The Road to DUNE (2005)

The Road to DUNE (2006)

Authors: Brian Herbert / Kevin J Anderson / Frank Herbert | Page Count: 381

'These things I tell: the sequential nature of real history cannot be repeated precisely by prescience. We grasp incidents cut out of the chain. That is why I deny my own powers. Eternity moves. It inflicts itself upon me.'

A collection of DUNE related texts that's primarily another cash-in for two of the named authors but may be of legitimate interest to fans of Frank Herbert because it contains material that he wrote for DUNE (1965) and DUNE Messiah (1969) that weren't used, for various reasons; e.g., it was deemed unnecessary; cut for length; or got rewritten prior to final publication.

Unfortunately, that material makes up just a small portion of the book's content, with much of the remainder being bloat or newly written extended universe crap. In the order it appears in the book:

01. Spice Planet is an 'alternate DUNE' novella written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The introduction says it's based on an 'original story outline' that Frank created for his first DUNE novel.

Unlike the novel that came to be, wherein the main focus was a Duke's young son, Spice Planet's main protagonist is the adult Duke himself, Leto Linkam. Much to the chagrin and/or amusement of some of his political rivals the Duke is entrusted with Spice production on Duneworld, forcing the planet's longtime overseers, House Hoskanner, to begrudgingly vacate.

There's no way to know how it would've turned out if Frank had completed it, but in the hands of B. Herbert and Anderson it's a straightforward adventure story with political undertones. It's also dull and underdeveloped, with weak characterisation and a tedious pace. I endured the banality for 98 pages before giving up entirely. (It ends on page 192 in the Hodder PB edition pictured.)

02. They Stopped the Moving Sands tells of a real world study by the USDA on how to prevent the advancement of sand dunes into human-populated areas. It's pretty dry (no pun intended), but is itself the beginnings of Frank's interest in writing about desert environments.

03. Letters of Dune provides insight into the back and forth correspondence between Frank and various publishers and editors during the planning and writing of the first DUNE novel, detailing his struggle to get them to accept the viability of such a long work in the sci-fi genre, which wasn't commonplace at the time. They were interesting to me, as a fan of both the finished novel and vintage sci-fi magazines (e.g., Analog), but I don't know if they'd have mass appeal.

04. Unpublished Scenes and Chapters is the book's saving grace. It contains previously unseen writings from both DUNE and Messiah, split into two respective parts. It reveals ideas that were later revised and even some alternate endings, so isn't to be taken as canon. The first of them is set before and during the meeting of Paul with Gaius Helen Mohiam of the Bene Gesserit, and sheds further light on her comments about the difference between animal and human responses to stimuli and pain. They vary in quality and resonance, but long-time fans will likely adore them, as I did, even if some are objectively merely curiosities. Regardless of induvial merit, they're the only reason I keep the book on my shelf and are the only parts of it I'll return to in future years.

05. Short Stories is a collection of such by B. Herbert and Anderson that adds further bloat to their many extended universe failures, some (or all?) of which is reprint. The titles are A Whisper on Caladan Seas; Hunting Harkonnens; Whipping Mek; and The Faces of a Martyr. Wikipedia mentions that a story titled Dune: Sea Child is included in the paperback edition of The Road to DUNE, but it isn't in mine. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and read all four. The most positive thing I can say is that if you like their novels, then maybe you'll like their shorts, too.