The DE revisted on alt.fan.dune

[davo]

The compiler of the Dune Encyclopedia, Dr. Willis E. McNelly, posted on the alt.fan.dune newsgroup. In the post, Dr. McNelly explains why there are differences in the encyclopedia and the last two Frank Herbert's Dune books:

The DE was published in 1984, and included only the first four DC novels. There never was any intention to include the last of the books. Remember also that the DE was "based" upon the Rakis Hoard, which had been assembled, collected, as well as preserved and hidden in a No Room by the "God Emperor" so that anything he wanted to keep was kept; anything he wanted to eliminate was eliminated. Thus it represents the Imperium only up until his time and is consequently skewed. It was also skewed, in a sense, by the scholars who had access to the mss. in the No Room, and scholars interpret things in different ways. FH did not trust scholars, in a certain sense, often citing the various "scholarly" theories of the reasons for or against the Viet Nam war as an example.

No, there will be no reprint of the DE unless a publisher wishes to do so. I can easily be located by any publisher who wishes to reprint it. I have tried to re-sell it many times with many publishers -- with no success.

I have heard that Brian Herbert has stated that he never read the DE. Can anyone cite me the time and place for that statement?

Dr. Willis E. McNelly

"I am constantly amazed at the infinite capacity of the human mind to withstand the introduction of knowledge." President Woodrow Wilson