(1920-1986) US author born in Tacoma, Washington, and educated at the University of Washington, Seattle; he was Brian
Herbert
's father. Herbert worked as a reporter and editor on a number of West Coast newspapers before becoming a full-time writer. He lived in Washington State.
He began publishing sf with "Looking for Something?" for
Startling Stories
in April 1952, and during the next decade was an infrequent contributor to the sf magazines, producing fewer than twenty short stories (which nevertheless constituted a majority of his short fiction; he never made a significant impact with work below novel length); much of this material was assembled in various collections, including
The Book of Frank Herbert
(coll
1973
) and
The Best of Frank Herbert
(coll
1975
) [see Checklist for vts]. At this time he also wrote one novel,
The Dragon in the Sea
(November 1955-January 1956
Astounding
as "Under Pressure";
1956
; vt
21st Century Sub
1956
; vt
Under Pressure
1974
), a much praised sf thriller concerning complex psychological investigations aboard a submarine of the
Near Future
whose
Cold War
mission is to steal oil from America's foes. His emergence as a writer of major stature commenced with the publication in
Analog
from December 1963 to February 1964 of "Dune World", the first part of his
Dune
series. It was followed by "The Prophet of Dune" (January-May 1965
Analog
); the two were amalgamated into
Dune
(rev as fixup
1965
), which won the first
Nebula
for Best Novel, shared the
Hugo
, and became one of the most famous of all sf novels.
Dune
is a novel of extraordinary complexity. It encompasses intergalactic
Politics
of a decidedly feudal nature, the development of
Psi Powers
,
Religion
– specifically the reluctant but inevitable evolution of its protagonist into a
Messiah
– and
Future War
. Its primary impact, however, lay in its treatment of
Ecology
, a theme which it brought into the forefront of modern sf readers' and writers' awareness. The desert planet Arrakis, with its giant sandworms and its Bedouin-like human inhabitants, the Fremen, clinging to the most precarious of ecological niches through fanatical scrupulousness in water conservation, is possibly the most convincing
Planetary-Romance
environment created by any sf writer. With its blend (or sometimes clash) of complex intellectual discourse and Byzantine intrigue,
Dune
provided a template for Herbert's significant later work. Sequels soon began to appear which carried on the arguments of the original in testingly various manners and with an intensity of discourse seldom encountered in the sf field.
Dune Messiah
(July-November 1969
Galaxy
;
1969
) elaborates the intrigue at the cost of other elements, but
Children of Dune
(January-April 1976
Analog
;
1976
) recaptures much of the strength of the original work and addresses another recurrent theme in Herbert's work – the
Evolution
of Man, in this case into
Superman
; both these novels, along with the original, were assembled as
The Great Dune Trilogy
(omni
1979
).
God Emperor of Dune
(
1981
), set after 3500 years under the idealistic sway of the sandworm-cum-emperor Leto Atreides II, was followed by
Heretics of Dune
(
1984
) and
Chapter House Dune
(
1985
; vt
Chapterhouse: Dune
1985
), these three being assembled as
The Second Great Dune Trilogy
(omni
1987
). The last volume of the sequence may have the recapitulatory air of a long coda, but
God Emperor of Dune
and
Heretics of Dune
, like the enormously extended sonata-form development section in the first movement of a great symphony, work and rework the initial material into more and more elaborate presentations of the initial themes. As a whole, the sequence almost fully justified Herbert's decision – certainly astute in marketing terms – to so comprehensively draw out his original inspiration. A set of
Sequels by Other Hands
by Brian
Herbert
(whom see for details) with Kevin J
Anderson
has not seriously diminished the effect of the original series.
Although
Dune
dominated his career from 1965 – much later a film based on it,
Dune
(
1984
), was released – Herbert began in the mid-1960s to publish other novels and series with admirable regularity.
The Green Brain
(March 1965
Amazing
as "Greenslaves"; exp
1966
) features mutated insects which achieve corporate intelligence (see
Hive Minds
).
Destination: Void
(August 1965
Galaxy
as "Do I Wake Or Dream?";
1966
; rev
1978
), a clotted novel on a
Cybernetics
theme, concentrates on the construction of an
AI
aboard a starship, where it comes to the conclusion that it is God (see
Gods and Demons
). The
Pandora
sequence, all written with Bill
Ransom
–
The Jesus Incident
(
1979
),
The Lazarus Effect
(
1983
) and
The Ascension Factor
(
1988
) – follows on from
Destination: Void
, exploring in exhaustive detail the implications of the earlier book, while placing in a
Planetary-Romance
frame the complex and developing relationship between God-"protected" human stock and the natives of Pandora.
