Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

I found this topic at DN - and it was actually quite a cool question (has it been done here before)?
So here is my story - as written to their board:

-

The video game...

Dune II first, Dune I didn't catch me. My neighbour told me it was based on a book and somehow I found it.

I was around 12 and I expected an action romp with lasers and monsters and heroes and tanks and cool-sounding villains.
I got literature. And philosophy. And I absolutely loved it!

And I come here [DN], and see people really excited about getting lasers... and god-like true-blue-can-do-no-wrong-heroes... and robotic über-villains... and...

And I feel sad, because most of you [people at DN] are now reading Dune through those glasses.
As if Paul was a hero who turned into a monster (how Emo-/Star Wars-esque). And as if the Jihad was a huge battle, with these evil cyborgs, and this evil torturing robot, and this evil wanna-rule-the-universe-robot (how utterly boring).

There was so much cool stuff in Dune, I knew instantly this would take a lifetime to read (still haven't got through enough Heidegger to get it all, haven't read enough Szasz either).
I was challenged, and still am, by Dune. I hope people can still read it and not accept the easy answers they are now provided...

Can't remember, honestly.

I either came across it on my own in the rack of scifi paperbacks at the pharmacy/gift shop where my mother got her prescriptions filled or it was on the list of must-read-books given to some of us by our highschool geometry/trig teacher (she was concerned that those of us bound for uni had a guide of that sort).

Details blur with time....

SandChigger wrote: Details blur with time....

That much time would blur anything!

I played the C&C type game when I was a little kid, I saw the movie at some point but managed to forget most of it by the time I got to highschool. I always saw the books in the store, didn't really think about buying them because I had vaguely unpleasant memories about the movie (fond memories of the game though).

Anyways, I never took Dune seriously until I was over at my old drummer's house and saw that his dad's bookshelfs in the basement (he was a philosophy professor) had all the Dune books in hardcover. He highly recommended them.

Still didn't read them for years, though I was planning to, at that time I was too busy with music to read as much as I usually do.

I eventually saw a copy of Dune in a used bookstore and thought why not, it's cheap, how bad could it be? picked it up, went home and became completely obsessed within pages. I'm a bit sad I'll never get the same feeling again that I had reading that book for the first time. I went on read the other five at a pretty fast pace, and when I was done went straight to the bookstore and picked up The Butlerian Jihad. Then I really honestly almost cried, just the prologue was enough to tell me I was in for pain. And I got it, poor characters, obvious pathetic plots, things that just didn't seem right in the universe (at that point I had no idea there was a whole comunity of people who are disgusted by these books). I wasn't mad yet (that came after Sandworms), I was just really sad that the son of FH obviously tought he was doing a good job but had failed so badly.

That was a fairly short time ago, couple years I think, maybe even a bit less.

A Thing of Eternity wrote:...when I was done went straight to the bookstore and picked up The Butlerian Jihad. Then I really honestly almost cried, just the prologue was enough to tell me I was in for pain.

Not to be callous or anything, but that was a real weight off my shoulders. I was afraid most people would get fooled by cheap answers, exactly like 'evil monstrous robot' and not look to the layers of meaning and philosophy Frank but into it.

I am really glad you were so (instantly) disappointed, even from reading just Dune (how wrong The Butlerian Jihad is becomes increasingly obvious, IMHO).

I was 13 at a family reunion in Shreveport, LA in 1984. The finished attic us kids were sleeping in was lined with paperbacks up to the ceiling and I asked for a good book to read. My aunt recommended Dune. Of course the first chapter hooked me. On the way back to Atlanta I saw the movie paperback in the airport, bought it and finished it before the movie came out.

One day...Me and my dad were riding down the road (I think we were going to get a new cell phone) I had read a book in school that really made me feel good (I was having a lot of problems) Anyway, I asked my dad if he had read anything good recently. He said yeah sure... And he listed several books.
"DUNE was a good book," he said. "You remeber that? With the Sandworms and all?"
I kind of did, and he explained to me various aspects of the book. (Worms, navigators, Bene Gessirit, ect.) I loved every word he said, and not too long after that I was at my aunt's and she had the movie lying around. I brought ti back with me and watched on the last summer day before school began. Not long after that I picked up the book and read it, loved it.

