authors. So far, they have been unable or unwilling or not had time yet to provide a list of top ten reasons or things they dislike about the Dune prequels and sequels. They have referred me to an excellent forum http://www.jacurutu.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; where they have posted their views, but I prefer to read a short simple list of specific complaints. It is my hope they will make use of the Comments section under this blog posting to do so, and to do so without the usual flaming troll language. To simply say those books are in general "crap" does not say what all they specifically don't like about them.
[My cousin, James Richard Jankus, from Kansas City, while visiting me here in Norman Oklahoma last weekend, also participated in the conflict at Twitter. One of the idiot trolls wrongfully claimed we are the same person. Jankus is same age as me, him born 7 February 1956, me born 5 March 1956, and we have many interests in common.]
* * *
Part 1 of 2: The Impact of Dune on My Life
I was born 5 March 1956 in Wichita Kansas, into a somewhat Christian family of Republicans in the oil business. I now consider myself to be "more spiritual than religious" as a Spiritual Universalist, rather than a Christian. Also, as a moderate centrist, I am now registered as an Independent voter here in Cleveland County for Norman Oklahoma.
The Harwood Oil Company bit the dust in 1965, so my father was forced to enter a new profession to be able to support our family. He became a life insurance salesman in 1966. My father made the decision in 1967 to donate his body upon death to the KU Medical Center for student doctors to make use of, and put it in his will that there be no grave site and no funeral for him.
At about 5:00am Thursday 16 May 1968, my father awakened me. He told me he would be going on another trip, and that it would be a very long time before my mother, sister, and I see him again, but that everything will be ok. He then left my bedroom, and I went back to sleep. At about 6:00am, I was awakened by the sound of my mother screaming. My sister, 8 years older than me, was away at college, so she was not there that morning. My mother could not awaken my father. There was no 911 back then. She called his doctor. I though it to be very surprising at how quick the doctor got there, as if he were expecting it. His exam of my father was surprisingly brief without any attempt made to revive him. The doctor claimed my father died at about 3:00am. I told the doctor my father talked to me at about 5:00am, so he could not have died earlier. I told the doctor what my father said about going away on a long trip. While the doctor insisted I had dreamed the encounter with my father, he had a look of anger and betrayal on his face. My father's body was then taken away in an ambulance to a location where it would be transferred to the KU Medical Center in Lawrence Kansas. However, his body never arrived there. His body vanished, along with all relating legal paperwork.
My father's sister, and two of their aunts, violated the legal will, held a funeral for him, and bought a grave site and a stone, even though there would never be a body to put there.
I was age 12 in 1968 when my father "died" at age 50.
I first read the novel DUNE by Frank Herbert during the summer of 1968. When I got to the part about the death of Paul's father, I was hooked on it.
* * *
My interest in science fiction began not from books but from shows such as "Lost In Space" and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" on TV.
DUNE was the first "thick" science fiction paperback novel I'd read up to summer of 1968. All previous science fiction novels I read were thin paperbacks. Also, most of them were obviously intended to be read by children, since I got them through a student book club, so DUNE was the first "adult" science fiction novel I read.
I was especially impressed by the kind of detail and amount of detail Frank Herbert put into the DUNE novel. Never before had I read a book with a section at the back like an encyclopedia to provide additional information. It amazed me that someone could create a whole "universe" like that completely apart from Earth. I decided then that I would someday write or at least try to write a science fiction novel with that kind and amount of detail in it. So reading DUNE is what inspired me to eventually write science fiction. Many years would pass before I'd have time to attempt writing my first novel.
* * *
I graduated from Wichita High School Southeast in 1974. I then attended WSU for one semester, and then KSU in Manhattan Kansas for one semester in 1975. Back in Wichita summer 1975, I began taking some business and drafting classes at Draughon's Business College, until that school closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy at the end of 1975. I was going to go into architectural drafting, but that kind of work triggered severe headaches if I were to attempt to do it for more than two hours at a time. As result, I went into a different profession, on the job training in electronics repair of coin operated amusement games and vending machines. That was my first profession from 1976 to 1986. My second profession was in parts department inventory control, shipping and receiving, and other warehouse work. Then during 1991, I served as a "soldier" in the Southern Division of The Salvation Army at Shreveport, mainly doing disaster relief work after floods and fires. My third profession began in 1992, first as night auditor of a hotel, and then as manager of a small motel.
