Abelian

Try 'Sunday' which is Track 11 on Moby's '18' album - inspiration. Or his remix of David Bowie's song of the same name on the HEATHEN album. David Bowie however, is not heathen. He is an alien like myself so that is fine. the rest of you are -ugh- human...

Hi, Just in case it's of interest there are apparently a very high standard of catering and commis chef courses at Hilderstone College which is near Margate in Thanet, Kent. They apparently have a high reputation and you can do an apprenticeship locally or try for one of the big London hotels or restaurants as part of their placement programme. Best of luck! Abelian/Scytale

Hi, you look fine to me - for a human, that is! Abelian/Scytale

Hi, I imagined DUNE as a musical so here is: THE CONSPIRATORS' SONG: IRULAN: I am Irulan, Princess of the Universe; I love Paul Atreides, but he's my curse! Plotting against him I hope for attention, Now meet my cohorts who I will not mention: EDRIC: I'm Edric, a mutant guy in a tank; I've got a lot of spice in the bank Really I've got nothing in common with them But I really would like to get rid of the Fremen: REVEREND MOTHER HELEN GAIUS MOHIAM: I dress like a witch and I will cackle When we put Paul Atreides into his shackles! then after I kill him I'll make sure we breed A kwisatz haderach that we really need! SCYTALE: I'm the shapechanger in this bunch The traitor who'll eat them all for lunch I'm totally metaphysically detached, And the last one Paul will catch!

I never died, infidel! I just went on lakhsar in the cosmic underworld! for the truth of my despicable life, please read my memoirs at: www.freewebs.com/scytale Here's to a purer Duniverse!

Short, grey, funny-looking and with a smile that makes you wonder if I'll suddenly go for your throat. But I could have been UGLY... Scytale/Abelian!

Thanks, Mahdi's Ghost! I'm a Crazy Canuck too; by the way! In response to Egedies, I know this stuff from the very extensive occult/esoteric library of a friend whose house in effect was a library, and my university for ten years of residence. Flippant as it may sound, I also learned that Mary Poppins is actually the transmutation of a mystic prophet called Gurdjieff (who founded the first school of self-improvement and discovery that was not an abbey or nunnery) into the form of an English Nanny. You'll find links to Gurdjieff on various sites dealing with PL Travers who wrote the 'Poppins' books - she was a disciple of his. My reason for dropping in this apparently unrelated item is to observe that the influences on the literature we often take for granted go deep and in unexpected directions. The suggestion Frank Herbert got his inspiration from drugs and the spice was merely an analogue of this (Neodevilbane) misses the point. Genuinely creative people HAVE their drug already. If often takes a lifetime's experience to write something that really enters the public consciousness and I think we can all agree that both Mary Poppins and DUNE have achieved this in their different ways. And if you REALLY want weird; try Kafka or Patrick Suskind!

Hi, Arrakeen became Leto's festival city of Onn in GEOD, bordered at one end by the vast wall Leto had built to enclose his Sareer mini-desert, on top of which was the Royal Road from his citadel. Probably the Idaho river flows through Onn as well - it borders the non Sareer side of the wall. Hope this helps!

Hi, From what I understand the Face Dancer retains the form they have taken on at death - Scytale himself describes 'himself' in DUNE MESSIAH as a hybrids and androgynous hermaphrodite, meaning neither male nor female. They can shapeshift because they have nerve linkages and musculatures normal humans do not possess and the Tleilaxu have clearly genetically engineered the Face Dancers for this purpose. Supposedly they are at the lowest rank of the Tleilaxu culture but Scytale rises to become an immortal master; so clearly there are advantages to having a face for every occasion! He is my favourite character and I have written his memoirs for fun and they can be read at: www.freewebs.com/scytale Hope you enjoy reading his despicable adventures as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Hi, Just to clarify, Frank Herbert was indeed well read in Carl Jung's work but Carl Jung was not a Freudian psychologist. He was a colleague of Freud who disagreed with many of Freud's sexualist symbolism, split with his theories and founded the idea of the 'collective unconscious' that Frank Herbert uses as the basis for 'Other Memory' among the Bene Gesserit and on a cosmic scale for Leto II. Carl Jung wrote 'Synchronicity' among many other works detailing his more philosophical approach to psychology. And to clarify, the Nazis did pervert Carl Jung's work (as the did Wagner's and a lot of other great artists and thinkers like Nietzsche) for their own ends but he was never a Nazi associate. Frank Herbert was clearly also well read in the work of Maurice Nicol, a writer on Christian symbolism ('THE NEW MAN') in the gospels who was a disciple of Jung. Best, Abelian.

In GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE there is the interesting statement in the 'Minority Report' at the end of the book that not only has humanity burst from the original multigalactic empire of Leto but to many other universes as well. Humanity itself doensn't know how farflung it is now. And duncan Idaho's last words in CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE are: 'We're an unidentifyable ship in an unidentifyable universe.' So Frank Herbert is really giving us the concept of infinity to play with - anything is possible! And that has entered into the collective psyche of the humans of this future time. It's for this reason I just can't get enough Spice!

Dear Vanguard, Would you consider putting a fan fiction link onto your excellent list? I have written a life of Scytale the Face Dancer and am keen to share it with fellow Duneophiles and I'd be honoured to be included. The text of the novel is on a website of my design at: www.freewebs.com/scytale if you do read it I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did the writing of it! Best regards!

Dear fellow Duneophiles, I recently wrote a short fan fiction novel of the despicable 5000+ year life of Scytale the Face Dancer and am hoping to share it with anyone who cares to read it. I've put the text up on a website of my own design and would be honoured to have your feedback. Please go to: www.freewebs.com/scytale and if you do read it I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did the writing! Best regards, Scytale