FH Duniverse vs. Other Dune related... items

[MauDib]

Gotta clear up some confusion here... If Frank Herbert HIMSELF encouraged others to form their own interpretations of his work, and even go as far as to write them (Encyclopedia), why is it so bad that his own son is continuing his work?  Granted, the House and Legends series weren't as good as the original 6 books... but they're not without their merit.  I don't know that they were meant to continue the canon established by Frank, but that doesn't make them the work of the devil.  So what if they're a little simple when compared to the Dune masterworks?  They helped bring a whole new group of readers to Franks work.  They were my first exposure to Dune.  I even thought that movie from way back when sucked ass, and as such wrote off the whole Dune franchise for a time.  After reading those books, I got more interested in Dune, even sat through that terrible, terrible movie... *shudder* I knew however, that the original 6 HAD to be better... And they are, but they don't cause me to absolutley outright dismiss the work of BH/KJA.

I've never read the encyclopedia, but I'm interested in some of the interpretations it contains.  EVEN THOUGH it wasn't written directly by FH, it may contain some info I might find interesting, even if I don't buy it entirely (Face Dancer thing is a good example).

In closing, why the damn fuss?  Seems like a waste of energy to me.  Like it or not, BH and crew are at werk on new Dune related material.  Read it or don't... I don't care, but why the hell does it seem to be such a hot button issue?

[Egeides]

The only issue I see is that they lie constantly (and it's in my face because I know Dune more than John Doe). Of course they can write fanfic, and some will enjoy the read! But then they should present it as such. As a patch, maybe a bit like these LotR-like book collections.

I would not let a halo of "I am the successor to ..." if I was doing the opposite and just building my books' plot based on marketting for example. They can bring more readers without lying like that.

[3ngel]

As i've already said in an another post, apart the fact that the books can be written like s*it (but on this we could even pass through), for me the devils of "BH & Co.", is that they "interfere" with the 6 books, instillating doubts in the reader that (horrorifying) read first the prequels. In some situations, with the prequels, they go "AGAINST" the facts in FH books creating facts and explanations, that don't have even 1 fundament in the REAL dune.

If they had written independent books, independent stories in the dune universe, well who cares? Rather, it would have been a good "expansion" of the dune universe.

You want to write dune books? Nothing to say, but don't even dare to think to relate yourselves in some way with the Real dune books. You don't have the mental categories to only understand the books.

[Dante]

Oh goodee. Yet another topic...

They can write all the fanfiction they want. But leave the official universe the hell alone. That's my perspective. Mainly because if you can't do something right (and they can't), then don't do it at all.

Besides which, they also had the audacity to interfere with the actual real-life publication of the Encyclopaedia, to declare it non-canon as compared to their own works (Ha!), and refuse to work with Dr McNelly while he was still alive. They don't deserve publication.

[MauDib]

If they had written independent books, independent stories in the dune universe, well who cares? Rather, it would have been a good "expansion" of the dune universe.

Isn't that what they did though?  On the covers of my Dune books, it says, "Book (insert number here) in the Dune Chronicles-the best selling science fiction adventure of all time".  On the covers of the prequels, it says "Book (whatever) of the Dune prequels", and on the other series, it says, "Book (meh) of Dune Legends".  The only thing they have in common is the mention of Dune on the covers...

After I read the prequels, I became more interested in Dune.  Once I read the Dune books, there was ZERO doubt in my mind that Frank Herbert is the superior writer/craftsman.  The others are not without they're interest, but in are in NO way a match for FH's work.

... they also had the audacity to interfere with the actual real-life publication of the Encyclopaedia, to declare it non-canon as compared to their own works (Ha!), and refuse to work with Dr McNelly while he was still alive. They don't deserve publication.

So is that your real problem with them?  obviously you have issues with their ability (or lack thereof) to write, but is it really so horrible to you that they've renounced this other work in favor of there own vision?  Can you blame them?  If you intended to peddle shit and call it gold, would you like somebody else coming into your area selling real gold?

And if that is the case, who the hell cares?  They're books!  Just written words on a bunch of pages.  Why get all bent out of shape about it? 

Also,

Oh goodee. Yet another topic...

yeah, it's a forum...

[Dante]

A forum that already has more than enough topics on this subject.

Literature matters. Originality matters. Posterity matters. The prequels may be introducing more people to Dune, but that could have been achieved without trampling all over Dr McNelly's work, or making vaunted claims to the throne of the originals. My 'real problem,' isn't what they have done exactly, more what they haven't done. And what they haven't done is written decent, detailed books in the same vein as the originals, with well thought out and linking plots and characters that one can truly empathise with; based primarily on Frank Herbert's work but drawing from the Encyclopaedia when this is not possible.

If I intended to peddle shit as gold then I would damned well make a better forgery than this.

[erjin999]

Isn't that what they did though?  On the covers of my Dune books, it says, "Book (insert number here) in the Dune Chronicles-the best selling science fiction adventure of all time".  On the covers of the prequels, it says "Book (whatever) of the Dune prequels", and on the other series, it says, "Book (meh) of Dune Legends".  The only thing they have in common is the mention of Dune on the covers...

Forget the covers, how about the books talking about the same characters ? I read the prequels and they basically discuss the life of many of the characters before the first Dune book.

I think what the others are saying is that if they made their own characters with their own life it would have been better.

[driftingcloud]

I think what the others are saying is that if they made their own characters with their own life it would have been better.

I'd wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Why not write something that was happening somehwere else in the universe, and the same time, or even at a different time? It would have been easier to add all those little "star warsy" gadgets without compromising the originals. To interweave a new set of stories with another author's is damn difficult and it takes a real talent to do so. (The only contemporary author who has succeeded would be Tom Stoppard in writing Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, and even he pukes up some bombs...I heard he actually penned a bit of that latest Star Wars blunder, Episode III) Anyway, BH & KA just don't have the brain power, the multi-tasking capability to manage all of the disparate threads of their own stories and integrate with the old ones. I'd be surprised if the understood more than 50% of Frank's novels. It's easier to violate something if you chalk it up to "I don't quite get what's going on here in this layered political intrigue."

The bottom line, there were some 20,000 years of material to write about in Dune's pre-history and at least another 6-7,000 over the course of Frank's books. Surely they could have found a more apropriate temporal niche for their cyborgs and shiznit.