Science Fiction at Its Best: Dune Chronicles

As a child I remember watching Dune, the evil, grotesque form of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen haunted my dreams, and the great worms, Shai-Hulud, seemed terrible beasts that could swallow me even as I lay sleeping in the comfort of my bed; however, my Dune knowledge was extremely limited to the movie, and I never picked up the books.

A few months ago I was at a garage sale. Outcast across the grass was the book House Atreides, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. I rushed over to rescue it from the early morning dew. I ravaged through the book jacket, licking up every line. It was a prequel to Dune. I had to buy it.

Childhood memories of Paul Atredies with the beautiful blue within blue eyes flooded into my mind, and in that moment I needed to see from where he'd come. I rushed to the man with the green treasury box and negotiated a price. After a quick exchange of money, House Atreides was mine. I sat down in the passenger seat of my Scion XB and before my husband had turned the ignition key; I was on planet Arrakis.

House Atreides is not the only prequel to the Dune Chronicles, but it is the one I happened upon. It provides a background for many of the major characters found within the pages of Frank Herbert's first Dune novel. Its pages introduce Duncan Idaho, Pardot Kynes, as well as Paul and Leto Atreides I. In great detail the planets Ix, Caladon, and Dune are established and visited. These insights into the Dune universe are not necessary before reading the classic Dune Chronicles, but they really do add a greater dimension to the characters in Frank Herbert's classic work.

After reading House Atreides I rushed to my book shelf and reached for a large pink covered book. The book I thought was Dune was a collection of books that contained God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapter House Dune. Unfortunately, it was not the first trilogy. I carefully returned the 23 year old book to its shelf, and rushed out to the book store.

While I would have rather purchased the hardback edition of Dune, my pocket book insisted that I purchase the paperback. In the store, I gazed longingly at the books remaining on the shelf, and secretly hoped that someone, one day, would bless me with the hardback. I turned the cover page and returned to the Dune world as I walked to the big comfy green and yellow chair in front of the bookstore windows. Dune did not disappoint at all. I was addicted to the Spice.

A few days ago, I finally started reading my big pink collection of The Second Great Dune Trilogy. In the interim between House Atreides and Dune I had began another novel at the bookstore, Under the Dome, by Stephen King, a book that I had returned to the shelf after reading many times, because it was rather costly. I had finally determined I would not get to finish reading that book; however, at the Library I found Under the Dome and immediately checked it out, after all Dune could wait.

I came home and sat down on my plantation style sofa and turned to page 71 (where I had left off at the bookstore.) I read one chapter, but the entire time I was reading my mind was thinking about Dune, wondering what had happened after the first Dune book. I laid Under the Dome aside and rushed back to Dune. The siren call of the planet Arrakis could not be ignored, and I eagerly turned the pages of the giant book slipping into its faintly yellowed pages, fitting for desert.

In my mind I am Freman, not a Museum Freman, but a desert hardened Freman living in a Sietch of my own.