* * *
Back during December 1975, while at Draughon's Business College, I encountered another student there, a man much older than me, who had an amazing resemblance to my father. A body was found covered on a gurney in a basement level of a hospital in St Louis Missouri in May 1968, which happened to be the same hospital where my father was born. There was no ID or paperwork with the body. A faint heartbeat was discovered. The man was still alive, but left covered there as if dead. He was in a coma for two years. After awakening, he had no memory of his past. He had to go through significant rehabilitation and reeducation. Although never identified, the only body delivered to that hospital the day he was found came from Wichita Kansas and should have gone to Lawrence Kansas. When well enough to do so, he returned to Wichita in search of his past, while then continuing his reeducation at Draughon's Business College.
It was never confirmed he was my father. My mother married my stepfather, a good man, in December 1971. Even if it were to be determined he is my father, he said he felt it would be wrong for him to reenter the life of my mother. When I told my mother about him, she already knew of the man but refused to talk to me about him. I had lunch with him at noon on Sunday 28 December 1975, and then we visited the empty grave site of Richard James Harwood. While there, and staring at the stone, he remarked, "It was just a mild case of death."
After Draughon's Business College suddenly closed at the end of 1975, I lost contact with that man. He vanished. I never saw him again.
* * *
I reread DUNE in 1976 when I finally bought and read DUNE MESSIAH.
I read most of the novels of Robert A. Heinlein, and he became my number one favorite author of all time.
In 1986, a group of religious fanatics began picketing the 7-Eleven stores in Wichita to protest the display of Playboy and other adult men's magazines in those stores. As result, I wrote an editorial against censorship, and it was published in The Wichita Beacon - or maybe it was The Wichita Eagle back then - Wichita had two newspapers - one for morning and one for evening, which eventually merged. The editorial I wrote included an excerpt from one of Heinlein's novels, Revolt In 2100, in particular the story titled "If This Goes On." My published editorial resulted in a significant boost in sales for that novel at bookstores in Wichita. The manager of one of the bookstores, which was also threatened by the religious fanatics because of its back wall display of men's magazines, sent a copy of my published editorial to Baen Books. It was then sent to Robert A. Heinlein, along with my name and address as listed in the Wichita telephone book. Robert was too ill at that time to do any writing himself, so he dictated everything to his wife, Virginia Heinlein. He signed a letter of thanks, and she mailed it to me. We exchanged two more letters, and he encouraged me to write my novel. After he died, I exchanged a couple of letters with Virginia Heinlein, and she was very happy that other fans as well as me were willing to correspond with her while she still lived on Bonny Doon Road.
* * *
I also became a fan of Spider Robinson and especially his "Callahan's" series of science fiction novels. I especially liked the kind of humor he put into those stories. His style of writing had significant influence on my style of writing. Read about "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" at Wiki [Click Here].
One other "thick" paperback science fiction novel and its author had significant influence on my style of writing, although I did not completely adopt his style of writing. "Dhalgren" by Samuel R. Delany. An example of it is at the website [Click Here]. Read about that novel at Wiki [Click Here]. I was impressed by how his style of writing, to present the ramblings of a madman, broke most of the rules of English.
I was also influenced by the science fiction novels co-written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, especially "The Mote on God's Eye" being one of my favorites.
I read DUNE for the third time, and DUNE MESSIAH for the second time, when I bought and read CHILDREN OF DUNE and GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE in 1986.
