Frank Herbert, author of "Dune", born in 1920

Frank Herbert, born on October 8, 1920, authored Dune, the top-selling science-fiction novel of all time.  He worked as a journalist for much of his earlier life and selling pulp adventure stories to magazines such as Esquire in 1945.  He took six years to research and write Dune, which was published by Sterling E. Lanier, an editor of Chilton Book Company, best known for its auto-repair manuals. 

Dune was not an immediate best seller but it was a critical success, winning the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965, and shared the Hugo Award with Roger Zelazny's ...And Call Me Conrad in 1966.  Herbert followed his novel with 5 sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.  None of them ever achieved the same critical acclaim he received for Dune and although almost all of them appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers list, none of them won any Hugo or Nebula awards.  I personally think God Emperor of Dune was one of the worst books I've read.  The last two novels in the series come the closest to reaching the same level as Dune. 

The 1984 movie version by David Lynch turned out to be a bomb, but the Sci Fi Channel produced it as a mini-series in 2000, following it with Children of Dune (the first part of which was actually from Dune Messiah) garnered its highest rating production at that time.

After Herbert's death in 1986, his son Brian and author Kevin J. Anderson have continued the Dune saga with notes discovered a decade later. 

Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

In his Afterword, Brian Herbert wrote that he had already started working with Kevin J. Anderson when his father's sequel to Chapterhouse: Dune was discovered. In Dune 7, the writing duo finally found Frank Herbert's vision of the series so they could write the prequel with confidence they were following the late author's ideals.

The result, Dune: House Atreides is a stellar work that begins the generation before Paul Atreides, or Muad Dib. Herbert and Anderson paint a universe of the Imperium where blood feuds, treachery and betrayal run amok between the Houses of Harkonnen, Corrino and Atreides. We see the Bene Gesserit witches as being the subtle manipulators in all schemes, but also we find out more about their breeding programs and how devious they can be in getting what they want. Herbert and Anderson also introduce us to another House and mentions several others, expanding the Imperium far beyond the first five novels.

It is very good to see Arrakis as it was originally - sandworms, Fremen, endless desert - since it has not been this way since Children of Dune. Starting with God Emperor of Dune, the final three novels of Frank Herbert described a world entirely different from the very first Dune, which will always be a classic. In God Emperor, the weakest and weirdest of all the novels, Arrakis is lush with plants and flowing water, with the desert (although still huge) confined to less than half the planet. Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse brought us back to some sense of familiarity.

The only hiccup in House Atreides was the mention of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother consulting with a Feng Shui expert on the proper construction and orientation of a birthing facility being built on Wallach IX, the home planet of the witches. Fortunately, this gaffe was a mere half page and the chapter did not hinge upon this incident. Herbert and Anderson could have just as easily left it out.

Even so, the authors have produced a beautifully written novel of a cold, harsh universe almost completely devoid of love, but is still an exciting read.