DUNE DISCUSSION FORUM FOR ORTHODOX HERBERTARIANS
http://www.jacurutu.com/
Hunchback Jack wrote:That first answer is just amazing. What was he thinking?
On the face of it, he disqualifies himself from from even having an opinion.merkin muffley wrote:It's still amazing, he's got contempt for writing and literature. This is the worst person they could've possibly brought into this thing.Hunchback Jack wrote:That first answer is just amazing. What was he thinking?
Yeah, "Me" is the answer I would have expected.D Pope wrote:On the face of it, he disqualifies himself from from even having an opinion.merkin muffley wrote:It's still amazing, he's got contempt for writing and literature. This is the worst person they could've possibly brought into this thing.Hunchback Jack wrote:That first answer is just amazing. What was he thinking?
My bet is that he's making a thoughtless attempt at diplomacy, doesn't want to 'discredit' anyone or pin himself down with an answer he can't defend. Chances are he simply couldn't think of a suitably impressive answer, or he recognized the error of giving an honest response,"Why, i'm the greatest writer of all time!"
Landsraad Website Interview : June 11, 2002In a forward to House Atreides, Brian Herbert mentions that he will use Frank Herbert’s notes to someday write a Dune 7 novel, thereby completing the storyline of Chapterhouse: Dune. Will you be involved in that project and can you share any details?
I'll definitely be writing it with him -- that was the project that originally made me contact Brian. We have the outline for the Grand Finale and how it wraps up all the storylines, so we are laying the basis for much of it in our prequels. However, the Grand Finale should really be the last one...why go back and fill in a few more holes after we write THE END?
We still have the Legends of Dune trilogy to finish -- THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD, THE MACHINE CRUSADE, and THE BATTLE OF CORRIN -- and we also want to write the early years of Paul Atreides. THE MACHINE CRUSADE is written and is now in its third draft, so we're right on schedule.
Those most familiar with Herbert’s original works notice historical differences with the original Dune novels and the prequels. One example is the secret Zensunni faith of the Tleilaxu being quite well known in
the prequels. Were these differences intentional?
I don't believe there is any mention of the Tleilaxu Buddislamic faith -- secret or otherwise -- before HERETICS (or possibly GOD-EMPEROR...I don't have my books in front of me), which take place many thousands of years after DUNE. That's like questioning why religions and cultures have changed in the time since the peoples who survived the last Ice Age on Earth. In the intervening millennia, who knows what kind of social or political upheavals may have occurred in the already-insular Tleilaxu society?
We did not do any "intentional historical differences," but conversely DUNE readers should not study the novels with blinders on. Frank Herbert did not believe in absolutes. (As soon as HOUSE ATREIDES was published, people started squawking because we had introduced no-field technology before it was time...but by HOUSE CORRINO that is all neatly explained. Same with the identity of Jessica's mother -- which came straight from Frank's notes, by the way -- all contradictions are resolved by the end of the trilogy.) Honest, we do have a plan and we're looking at the overall series, not one little piece at a time. Sit back and wait for the end of the story.
There is quite a fanatical legion of Dune fans online. Do you and Brian Herbert ever visit Dune sites on the Internet?
I know there are quite a few wonderful and devoted fans online, but unfortunately there is also a handful of people, "the surly bunch," who need, er, social adjustment lessons! Before HOUSE ATREIDES was even published, a dozen or so of these surly Dune fans launched their own crusade to trash our prequels -- they uploaded horrendous postings about the books (which none of them had ever read, since it wasn't available anywhere), then they posted dozens and dozens of one-star hate-mail reviews of the novel on amazon.com (again, before anybody had ever read the book); they called Brian the "illegitimate son of Frank Herbert" and "the antichrist" and I was "the Dummy of Dune." We were both rather shocked at this unfair reaction, and Brian stewed over it for a long time -- that's why he ended up terminating his e-mail account.
We were doing this out of a sincere love for the series, and this was the legacy Frank had left to his son. To see so much vitriol from know-nothings [I'm not being snide: that's by-definition, since none of them had bothered to read the book before trashing it], was very disappointing to me...but I had seen the same phenomenon with STAR WARS and X-FILES. I am very pleased to say that some of those surly trashers had the decency to write us genuine letters of apology after they had read HOUSE ATREIDES.
I mean, we have put huge amounts of work and soul and energy into this project, and the books have won various awards, critical acclaim, fans-choice awards, even selected as New York Times Notable books. So, I think we really did the best we could. All that said, the "web fan" experience has sort of soured us to some of the fanatical online communities. We respect their right to an opinion, even if
they don't like the books we write...but at least have the decency to be objective and read the books before you form an opinion. We're not trying to do better than Frank Herbert -- how is that possible? -- but we are carrying on his legacy, finishing the stories he himself wanted to write [hey, I would *rather* he had lived to write them!], and we are introducing a whole new generation of readers to the overall DUNE epic.
KJA wrote: If the author cannot make his work comprehensible and engaging, then I feel no obligation to keep reading.
KJA wrote:they don't like the books we write...but at least have the decency to be objective and read the books before you form an opinion.
How's that for cherrypicking?KJA wrote:-- all contradictions are resolved by the end of the trilogy.) Honest, we do have a plan and we're looking at the overall series, not one little piece at a time. Sit back and wait for the end of the story.
That implies anything he does has literaty merit. How about "boil on the ass of entertainment?"Freakzilla wrote:KJA: Boil on the Ass of Literature.
I like where you're going, but it has to be taken a step further.Omphalos wrote:That implies anything he does has literaty merit. How about "boil on the ass of entertainment?"Freakzilla wrote:KJA: Boil on the Ass of Literature.