The Eyes of Heisenberg
(June-August 1966
Galaxy
as "Heisenberg's Eyes";
1966
) is about
Genetic Engineering
and
Immortality
, and
The Heaven Makers
(April-June 1967
Amazing
;
1968
; rev
1977
) again copes with immortality.
The Santaroga Barrier
(October 1967-February 1968
Amazing
as "Santaroga Barrier";
1968
), describing a higher order of
Intelligence
evolved within an isolated, near-
Utopian
community, served to emphasize the thematic centrality of intelligence throughout Herbert's work, in which consistent attempts are made not only to suggest different, or evolved, types of intelligence but to describe them in detail. Among contemporary sf writers only Ian
Watson
has addressed this theme as frequently and as convincingly.
Alien
intelligence (see also
Living Worlds
) is further examined in the
Jorj X McKie/Consentiency
sequence comprising "The Tactful Saboteur" (October 1964
Galaxy
),
Whipping Star
(January-April 1970
If
;
1970
; rev
1977
) and
The Dosadi Experiment
(May-August 1977
Galaxy
;
1977
) – the last of which, orchestrated through a plot of multi-levelled intrigue, searchingly describes several different alien species in detail, examines the effect of an experiment in extreme
Overpopulation
, and gifts its hero and heroine with advanced
Psi Powers
, including total mind transference.
Herbert's other sf novels include:
The God Makers
(February 1960
Fantastic
as "The Priests of Psi" plus other material; exp as fixup
1972
), in which a god is reified through human endeavours; the rather surly
The White Plague
(
1982
), in which a man driven into mad misogyny destroys almost all the women of the world with a gender-specific plague brewed up by home-lab
Genetic Engineering
; and the minor
Man of Two Worlds
(
1986
) with his son Brian
Herbert
. More important than any of these, however, is
Hellstrom's Hive
(November 1972-March 1973
Galaxy
as "Project 40";
1973
), which derives its title and part of its theme from the film
The
Hellstrom Chronicle
(
1971
) but otherwise has little connection with it. Arguably Herbert's most successful novel after
Dune
, this presents in persuasive detail an
Underground
colony of humans selectively bred, on insect-hive principles, into various specializations. In this society the individual's existence is of minor importance; the continuation of the hive as a functioning entity is paramount. The novel points up the contradictions of a society which in its own terms is a successful
Utopia
, but which from an outside human viewpoint is horrific.
Much of Herbert's work taxes the reader, mostly for good reasons. His ideas were genuinely developed concepts, not merely decorative notions, but they were sometimes embodied in excessively complicated plots and articulated in prose which did not always match the level of thinking, so that much of his writing seemed dense and opaque. His best novels, however, were the work of a speculative intellect with few rivals in modern sf, and were passionate with thought. He was posthumously inducted into the
Science Fiction Hall of Fame
in 2006. [MJE/JC]
see also:
Astounding Science-Fiction
;
Communications
;
Computers
;
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
;
ESP
;
Fantasy
;
Force Field
;
Galaxy Science Fiction
;
History in SF
;
Linguistics
;
Longevity (in Writers and Publications)
;
Music
;
Paranoia
;
Poisons
;
Singularity
;
Rays
;
Seiun Award
;
Spaceships
;
Telepathy
;
Torture
;
Under the Sea
;
Weather Control
.