I turned twevele that year, so he must've explained it to me whne I was 11.

I started with the books. I was 15 or 16, I think.

My Dad had the trilogy, and I remember him buying GEoD in paperback (with the beautiful UK NEL cover art - wonderful oil paintings). I picked them up because I asked my Dad what they were about, and the concept of a desert planet intrigued me. I can't remember exactly when I read them all, but I'm pretty sure I'd read up to GEoD by the time the movie came out. I'd definitely read the first 5 by the time CH:D was released in PB in Australia, because I remember having to wait to read it.

I remember Dune was heavy going, because I hadn't really read anything that challenging before. I didn't finish DM the first time; I put it down and got through it the second time after reading something else. CoD was a lightning read - either I was used to the pacing, or could relate to Leto/Ghanima more, I'm not sure. GEoD was similarly a quick and fascinating read. Can't remember my impressions of the last two.

Edited to add: These are the UK PB covers I'm talking about.

HBJ

Those are some of my favorite covers as well.

I may have been in middle school when I first saw the movie on VHS. I thought the weirding modules were strange and then promptly forgot about the movie. After seeing the Dune miniseries I joined the Science Fiction Bookclub and read House Atreides. I was hooked (at this point I didn't know that the prequels were inferior). I read the House books, then TBJ, and started MC, which I couldn't get into. I have have read about 100 pgs and called it quits.

Then I saw the CoD mini. It reinvigorated me and during that summer I read the originals. Much better than the prequels, though I feel obligated to finish MC and eventually BoC.

The only reason I haven't gotten rid of the prequels is because it led me to the originals, but I'd rather think it was the miniseries that actually did it.

Wow, that's a good one ...

I think I might have come to it through the boardgame, actually:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/121

As a F/SF fan, I knew what Dune was, of course, but I'd never read it. Then, in high school, I zipped through it, enjoyed it, and even bought the Dune Encyclopedia with some graduation money (nice purchase, huh?).

Later, I did my first reading as an adult ... this would have been sometime after the Sci-Fi miniseries, which I greatly enjoyed**. It was then that I realized I'd missed so, so much by reading it originally as a teenager.

I've never read any KJA/Other Guy bullshit, other than excerpts and snippets here and there (and items posted here). What I have read has been skull-crushingly bad, leading me to believe that neither man has the slightest ability to write fiction. They are awful, terrible, horrible writers; that's my honest assessment.

I've managed thus far to contribute nothing to the HLP other than one copy of Road to Dune. I read all of the FH stuff, of course, but that's about all. That Seas of Caladan (or whatever it's called) is one of the worst short stories I've had the misfortune to read. Not only is it truly God-awful fanfic, but I saw the ending coming on the second page. Pathetic.

+++++

**Especially the hats

I managed to completely ignore the Dune books and movie until I was 25.

I was living in London in a Townhouse that had seen many tenants. Travelling on the tube to work took 1 hr each way and I was going through heaps of books. One of the many previous tenants left the entire Dune + House series in the book case. One day I found the pile and deduced that "Dune" was the place to start (being a believer in author chronology, not a believer in reading prequels first).

I had no idea who FH, BH, KJA were.

Enjoyed Dune from the first chapter. It took somewhere between 1 and 3 months to read the originals. I felt a bit let down that there was no more. Then I looked again and remembered that there was the prequels. Read them in a very short time, but felt a bit empty after the previous reading!

I made my way through the legends series with growing pain (and much less room in my bookcase - why do they have to be so big??)

I bought a second hand copy of Hunters (pretty much as soon as it was released) only because I had read that it was based on FH's specific notes for Dune 7. Then I joined DN and saw posts alluding to Marty and Daniel being Omnius and Erasmus!! I suddenly went from a reader losing interest rapidly to angry! I have been venting ever since!

I first found Dune through the movie and the original westwood game (which has almost the same relevance to Video Game history as Dune has to Sci-fi.)

After years of being a sci-fi fan I sat myself down and picked up Dune. I felt like everything before it had been setup to prepare me for this wild ride. That semester I literally spent more time in the library reading Dune than I did studying. I loved how each book was something new, not just a simple continuation of the story. (truth: At first I hated each new book, till I was about 1/3 of the way through it. After that it clicked and each one opened new horizons.) I like that analogy, I love how Dune opened doors in my mind and showed me how to look for others. I literally believe that Dune made me a smarter, wiser person. I still base most of my understanding of people and situations on Dune.

