Frank Herbert (1920-1986) created the most beloved novel in the annals of science fiction, DUNE. He was a man of many facets, of countless passageways that ran through an intricate mind. His magnum opus is a reflection of this, a classic work that stands as one of the most complex, multi-layered novels ever written in any genre. Today the novel is more popular than ever, with new readers continually discovering it and telling their friends to pick up a copy.
It has been translated into dozens of languages and has sold almost 20 million copies. As a child growing up in Washington state, Frank Herbert was curious about everything. He carried around a Boy Scout pack with books in it, and he was always reading. He loved Rover Boys adventures, as well as the stories of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and the science fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs. On his eighth birthday, Frank stood on top of the breakfast table at his family home and announced, "I wanna be a author."His maternal grandfather, John McCarthy, said of the boy, "It's frightening.
A kid that small shouldn't be so smart." Young Frank was not unlike Alia in DUNE, a person having adult comprehension in a child's body. In grade school he was the acknowledged authority on everything. If his classmates wanted to know the answer to something, such as about sexual functions or how to make a carbide cannon, they would invariably say, "Let's ask Herbert. He'll know."His curiosity and independent spirit got him into trouble more than once when he was growing up, and caused him difficulties as an adult as well.
He did not graduate from college because he refused to take the required courses for a major; he only wanted to study what interested him. For years he had a hard time making a living, bouncing from job to job and from town to town. He was so independent that he refused to write for a particular market; he wrote what he felt like writing. It took him six years of research and writing to complete DUNE, and after all that struggle and sacrifice, 23 publishers rejected it in book form before it was finally accepted.
He received an advance of only $7, 500. His loving wife of 37 years, Beverly, was the breadwinner much of the time, as an underpaid advertising writer for department stores. Having been divorced from his first wife, Flora Parkinson, Frank Herbert met Beverly Stuart at a University of Washington creative writing class in 1946. At the time they were the only...
It has been translated into dozens of languages and has sold almost 20 million copies. As a child growing up in Washington state, Frank Herbert was curious about everything. He carried around a Boy Scout pack with books in it, and he was always reading. He loved Rover Boys adventures, as well as the stories of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and the science fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs. On his eighth birthday, Frank stood on top of the breakfast table at his family home and announced, "I wanna be a author."His maternal grandfather, John McCarthy, said of the boy, "It's frightening.
A kid that small shouldn't be so smart." Young Frank was not unlike Alia in DUNE, a person having adult comprehension in a child's body. In grade school he was the acknowledged authority on everything. If his classmates wanted to know the answer to something, such as about sexual functions or how to make a carbide cannon, they would invariably say, "Let's ask Herbert. He'll know."His curiosity and independent spirit got him into trouble more than once when he was growing up, and caused him difficulties as an adult as well.
He did not graduate from college because he refused to take the required courses for a major; he only wanted to study what interested him. For years he had a hard time making a living, bouncing from job to job and from town to town. He was so independent that he refused to write for a particular market; he wrote what he felt like writing. It took him six years of research and writing to complete DUNE, and after all that struggle and sacrifice, 23 publishers rejected it in book form before it was finally accepted.
He received an advance of only $7, 500. His loving wife of 37 years, Beverly, was the breadwinner much of the time, as an underpaid advertising writer for department stores. Having been divorced from his first wife, Flora Parkinson, Frank Herbert met Beverly Stuart at a University of Washington creative writing class in 1946. At the time they were the only...