* * *
I finished one short story manuscript titled "HEREafter" and one novel length manuscript titled "The Ambassador to Earth" in 1988. I began submitting the short story to various science fiction magazines, and all rejected it without explanation. I began submitting the novel length manuscript to various literary agents, and to a few publishers who accepted submissions directly from writers. All publishers rejected it with the usual rejection notices that provided no reason given. Then one agent offered not to help me get it published, but to come to work for him as an apprentice literary agent. He was the retired head librarian of the Austin Public Library, and had started his own literary agency. He wanted to teach me the business and then sell the agency to me. I accepted and moved to Austin Texas in January 1989. He died two months later, and his wife who hated the business then shut it down. I eventually moved on to a job in Dallas for the rest of 1989 before returning to Wichita.
During my third profession, first as a hotel night auditor and then as a motel manager, I had time to continue my writing in 1992. Before the agent in Austin died, he convinced me that "HEREafter" should have been the novel and "The Ambassador to Earth" should have been the short story. Therefore, I expanded "HEREafter" and included the best chapter from "The Ambassador to Earth" because of how it could be tried in with the new version.
For ten years I submitted the new version of "HEREafter" to literary agents and a few publishers who accepted submissions directly from writers. I collected ten years of standard rejection form letters, none giving any reason for rejection.
I nearly died from iron absorption anemia on 9 January 1998. My hemoglobin count dropped to only 4.7 from what should have been 14.0. A doctor told me, "Human life cannot exist under 5.0 so right now we don't know what is keeping you alive." First, I replied, "What makes you think I'm human?" Then, after recalling the words of a man in December 1975, I remarked, "Perhaps it's just a mild case of death." I was then given an emergency blood transfusion of 3 pints of blood to save my life.
My mother died at age 70 in 1993. My stepfather died in 2000 and left me $5,000. I returned to college to take business and computer courses in 2001 and 2002 at the downtown campus of Wichita Area Technical College.
In June of 2002, I bought my first computer. I put MS Word 2000 on it, and used that to write a better version of "HEREafter" retitled with the subtitle "Book One: A Mild Case of Death."
My doctor caused me to believe I would likely die soon from my body no longer being able to absorb enough iron. Therefore, I decided to publish the novel through a print-on-demand [POD] publisher. It was published as a trade paperback in May 2003, and sold through websites like Amazon.com instead of being displayed at normal bookstores. The publisher, and websites listing it, did not know I put my email address in the book so that readers could contact me. So you see, I was getting emails from readers, but the publisher and websites claimed there had not been any sales, so I didn't have any money in royalties coming to me. After a year of being ripped off, I terminated the publisher and ordered the listing removed from all websites. I still own all rights.
In May 2004, it was republished as an ebook by a publisher in Australia. Amazon.com and other websites refused to list it, so it was only sold through the ebook publisher's website. Then in June 2006, that ebook publisher went out of business and shut down his website.
"HEREafter, Book One: A Mild Case of Death" became available as a free "blog novel" recently at my primary blog website [Click Here].
* * *
In June 2006, I bought new copies and reread...
DUNE
DUNE MESSIAH
CHILDREN OF DUNE
GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE
Then I bought and read for the first time...
HERETICS OF DUNE
CHAPRERHOUSE: DUNE
After that, I bought and read the DUNE "prequels" by Brian Herbert [son of Frank Herbert] and co-author Kevin J. Anderson, in the following order...
DUNE: THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD
DUNE: THE MACHINE CRUSADE
DUNE: THE BATTLE OF CORRIN
DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES
DUNE: HOUSE HARKONNEN
DUNE: HOUSE CORRINO
After I moved 3 May 2008 to Norman Oklahoma, I bought in hard cover as soon as it became available in bookstores...
PAUL OF DUNE
I also then bought in paperback and read the two DUNE "sequels" as follows...
HUNTERS OF DUNE
SANDWORMS OF DUNE
I have not read and have no plan to ever read...
THE WINDS OF DUNE
* * *
Review of each of the DUNE novels will be presented in "DUNE Universe - Review - Part 2 of 2" to be written and posted here later today.
* * *
Posted by James C. Harwood at 3/16/2010 08:51:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Brian Herbert, Dune, Frank Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, science fiction