Dune – Dab of Darkness Book Reviews

House Atreides by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

Dune: House Atreides
By: Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Series: Dune Saga, Book 7, Prelude to Dune, Book 1
Length: 26 hrs and 26 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 09-18-09
Language: English
Publisher: Tantor Audio

Book Blurb

Capturing all the complexity and grand themes of the original, this prequel to the Dune series weaves a new tapestry of betrayal, passion, and destiny into a saga that expands the tale written by Frank Herbert more than 30 years ago.

My Review

It was better than I expected. Years ago, I had just reread the original Frank Herbert Dune novels and jumped right into one of these Brian/Kevin Dune books and just couldn’t get into it. This time around, I haven’t read the original Dune novels in years so I was able to just experience this book as it is. The writing style is certainly different from Frank Herbert’s works but it’s not bad.

I enjoyed the history, seeing what my favorite Dune characters were like as kids or young adults. And we get that famous Atreides bull fight we heard about in the original Dune novel. I did enjoy all the politics flying around too. Though in this novel, the authors laid things out (in an entertaining way) whereas Frank’s novels leave a it of mystery, something for the reader to guess at or figure out on their own.

The Bene Gesserit are still a big deal (yay!) but outside that group, the ladies don’t do much. I like Frank’s incorporation of female characters better. There’s a few romantic interests but mostly the guys are pushing the plot along (with the exception of a few Bene Gesserit moves).

All together, I’m glad I gave it a read. I plan to read the other 2 books in this series. The rivalry between Harkonnen and Atreides is legendary! 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Scott Brick is the voice of classic science fiction and while this book isn’t old enough to be a classic, it is closely tied to a classic series. As usual, I liked all his character voices. He had distinct voices and his female voices are feminine. The pacing is good and there are no tech issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

Interview with Andrea Johnson, Book Reviewer & Blogger

Let’s give a hearty warm welcome to Andrea Johnson, one of my personal favorite bloggers, the Little Red Reviewer. I especially love her Vintage SciFi Month not-a-challenge.

She’s set out to do something I haven’t seen before – publish a book of her best book reviews. That’s right! She’s compiled her favorite reviews of books she loves. Her reviews are always thoughtful and detailed so I look forward to seeing which ones make the cut. She’s launching a Kickstarter to fund the book and you can find out all about that over HERE.

Why publish a book of your reviews? What makes them unique enough to go to the trouble of publishing in a book?

You know how you get crazy ideas at 3am? You wake up in the middle of the night, have a crazy idea, fall back asleep, and then wake up in the morning and laugh about it? Publishing a book of my reviews was a crazy middle of the night idea. Except instead of going back to sleep I started researching how Kickstarter works, and asking friends about their experiences with Kickstarter. I told a couple of people what I was thinking, no one thought it was a crazy idea. Even my parents thought it was cool!

Why go through the trouble of publishing a book when all of these reviews are right there on my blog for anyone to find anytime they want? Have you ever tried finding anything on my blog? It’s kind of a mess. Over four hundred reviews, I have no idea how many author interviews, and who knows how many other posts, it’s getting hard to find the good stuff!

I’m obsessed with physical books, and a physical book allows my work to exist outside a computer screen. Instead of e-mailing my parents a link to my blog or to a particular review, I can just hand them a physical book and say “This is what I’ve been doing for eight years, this is the journey I went on, this is what I mean when I say I write book reviews online”. If this kickstarter funds it will mean a physical embodiment of my best work is viable.

What makes my reviews unique? Hmmm…. I don’t so much review a book as discuss my experience with it. And some of those experiences can be pretty intense!

Why are reviews still important today, or perhaps even more important now than ever?

Reviews will always be important. When you’re thinking about buying something, what’s the first thing you do? You look it up online and read the reviews. You want to know what other people think about that blender, or those shoes, or that brand of shower filter. If everyone gave it 5 stars, you’ll feel more comfortable buying it. If everyone gave it 2 stars, maybe not so much. People who are buying books do the same thing! We know what we like, we know what we’re in the mood for, and we don’t want to be disappointed (or at least not disappointed too much).