Of course he did. He's a socially retarded man-child. He's the same guy who has stewed over some minor incident with an airplane for nearly 40 years.Unspeakable Hack wrote:Brian stewed over it for a long time ...
If this is even true. It's certainly a convenient fiction, if it's not. If it is true, it's just more evidence that Bobo Herbert has the social development of an 8-year-old.Unspeakable Hack wrote:-- that's why he ended up terminating his e-mail account.
"We were doing this out of a sincere love of money."Unspeakable Hack wrote:We were doing this out of a sincere love for the series...
I'll bet you did, Keith. And you're not seeing a pattern here?Unspeakable Hack wrote:... but I had seen the same phenomenon with STAR WARS and X-FILES.
Horseshit. He's claimed everything from "a few" to "hundreds" with this tale. It changes more often than the safe-deposit-box story.Unspeakable Hack wrote:... some of those surly trashers had the decency to write us genuine letters of apology after they had read HOUSE ATREIDES.
That's scary, Keith. If that's your best, you're even worse writers than previously imagined.Unspeakable Hack wrote:So, I think we really did the best we could.
Many people have done just that, Keith. But you instantly dismiss all criticism as coming from "haters" and "frustrated writers."Unspeakable Hack wrote:...but at least have the decency to be objective and read the books before you form an opinion.
Gee, no kidding?Unspeakable Hack wrote:We're not trying to do better than Frank Herbert ...
Horseshit. If you really feel this way, then stop taking the checks to the bank. That would prove something to me.Unspeakable Hack wrote:... hey, I would *rather* he had lived to write them!
Chimps or raccoons would tear his face off.A Thing of Eternity wrote:Every time he brings up the fact that he has post secondary education in physics and astronomy then goes on to have so many technical errors and failures in his books that I can't even count them it makes me feel really sorry for the school he attended, they are obviously underfunded and have hired chimpanzees, or perhaps raccoons to teach their courses.
CRICKETS! TUMBLEWEEDS! GET YER CRICKETS AND TUMBLEWEEDS HERE!D Pope wrote:Does anyone know of anything the hack has done or said that doesn't reinforce his being a total jerk? I don't mean his false humility like,' I wish Frank had written Dune 7,' i'm looking for a real shred of humanity, anything that points toward the possibility that he isn't a complete waste of life.
I can't think of a single thing.D Pope wrote:... i'm looking for a real shred of humanity, anything that points toward the possibility that he isn't a complete waste of life.
Nominations are NOT AWARDS! The award is what you get if you win!The Hack wrote:
I mean, we have put huge amounts of work and soul and energy into this project, and the books have won various awards, critical acclaim, fans-choice awards, even selected as New York Times Notable books.
TheDukester wrote:He's a delusional, self-promoting hack, who, TTBOMK, has never even admitted to ever making a mistake.
Ahem:
That's... sort-of admitting to a mistake. Isn't it?To date, I have heard of only one mistake that doesn’t have an explanation for a careful reader, or at least one with an open mind.
But his big (and I'm talking spacetime-denting, here) fanboys, trendy restaurants, Starbucks and micro-breweries (GROWLer!) across the land LOVE him! How can you say such nasty things about him?!All evidence points to Anderhack being a genuinely awful person.
KJA has either completely missed the point to this question, or is backpedalling hugely here. The idea that the Tleilaxu's faith was well known pre-Dune, then forgotten about *in the time of Dune/Dune Messiah* and then "rediscovered" thousands of years later is absurd.Those most familiar with Herbert’s original works notice historical differences with the original Dune novels and the prequels. One example is the secret Zensunni faith of the Tleilaxu being quite well known in
the prequels. Were these differences intentional?
I don't believe there is any mention of the Tleilaxu Buddislamic faith -- secret or otherwise -- before HERETICS (or possibly GOD-EMPEROR...I don't have my books in front of me), which take place many thousands of years after DUNE. That's like questioning why religions and cultures have changed in the time since the peoples who survived the last Ice Age on Earth. In the intervening millennia, who knows what kind of social or political upheavals may have occurred in the already-insular Tleilaxu society?
Fuck you, Anderson. Go die in the fire, etc.We did not do any "intentional historical differences," but conversely DUNE readers should not study the novels with blinders on. Frank Herbert did not believe in absolutes.
Oh, sure, if you think that having the only no-field get destroyed and all the people who understood the tech or knew of its existence dying before the end of the trilogy is an "explanation" of any kind. Just like having Ix ruled by "House Vernius", which is inexplicably never mentioned again.(As soon as HOUSE ATREIDES was published, people started squawking because we had introduced no-field technology before it was time...but by HOUSE CORRINO that is all neatly explained.
"Written letters"? Please. The most I believe is that fanboys came up to him at signings and said something like "Before HA I had my doubts, but after I read it, it was awesome". I doubt that anyone who actually originally panned the books ever "wrote letters" *apologizing* for doubting the authors.I am very pleased to say that some of those surly trashers had the decency to write us genuine letters of apology after they had read HOUSE ATREIDES.
Yep. Wherever you go, there you are kja.Baraka Bryan wrote:this quote is the funniest to me. can he really be so oblivious? if fans of every universe he's hackified hate him and express it vehemently online, in person, in letters etc, how can he not recognize the common denominator...TheDukester wrote:I'll bet you did, Keith. And you're not seeing a pattern here?Unspeakable Hack wrote:... but I had seen the same phenomenon with STAR WARS and X-FILES.
Nope. Even his jokes display a shocking display of insensitivity and narcissism.D Pope wrote:Does anyone know of anything the hack has done or said that doesn't reinforce his being a total jerk? I don't mean his false humility like,' I wish Frank had written Dune 7,' i'm looking for a real shred of humanity, anything that points toward the possibility that he isn't a complete waste of life.