Frank Patrick Herbert
born
Tacoma, Washington: 8 October 1920
died
Madison, Wisconsin: 11 February 1986
works
series
Dune
Pandora
Jorj X McKie/Consentiency
- Whipping Star
(New York: Putnam,
1970
) [
Jorj X McKie/Consentiency
: hb/John
Schoenherr
]
- Whipping Star
(New York: Berkley Books,
1977
) [rev of the above:
Jorj X McKie/Consentiency
: pb/Paul Alexander]
- The Dosadi Experiment
(New York: Berkley/Putnam,
1977
) [
Jorj X McKie/Consentiency
: hb/Paul Alexander]
- Four Complete Novels
(New York: Avenel,
1984
) [omni of the above two plus
The Santaroga Barrier
and
Soul Catcher
:
Jorj X McKie/Consentiency
where applicable: hb/Frederic Marvin]
individual titles
- The Dragon in the Sea
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company,
1956
) [hb/Mel
Hunter
]
- The Green Brain
(New York: Ace Books,
1966
) [first appeared March 1965
Amazing
as "Greenslaves": pb/Gerald McConnell]
- Destination: Void
(New York: Berkley Books,
1966
) [connected to the later
Pandora
sequence: pb/Richard
Powers
]
- Destination: Void
(New York: Berkley Books,
1978
) [rev of the above: connected to the later
Pandora
sequence: pb/Paul Alexander]
- The Eyes of Heisenberg
(New York: Berkley Medallion,
1966
) [pb/]
- The Heaven Makers
(New York: Avon Books,
1968
) [pb/John
Schoenherr
]
- The Santaroga Barrier
(New York: Berkley Books,
1968
) [pb/Paul
Lehr
]
- The God Makers
(New York: Putnam,
1972
) [fixup: hb/Vincent
Di Fate
]
- Soul Catcher
(New York: Putnam,
1972
) [hb/]
- Hellstrom's Hive
(Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday,
1973
) [hb/David K Stone]
- Direct Descent
(New York: Ace Books,
1980
) [fixup: first portion appeared as "Pack Rat Planet", December 1954
Astounding
: illus/pb/Garcia]
- The White Plague
(New York: Putnam,
1982
) [hb/Abe Echevarria]
- Man of Two Worlds
(New York: Putnam,
1986
) with Brian
Herbert
[hb/John
Schoenherr
]
collections and stories
- The Worlds of Frank Herbert
(London: New English Library,
1970
) [coll: pb/Jan Parker]
- The Book of Frank Herbert
(New York: DAW Books,
1973
) [coll: pb/Jack
Gaughan
]
- The Best of Frank Herbert
(London: Sidgwick and Jackson,
1975
) [coll: edited by Angus
Wells
: hb/David
Hardy
]
- The Priests of Psi
(London: Victor Gollancz,
1980
) [coll: hb/nonpictorial]
- Eye
(New York: Berkley Books,
1985
) [coll: pb/Jim
Burns
]
- Songs of Muad'Dib: The Poetry of Frank Herbert
(New York: Ace Books,
1992
) [poetry: coll: edited Brian
Herbert
: pb/Fredric Marvin]
- Missing Link
(no place given: Project Gutenberg,
2008
) [story: ebook: first appeared February 1959
Astounding
: na/]
- Operation Haystack
(no place given: Project Gutenberg,
2008
) [story: ebook: first appeared February-May 1959
Astounding
: na/]
- Old Rambling House
(no place given: Project Gutenberg,
2009
) [story: ebook: first appeared April 1958
Galaxy
: na/]
- The Collected Stories of Frank Herbert
(New York: Tor,
2014
) [coll: hb/]
- Unpublished Stories
(Monument, Colorado: WordFire Press,
2016
) [coll: pb/]
nonfiction
works as editor
about the author
- L David
Allen
.
Herbert's Dune and Other Works
(Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliffs Notes,
1975
) [nonfiction: in the publisher's
Cliffs Notes
series: pb/]
- David M Miller.
Frank Herbert
(Mercer Island, Washington: Starmont House,
1980
) [nonfiction: Starmont Reader's Guide 5: hb/]
- Timothy O'Reilly.
Frank Herbert
(New York: Frederick Ungar,
1981
) [nonfiction: pb/Roy Kuhlman]
- Willis E
McNelly
, editor.
The Dune Encyclopedia
(New York: Berkley,
1984
) [nonfiction: anth: hb/]
- Daniel J H
Levack
and Mark Willard.
Dune Master: A Frank Herbert Bibliography
(Westport, Connecticut: Meckler,
1988
) [bibliography: hb/]
- Phil
Stephensen-Payne
.
Frank Herbert: A Voice from the Desert: A Working Bibliography
(Leeds, West Yorkshire: Galactic Central Publications,
1990
) [bibliography: chap: in the publisher's
Bibliographies for the Avid Reader
series: pb/nonpictorial]
- Donald E
Palumbo
.
Chaos Theory, Asimov's Foundation and Robots, and Herbert's Dune: The Fractal Aesthetic of Epic Science Fiction
(Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,
2002
) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Brian
Herbert
.
Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert
(New York: Tor,
2003
) [nonfiction: hb/Gregory Manchess]
links
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