On August 22nd Hunters of Dune is being released, which is the first of two books that is supposed to wrap up the original Dune series that came to a hault with the death of Frank Herbert in 1986.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&id=37444

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"Best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson told SCI FI Wire that he and Brian Herbert based the sequel novels Hunters of Dune and the forthcoming Sandworms of Dune on notes for Dune 7 written by Brian's father, Dune creator Frank Herbert, prior to his 1986 death. "We saw that Dune 7 would have been an epic that we didn't think we could tell in under 1,400 pages, so we broke it into two 700-page volumes," Anderson said in an interview. "In the last eight months I've been writing a blog on Dunenovels.com, describing the progress of the two volumes. We've been getting 1.7 million hits per month, so the excitement among the fans worldwide is really building." Unlike the previous Anderson/Herbert collaborations, which were all prequels to Dune, Hunters of Dune picks up where the last Frank Herbert Dune novel left off. "In Chapterhouse Dune, the galaxy is being overrun by a group of evil, destructive women called the Honored Matres, sort of the dark counterparts of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood," Anderson said. "They are enslaving populations, destroying planets, and at the end of the book we learn that the Honored Matres are actually on the run from an unidentified outside 'Enemy' that's even worse. Our main characters steal a ship as large as a city, destroy their navigation system and fly off into uncharted territory with the mysterious Enemy searching for them. That's where the book ends, and that's where fans were left for many years." Anderson added: "In Hunters (and the subsequent volume, Sandworms), we follow Duncan Idaho and his comrades aboard the giant fleeing ship, trying to keep away from the Enemy, because they know that something or someone aboard the ship holds the key to ending the great coming war and changing the universe. Meanwhile, the surviving Bene Gesserits try to rally the rest of humanity to make their final stand against a force that intends to exterminate them." Anderson said that Frank Herbert's notes included a description of the story and a great deal of character background information. "But having a roadmap of the U.S. and actually driving across the country are two different things," he said. "Brian and I had a lot to work with and a lot to expand, now that we had Frank's original six novels and our six prequels to wrap up." Although Hunters and Sandworms will conclude the original series as envisioned by Frank Herbert, Anderson and Brian Herbert plan to continue exploring the Dune universe. "We have already sold the first volume in the Paul of Dune trilogy, which will tell the story of Paul's younger years, his friendship with Duncan and Gurney and Duke Leto's War of Assassins against Grumman," Anderson said. "And it will also fill in the story between Dune and Dune Messiah, Paul's great Jihad, Princess Irulan's task of building the legend of Muad'Dib, Shaddam's bid for a return to power: Certainly there's enough to fill a couple of books!""

I'm really conflicted here. I've read the prequels and while they're entertaining, they definitely lack the depth of writing that you can get from Frank Herbert's originals. I know I'll be reading them, I just hope I won't regret it.

8/12/2006 10:29:12 AM

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"while they're entertaining, they definitely lack the depth of writing"

You just described all of Kevin J. Anderson's work. Of course I don't know if he has much pretension that what he does is anything more than just entertaining science fiction, especially since he seems to write mainly in established franchises.

8/12/2006 10:47:54 AM

The book jacket summary, bc I'm a dork.

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"Since 1986, millions of readers have longed to know the ending of the uncompleted story which began in Heretics of Dune and continued in Chapterhouse: Dune. Before his death, Frank Herbert wrote a detailed outline for his chronological grand finale, under the working title of Dune 7, and placed it along with additional material about Dune in a bank safe deposit box. There it remained hidden for ten years, and the great Dune chronicles remained unfinished. His son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have now completed this epic in two volumes, finally answering the questions Dune fans have been debating for almost two decades. Hunters of Dune is the first of two breathtaking journeys into the world of Dune as it remakes itself in a new form after its greatest crisis. Fleeing from the monstrous Honored Matres -- dark counterparts of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood -- Duncan Idaho, a woman named Sheeana who can talk to sandworms, the military genius Bashar Miles Teg, and a group of desperate refugees explore the boundaries of the universe. Aboard their sophisticated no-ship, they have used long-stored cells to resurrect heroes and villains from the past including Paul Muad'dib and his love Chani, Lady Jessica, Thufir Hawat, even the traitor Doctor Yueh, all in preparation for a final confrontation with a mysterious outside Enemy so great it can destroy even the terrible Honored Matres. And, deep in the hold of their giant ship, the refugees carry the last surviving sandworms from devastated Arrakis, as they search the universe for a new Dune. The authors are currently writing Sandworms of Dune, which will complete the story. This grand conclusion brings together the great storylines and characters from the time of the Butlerian Jihad to the original Dune series and beyond. "

8/12/2006 12:00:21 PM