The big difference between book reviews and other product reviews is that I think book reviews are also important for the reviewer themselves. Writing a review helps me process my thoughts about what I just read. Maybe I loved the overall plot but found a scene problematic – writing the review helps me work through those feelings. Maybe I got really annoyed that those people who had so much sexual chemistry didn’t hook up at the end – writing the review helps me process those feeling and get over it. Maybe the book completely changed my worldview – writing the review helps me explain where I was, and how the book got me somewhere new. Writing reviews feels a little like therapy, a little like learning how to navigate the world, I guess. Review writing lets me practice processing my feelings about characters and places that don’t exist, so that I’m a little better at processing my feelings about people and events that happen in real life.

Why book reviews over reviewing other stuff (or maybe you do review other stuff?)?

I have reviewed the occasional movie, TV show, manga, or graphic novel, but my reviews are mostly books. Why? Because I simply love the experience of falling into a book. TV shows and movies have visuals, they have soundtracks, they have comedic timing, they have cinematography, and don’t get me wrong, I love all that stuff! But books don’t have any of that – they’ve got to work ten times harder to pull you into a new world, the author has to have the dialog just perfect for the comedic timing to work. It’s an art. And I get a kick out of it.

I also just love the physicality of a book – the weight of it, the texture of the paper, the texture of the cover, the feel of the spine, what the font looks like. It’s an entire world, and entire adventure, an entire ecosystem in a little package I can carry around with me.

I am not kidding when I say our apartment looks like a library exploded. I love to see the looks on people’s faces when they walk in and see three overstuffed bookshelves, and the stack of books on the coffee table and the stack of books under the coffee table, and the stack next to the bookshelf, and that’s just the living room.

You’ve been blogging about books for many years now. How to maintain that passion for the subject and blogging about it?

I started Little Red Reviewer in 2010, and before that I’d been posting reviews on a few e-zines. There was even a blog prior to LRR that was an epic fail. So I’ve been doing this in some form or another for probably ten years.

Book blogger burn out is a real thing, and has been the death of many a blog. My only advice for how to maintain the passion is for blogging to make sure it stays fun for you. If it feels like a job, or like a competition, or a lifestyle, it’s time to step away and get some perspective.

My blog is a hobby, it is a labor of love, it is something I enjoy spending time on. I love reading, I love talking about books, I love that over the years I’ve gotten better at talking about books. I know what my limits are – I know how much time I can realistically spend on this hobby every week. I don’t push myself past my limits, I try not to burn myself out.

I don’t think I’ll ever lose my passion for talking about science fiction! Science Fiction tells us all the things in our universe that are possible, and it shows us how to do them. That’s freakin’ amazing! Why would I ever want to stop talking about that?

Have you ever made a decision based on a fictional character or book?

All the time! I must read too much heroic fiction, because I often take risks at work, or jump into things without really thinking them through, because that’s what the hero in a book does.

The public library of your dreams has arrived! What special collections does it hold?

Oh, I love libraries! I love that feeling of knowing this is the building that holds all the answers to the universe, this is where the knowledge lives, and it is right there just waiting for me. My dream public library has a full collection of science fiction related texts: Volumes of commentary, short biographies of writers, history books that talk about how speculative fiction trends and real world events (new wave, cyberpunk, post 9/11 fiction, etc) triggered other trends.

I love mythology retellings, so the library would also have a huge section of mythology from around the world, and commentary on all of that. And hidden in the broom closet would be the “mythology for dummies” books, because as much as I love all those mythology books, I don’t think I’d have the patience to read them, I’d want the cliffsnotes!

I plan to spend a lot of time in this library, so it needs to have a lot of comfy chairs. And a coffee station. And some cats that like to be petted.

Side characters can make or break a story. What side characters have you enjoyed?

What a fun question!!

