Herbert's other stuff

[Foxbat]

Just wondering if there are any people out there who have tried some of Frank Herbert's other stories (other than Dune).
Here's some I've tried:

Whipping Star - a strange story about the torture of a sentient being that could lead to the end of the Universe.

The Green Brain: One of the most versatile and abundant forms of life tries to make its mark and undo some of Mankind's wrongs.

The Godmakers: An investigator decides whether races on other planets are a threat to intergalactic society or not.

Quite imaginitive and mostly with a thread of conservationist ideas and an awareness of our own potential for self-destruction.

All in all, there's a little more to this man than just Dune.

All recommendations for further Herbert reading will be gratefully received

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Ah, finally, Herbert beyond Dune.


I am a big fan of his Pandora trilogy (The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect and the The Ascension Factor), co-written with poet Bill Ransome. In some ways, it is a superior series to Dune, which at times feels over-extended, even if none of the individual volumes of this trilogy match up to the power of the novel Dune itself.

These books take part on a largely aquatic world called Pandora - a sort of analog to the desert called planet Dune? Herbert's ecological and conservationist themes play out interestingly, along with a meditation on the nature of humanity in the face of adaptive mutations, and a depiction of an AI which becomes the centre of a religion, prompting thoughts on the meaning of religion and gods.

The plots of the three books are a bit complex to summarise here, but rest assured, they are deeply rewarding and grounded in vivid settings and reasonably well fleshed-out characters.

The other non-Dune work I've read is The White Plague, a near-future thriller about a man who unleashes a plague that kills only women, and its startling consequences.

I've also read a book of his short stories, and I'd say that he worked rather well in the short format too.

Definitely more to the man than Dune.

 

[Foxbat]

I've actually just recently managed to get a copy of The White Plague but have still to get around to reading it.

I'd heard of the title 'The Lazarus Effect' but didn't realise it was part of a trilogy. I'm off to Amazon right now to hunt down all 3

 

[Leto]

The Dragon under the Sea, his first novel. Short but a very good read.

Heiseinberg's eyes - quite humoristic

Try also to get some of his short stories, they're jewels.

 

[ykb]

In the local library I have often noticed other Herbert books like "The Jesus Incedent" "whipping star" and a few others books with titles i can't remember. Never read them though. Can't think of any good reason why I haven't, since Dune is my favorite novel. Thanks for the recomendation.

 

[guthrie]

*puffs out chest*
I have and have read just about everything that Herbert wrote in terms of fiction except for some book whose name I am not even sure of.

I can reccomend "the godmakers", even though its poorly cobbled together from some short stories, and you should read the short story as well, its a little different from the book.

His short stories are mostly very good, one or two suck, but they are generally thought provoking. They are in 2 or three collections, including "The priests of Psi" and "the worlds of Frank Herbert", and "Eye".

"Whipping Star" is very good, it took me at least 2 readings before I understood just how well he is writing the miscommunication between the 2 main characters. Following on from that book, you need to read "The Dosadi Experiment". It is a wonderful book. It suffers a little from being a bit too sparse and slightly rushed towards the end, but the legal system posited in it, as well as the broad oversight of human nature is incredible, it is almost as good as "Dune". It is set in the same universe as "Whipping Star", and there is also a short story in one of the collections set in the same universe. There are one or two continuity wibbles I think, but not enough to destroy anything.

Of course you should also read the second Dune trilogy, it gets more palatable for normal tastes after "god emperor of Dune".

I'm not so keen on the Pandora trilogy, it essentially restates Herberts general philosophy and outlook but slightly messed up, as if having someone else write it with him got in the way, and then theres the odd way it end in the first book but the 2nd book is different in the future. The first book would just about do as a story on its own.

So, anyone got any more comments about the books?

 

[guthrie]

I nearly forgot:
"The Santaroga barrier", which isa critique of consumer culture USA, as well as mindless herd thinking, I think. It is well and intelligently written.

I have gotten all my Herbert books second hand, over about 7 years of book buying. Most of them are out of print now.

 

[Leto]

I have gotten all my Herbert books second hand, over about 7 years of book buying. Most of them are out of print now.

Same here. As well as a first edition of the Dune parperback. But it took me 12 years, not just 7. You're lucky.

 

[Neil040]

I have read some of those other novels too, but can barely recall them now at all.. the best remembered is White Plague which I think was an ok read overall and interesting to find Herbert back on planet earth for a change!

I loved Dune itself hugely years ago.. one of the best sci-fi books ever I thought.. but grew less enthusiastic with the sequels as time went by.. they seem to have gond totally insane with them now as I saw that there is a whole authorised series of sequels or are they prequels? Dunno, but I think one of the co-authors is his son? Is that right? Not really paid any attention..

