Brian Burt's Blog: Work in Progress - Posts Tagged "dune"
The Expanding Dune-iverse
Some books maintain a laser focus and deliver a tight, satisfying story within those confines. Other books or series cast a wider net: they boldly tackle a storytelling scope that spans the galaxy (or galaxies) and covers millennia. I enjoy both approaches, but the second, done well, takes my breath away. Dune, by Frank Herbert, left me struggling for oxygen and loving every minute of it!
There are many dimensions which a speculative-fiction novel can explore: political intrigue; metaphysics; religion; scientific or technological paradigm shifts; economic forces that drive (or poison) human behavior; tensions between radically different races, species, or cultures that erupt into conflict; ecological changes that reshape worlds and the societies that inhabit them. An ambitious writer might seriously address two or three in a story. In Dune, Herbert manages to develop all of these themes, not short-changing any of them, and weaves them into a tapestry as rich and vivid as any I've encountered. That's an amazing feat. The novel, and the series, challenge you to understand the details of each individual element. More importantly, you are asked to discern the larger patterns and how they combine, collide, and interact to create a civilization that fills a sizable chunk of time and space.
I loved getting lost in Herbert's universe. I always felt that I only saw the tip of the iceberg; that Herbert must have spent years developing the intricate, sprawling backstories that lurked beneath the surface, lending the series its considerable weight. No matter how you tried, you couldn't digest it all...but it was thought-provoking, entertaining, and enlightening to try!
Of all the themes in Dune, the ecological one affected me most deeply. I've always been environmentally-minded, always enjoyed walking in the woods or reading in the shade of a tall tree, serenaded by birds. And I've always worried about the impact we're having on those wild places, because I truly believe they enrich us in ways we don't know how to measure. We are diminished every time we sacrifice another in the name of progress.
So, admittedly, I'm no Frank Herbert. But I did study his masterworks carefully, and I've tried my very best to incorporate the lessons taught by Dune into my own new novel, Aquarius Rising: In the Tears of God. This is book 1 of a trilogy that explores the potential trauma for residents of a future Earth where our worst-case scenarios for climate change have come to pass. Humans are forced to adapt to a hostile, wounded planet. Humanoid subspecies struggle to carve out their own niches in ecosystems far less friendly than the ones under which we've prospered. Aquarius Rising is not Dune, by a long shot. But - if I learned a fraction of what Herbert's famous series had to teach - I'll consider the time spent swimming through Aquarius's murky seas worthwhile. If you choose to read it, I hope you will, too!
There are many dimensions which a speculative-fiction novel can explore: political intrigue; metaphysics; religion; scientific or technological paradigm shifts; economic forces that drive (or poison) human behavior; tensions between radically different races, species, or cultures that erupt into conflict; ecological changes that reshape worlds and the societies that inhabit them. An ambitious writer might seriously address two or three in a story. In Dune, Herbert manages to develop all of these themes, not short-changing any of them, and weaves them into a tapestry as rich and vivid as any I've encountered. That's an amazing feat. The novel, and the series, challenge you to understand the details of each individual element. More importantly, you are asked to discern the larger patterns and how they combine, collide, and interact to create a civilization that fills a sizable chunk of time and space.
I loved getting lost in Herbert's universe. I always felt that I only saw the tip of the iceberg; that Herbert must have spent years developing the intricate, sprawling backstories that lurked beneath the surface, lending the series its considerable weight. No matter how you tried, you couldn't digest it all...but it was thought-provoking, entertaining, and enlightening to try!
Of all the themes in Dune, the ecological one affected me most deeply. I've always been environmentally-minded, always enjoyed walking in the woods or reading in the shade of a tall tree, serenaded by birds. And I've always worried about the impact we're having on those wild places, because I truly believe they enrich us in ways we don't know how to measure. We are diminished every time we sacrifice another in the name of progress.
So, admittedly, I'm no Frank Herbert. But I did study his masterworks carefully, and I've tried my very best to incorporate the lessons taught by Dune into my own new novel, Aquarius Rising: In the Tears of God. This is book 1 of a trilogy that explores the potential trauma for residents of a future Earth where our worst-case scenarios for climate change have come to pass. Humans are forced to adapt to a hostile, wounded planet. Humanoid subspecies struggle to carve out their own niches in ecosystems far less friendly than the ones under which we've prospered. Aquarius Rising is not Dune, by a long shot. But - if I learned a fraction of what Herbert's famous series had to teach - I'll consider the time spent swimming through Aquarius's murky seas worthwhile. If you choose to read it, I hope you will, too!
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