I recently reread China Mieville’s The Scar for the umpteenth time. There is this side character, Uther Doul, who on all previous reads, I’d always been afraid of. I’d zip through his scenes because he scared me. On this read, I found him fascinating. I savored his scenes, read his dialog over and over again, trying to get squeeze every hint out of it (luckily, he likes to talk at people, so I got to be his audience along with Bellis, which made me feel like a creepy voyeur), his voice mesmerized me. I wanted to know everything I could about his past, I love the wordplay of his Might Sword, I loved his damn confidence in the fact that yes, the world is going to hell and he’s happy to watch it happen. Bellis thinks she’s pretty smart, doesn’t she? I think Uther is laughing at her, because he loves knowledge more than she does, but he’ll never admit it. I’d give anything to read a version of The Scar told from Uther’s point of view. Mieville wrote more in that world, but from what I can tell, we never heard from Uther Doul again.

I think even authors have their favorite side characters, and find ways to let them into the spotlight as a series progresses. In N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy, Sieh is certainly an important (and adorable! And fun!) side character in the first two books in the series. Sieh is the god of childhood, so when he starts to age, there is reason to worry. Gods and godlings are supposed to be eternal, they are trapped in their own mythologies and archtypes, and they are not supposed to change. If a god starts changing and becoming someone or something else, what does that mean for everything else we believe in?

Everyone’s favorite side character from City of Stairs is of course Sigrud! He reminds me of Brock Sampson from The Venture Brothers, but is as gentle as a lamb (most of the time). As the series progresses, Sigrud becomes a more important character, but when we first meet him he’s just a giant mattress who follows Shara around and does her bidding. I wonder if Sigrud wondered why people looked at him like they were afraid of him? I wonder if he liked people being afraid of him, or if he tried his best not to think about that.

In Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Archivist Wasp and Latchkey, the nameless ghost, who is just referred to as Ghost, never quite reaches main character status. He’s in a lot of scenes, but the story is 100% not about him. But he was cool! I hope Kornher-Stace writes more in this world, as I’d love to learn more about him.

If you were asked to create the syllabus for a college class in SFF literature, what books would be on there as required reading? As passing discussion?

I wish my college had offered a SFF lit class! I had to take boring “technical writing instead”. That class was so boring. Hmmm…. required reading would include We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Space Lords by Cordwainer Smith, I Robot by Isaac Asimov, We Who Are About To by Joanna Russ, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin, Dune by Frank Herbert, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh, Blindsight by Peter Watts, and Binti by Nnedi Okorafor.

Optional additional reading for discussion would include Sandkings and Nightflyers by George R R Martin, All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Sheri S Tepper’s Arbai series, The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, and Way Station by Clifford Simak.

I’d basically be using the syllabus as an excuse to force people to read all my favorite stuff.

What would you ask a hyper-advanced society?

Where is your closest library? (by the way, for a great take on how alien civilizations might define the word “book”, check out “The Book-Making Habits of Select Species” by Ken Liu. It was in Lightspeed Magazine.)

Places to Stalk Andrea Johnson

Blog ~ Twitter

The Best & Worst of 2016

2016 is finally over! It was a tough year for me, even right up to the end where I caught a nasty holiday bug. I did read a lot of great books last year. According to my Goodreads profile, I read 208 books, nearly 100 less than the year before. I blame my new found love of Netflix bingewatching for that. Here are my favorite 11 books of the year, in no particular order (no counting rereads).

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Cemetery Lake by Paul Cleave

Anne Manx on Amazonia by Larry Weiner

Chapelwood by Cherie Priest

The Green Children by Domino Finn

Dragon Gate by Gary Jonas (Jonathan Shade #3)

Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword by Kiera Gillett

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

Cthulhu Armageddon by C. T. Phipps

I did some rereads this past year – The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (yep, from the beginning), Terre D’Ange Cycle by Jacqueline Carey (I’ve been reading with a great group of on-line friends and we’re up to Book 7 now), Dune by Frank Herbert (just because it’s awesome), Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney (I read this in paperback some years ago but now it’s available as an audiobook and it is incredibly well done).