Might try and find my copy of White Plague now tho and give it another turn..

 

[merritt]

I loved Whipping Star!
Also The White Plague is a great read.

I totally loved Dune, hated the sequels. Well, maybe hate is to simplistic, I snored thru the sequels.

Theres some comments!

"When is as important as what you read." - meandad

Later, M

 

[morkys]

So is there any reason why I should read Whipping Star before Dosadi? I was never one for having to read things in order when they aren't officially sequels or whatever.

 

[Leto]

Frankly ? No. You have some allusion to Whipping Star in Dosadi, but it's not really a serie. It's more two adventures which happened to the same character : Jorj X McKie, a member of Sabotage bureau. There's also a short story featuring his debut : The Tactful Saboteur.

You can start where you want. Enjoy !

 

[Nilentropy]

I've been trying to collect all his books and i've gotten these in the past 2 years thanks to amazon.com and classic books of royal oak, MI.
The Pandora Series
Hellstrom's Hive
The Whipping Star
The Dosadi Experiment
The White Plague
Man of Two Worlds
The Heaven Makers
The Godmakers
Under Pressure
Eye
Soulcatcher
The Santaroga Barrier
The Green Brain
The Eyes of Heisenberg

I'd have to say out of all of them that I liked white plague and man of two worlds the best. under pressure is also a great suspense novel. i thought the green brain was stupid. Hellstrom's Hive has the biggest cliffhanger ending EVER, I almost cried.

 

[Beamer]

Of the non-Dune Herbert books I have to say Santaroga Barrier was my favorite. Hard to belive it was written by the same person as Dune. Guess it goes to show how versatile his writing ability is.

 

[clovis-man]

The Dragon under the Sea, his first novel. Short but a very good read.

Agreed. Lots of suspense. Good story.

 

[Omphalos]

I loved Dragon in the Sea too. Here is a review I wrote of it years ago:

Omphalos' Book Reviews: Book Info

 

[J Riff]

Th Green Brain is worth a read. Back in the day, Herbert was well-respected and most of his wriiting is good. Then Dune, which was fine too. But then the Dune kept rolling ...and I wish he'd just kept writing other stuff as well.

 

[J Riff]

Argh. Here's what happened to Herbert as I and others saw it.
Frank appeared at a con, just before Dune the movie came out. We talked to him previously, because he was one of the good solid SciFi writers, he even looked like one, and he was very intelligible.
But then came Dune, and Frank was going to get big, he was going to be the biggest SciFi guy ever.
At this exact time, a record album had come out, called ' Dune '. It was a bit of a tribute if anything, issued on a small jazz label, featuring greats like Bob James, Steve Gadd and the like, all top-notch, yet not wealthy or popular, musicians.
On the cover of this album was a sand planet, and a giant worm popping it's head up. Nothing illegal about the title, or the picture. But Frank, who was going to be huge now, attacked and tried to sue and have the album stopped, taken off the shelves !!
I brought this to his attention, asked him what was it all about, and he mumbled something about stopping things before they got out of hand, can't let them start or they will never stop - this kind of thing.
Needless to say, nobody was impressed by this attitude. So when the movie flopped bigtime we all nodded sagely.
I still enjoy his early stuff a lot, but Dune wrecked him as far as I, and many others, are concerned. The first book was good - and it had better be in a time when 500 page books were unheard of - but everything since has been sludge in comparison. It stopped him from writing who-knows-what... he used to be just another scifi writer but the mainstream $, and his ego, got the better of him.

 

[ColdBurn]

I've been trying to collect all his books and i've gotten these in the past 2 years thanks to amazon and classic books of royal oak, MI.
The Pandora Series
Hellstrom's Hive
The Whipping Star
The Dosadi Experiment
The White Plague
Man of Two Worlds
The Heaven Makers
The Godmakers
Under Pressure
Eye
Soulcatcher
The Santaroga Barrier
The Green Brain
The Eyes of Heisenberg

I'd have to say out of all of them that I liked white plague and man of two worlds the best. under pressure is also a great suspense novel. i thought the green brain was stupid. Hellstrom's Hive has the biggest cliffhanger ending EVER, I almost cried.

Anyone remember the film The Hellstrom Chronicle? I saw it when I was nine or ten. Very disturbing.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, I do... I was a bit older than that, but it was actually an assignment for an English class I had in high school... and yes, it was quite disturbing. It was shortly after that that Herbert's book was published, as I recall, and having seen the film (as well as having read Dune and Dune Messiah) I was quite curious. I've always thought the two would make a great special package, should someone release them together. It is, of course, flawed by the production methods of the time, so will be rather dated... but it has a fascinating eeriness and troubling quality to it which I think still manages to show through... and reading the novel in conjunction with it makes for an interesting experience.....