I had already written how I knew DUNE at here:

viewtopic.php?t=553

It's hard to recall, but I think my first Dune experience was the film. But I never read the book until later. I played the fantastic Dune II of course, which was a milestone itself in the PC gaming world. I think I explored the book in my teens and then again in my 20's. It was one of those great works of fiction that stood the test of time.

Saw the movie several times before getting to the books...started reading them only 3 years ago when i had my first child; needed something to keep me up at night After a while, i stayed up for the books...

I was walking across the room nude one day, and I tripped on Niven and Pournelle's The Legacy of Heorot. I fell down and my dick landed in Dune. After that, we were together for ever! I think the same thing happened with my first wife, only it did not end as well.

Omphalos wrote:I was walking across the room nude one day, and I tripped on Niven and Pournelle's The Legacy of Heorot. I fell down and my dick landed in Dune. After that, we were together for ever! I think the same thing happened with my first wife, only it did not end as well.

Dicksign !

Rakis wrote: Dicksign !

Shouldn't that be restricted to KJA sightings?

A Thing of Eternity wrote:

SandChigger wrote: Details blur with time....

That much time would blur anything!

You should be so lucky as to find out.

SandChigger wrote:

Rakis wrote: Dicksign !

Shouldn't that be restricted to KJA sightings?

I thought it was Comboversign?

I must have been about 13 when i got into Dune, and strangely enough it was the Lynch film that got me on to it (mostly the Eno Prophecy theme ). The my mum tells me it's one of my dad's favourite books, so i thought to myself, ok let's ask him to borrow it. I read Dune 4 times in two weeks. Every time i finished it, i just kept starting it again and again. I fell in love with it, i literally beag to wonder where it had been this whole time. Shortly after, i began reading everythin i could get hold of of Dune, and about 2 years ago i found Road to Dune, and the House series in a charity shop, so i had a look, thought the Spice Planet story was interesting, but something was missing from the other bits. The House series just didn't match up to the high-quality writing i got used to from Dune, but i persevered. It was all downhill from there. So now, after the mistake of reading the crap P&tB with, i stick purely to FH Dune, there's nothing like it in the universe!

Hunchback Jack wrote:These are the UK PB covers I'm talking about.

HBJ

Thanks for that link. I took the liberty of blagging the pics:)

Edit to add the on topic bit.

A similar story to GamePlayer, I was 14 or there about when the film came out and had heard of the book but but not read it yet. Popped along to the local ABC in Glasgow which had the biggest screen in town (a 70 mil projector, help Rob). got down to the front row and went to another world or two for a while.

I discovered science fiction at the age of 13 in general in 1982 when I read Heinlein's 2100 Democrats. I was an immediate addict for science fiction after that and devoured everything I could find in the library at the time. Heinlein, Pohl, Vance, Silverberg, leiber, Laumer, Asimov ... it all went in like sweet cookies.

One day in 1983 I was in the local library again trying to find more books by my favourite authors at the time. Fortunately for me the only books present by the writers I liked most, I had already read.

The I noticed this silver-grey cover on a book with the "science fiction" label on it. I took it from the shelf and read: "Duin - Frank Herbert". The cover mentioned it had won the Nebula and Hugo awards and was an novel of epic proportions. I also noticed it was a "large" book, with many more pages I was used to read.

I remember I had the week of from school at the time and took the book home with me. After arriving home I started reading ... and I just couldn't stop anymore. I kept reading and reading until I finished it only to realize that I would have to read it all again because most of it I didn't fully understand ... 25 years later i still read it and every time I do I find new insights, new understanding. This book I will never finish reading.

My first Dune exp was the movie and I really liked it LOL!!! But then I went and bought the book back in 98 and I only read half of it. Then I was given the rest of the collection for Christmas later that year. But I didnt actually read them until the start of this year. I know I am ashamed, I had the books for 10 years and didn't get around to reading them. But after reading the books I gotta say the movie sucked

Ampoliros wrote: (truth: At first I hated each new book, till I was about 1/3 of the way through it. After that it clicked and each one opened new horizons.)

I had the exact same experience, aside from GEoD which I got into much faster than the others.