Here are the top 3 books that didn’t do it for me:

Lover Eternal by J. R. Ward

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

Hair Power by Piers Anthony

I also joined a romance book club. I’ve never really enjoyed romance novels. I don’t mind if a book has romance in it but the main plot has to be something more than finding true love or getting laid for me to really enjoy it. So, I thought perhaps I was wrong in binning romance books all together and pretty much ignoring them. With that in mind, I joined this lovely group of people and gave the romance genre a real shot at winning my heart. We read several paranormal and urban fantasy romances, a few contemporary romances (some with suspense and one with BDSM), and 1 historical fiction romance. In general, I was underwhelmed. Some of the books did exceed my expectations and for romance novels they were good, but none of them made it into my top 50. Let me slightly amend that. I had the opportunity to host twice, which means I picked the book we read. Both times I picked books I had not previously read and one of them was Darkness Haunts by Susan Ilene. There is no romance in this novel. There’s a spattering of flirting, but that is all. While several people enjoyed it (including me), it does not count as a romance novel. Obviously, I’m not a good host for a romance book club but the group was great about it.

Also here are some of my notable firsts for 2016:

My first Stephen King novel – 11-22-63

My first Star Wars novel – Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne

Guess which side of the Force Chupacabr is on? — Guess which side of the Force Chupacabra is on?

My first Podiobooks audiobook – Marker Stone by Paul J. Joseph

My first Kurt Vonnegut novel – Cat’s Cradle

As 2016 ends, I am looking forward to a better year in 2017. I spent all of 2016 sick and most of it on bed rest. It took quite some time and many doctors to get diagnosed. I now know that I have CTEPH and in February I will be in San Diego having PTE surgery to hopefully correct the issue. It’s a major surgery and I could be in the hospital recovering for up to 20 days. So if Dab of Darkness goes dark between Ground Hog’s Day and Valentine’s Day, it’s just me laid up in a hospital recovering. Life should get better after that surgery and I’m just really looking forward to being on the other side of it. 24/7 supplemental oxygen makes life rather boring, as I can now attest to.

Audiobook+ Giveaway & Interview: Terry Maggert, Author of Heartborn

Everyone, please welcome Terry Maggert to the blog today. I really enjoyed his suspenseful YA angel novel, Heartborn. A big thank you to Jess at The Audio Book Worm for setting up this book tour. Swing by the tour page to catch more interview, reviews, giveaways, and guest posts. If your interested in the giveaway (and who wouldn’t be?), scroll to the very bottom to learn how to win an Amazon GC, an audiobook copy of Halfway Dead by Terry Maggert, or a bluetooth speaker. On to the interview!

*Author’s note: these are great questions, and it’s high time someone considered my feelings about draconic issues.

Would you rather have a dragon, or be a dragon?

Have, and my reasoning is purely selfish: I want to experience the majesty of having a dragon as a friend– think of the things it would lead to. Never search for a parking space. Avoid the DMV forever. No pesky TSA, or the need to check your broadsword before you board a cruise. Those are all things of the past. Additional fun: Think of the speaking engagements. “Terry and Banshee, thank you for being here. Could you tell us a little about your”—

“ROOOOAAAAARRRR.”

“Banshee would like me to tell you to never give up on your dreams. Did someone say there was an open bar?”

I’m don’t see a downside to this. Ever.

If you could, what book/movie/TV series would you like to experience for the first time all over again and why?

I could blather on about some obscure French film but that would just be posturing. In film, it has to be Star Wars because I was nine years old and it was the closest thing I’d ever seen to my dreams made real. I was a little boy when the Apollo missions went to the moon; I’d stand in our front yard (I’m from Florida) and watch those enormous rockets blaze upward and it was like I was onboard. If that doesn’t kindle your imagination, nothing will.

For books, it has to be The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. It is, and will always be my first printed love. I’ve bought, re-bought, and bought them again because I wear them out. Seriously.

If you were sent on a magical quest which other 4 fantasy authors would you take with you?

This is EASY. Magical quests are always filled with things that have tentacles and fangs and whatnot. So, as follows:

Larry Correia (GUNS!).

Jim Butcher (KNIVES!)

Ursula K. LeGuin (Diplomacy/Magic)

And, there’s an up-and-coming British writer named J.K. Rowling who, I’m told, might be able to contribute magic systems and *possibly* finance the whole mission, although we’ll have to see if her books become popular. I’m pulling for her.

Which ancient or historical works have you not read and periodically kick yourself for not having made time for them yet?

As a writer and history prof, this question brings me great shame. Among the numerous classics I *should* have read by this stage in my life, I think the most important one is Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. He was an emperor who found time to write. I should find time to read it, in between eating cookies and goofing off. Oh, and I need to re-read Frankenstein because my love for monsters has been like a fire in my imagination.

To sum up: Yes, I feel shame.

If you were asked to create the syllabus for a college class in SFF literature, what books would be on there as required reading? As passing discussion?

This is one of the most hotly contested subjects I’ve ever discussed at author events; it’s much like arguing about the greatest baseball player or singer or whatnot.

*Author’s note: my choices are Ted Williams and Freddy Mercury, respectively.

But, on to the topic at hand:

For sci-fi, I say start deep in the past. Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs are an absolute must. They led to the explosion of what we call genre fiction, and thus, we have the golden era. I’d say, given twelve books in SFF?

Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne
John Carter of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs (the origin of Star Wars!)
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin
The Passage, Justin Cronin
Startide Rising, David Brin
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
A Spell for Chameleon, Piers Anthony
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkein
Dune, Frank Herbert

Of course, we will now let the arguments begin.

Care to share an awkward fangirl/fanboy moment, either one where someone was gushing over your work…..or one where you were gushing over another author’s work?

This is actually one of my high points. I was signing at LibertyCon this summer, and paired with Todd McCaffrey for an autograph session. Some points to know:

He is the son of my favorite writer, Anne McCaffrey.

He now writes my favorite series.

I’ve carried a copy of Dragonsong with me for more than 35 years.

I brought my tattered old book with me (given to me by my buddy Tim when we were kids), and Todd didn’t just sign it (he’s an incredibly nice guy), but chatted with me about his mom and their books. Aside from my parents, the McCaffrey family is the longest relationship I’ve had in my life. Here is the evidence:

Terry Maggert's favorite book. — Terry Maggert’s favorite book.

Then, for my fanboy moment, he signed MY dragon book, Banshee, which is dedicated as follows: “To Tim, who gave me Anne, who gave me dragons.”

I was, and am, giddy.

What are the top 3 historical time periods and locations you would like to visit?

Let’s consider this for a moment, based on something I say as a history professor. “The good old days weren’t very good.”

I love things like dentistry, clean water, and air conditioning. With that in mind, if I’m going to visit the past and have a return ticket, I say:

Stonehenge. I MUST know who built it, and why.

Machu Picchu during its peak. Can you imagine a city in the clouds?

Paris in the 1880s— Ain’t no party like a Parisian Belle Epoque Party cuz a Parisian Belle Epoque Party don’t stop. The art. The culture. The intrigue. The wanton alcoholism and nudity. It’s all there.

You have to run an obstacle course. Who do you invite along (living or dead, real or fictional)? Will there be a tasty libation involved?

We will run and drink mead, as the Gods intended. And by we, I mean, “Me, Leif Ericson of the Norsemen, and the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca, because I’m not just going to run that course, I’m going to WRECK it.”

About Terry Maggert:

Born in 1968, I discovered fishing shortly after walking, a boon, considering I lived in South Florida. After a brief move to Kentucky, my family trekked back to the Sunshine State. I had the good fortune to attend high school in idyllic upstate New York, where I learned about a mythical substance known as “Seasons”. After two or three failed attempts at college, I bought a bar. That was fun because I love beer, but, then, I eventually met someone smarter than me (a common event), and, in this case, she married me and convinced me to go back to school–which I did, with enthusiasm. I earned a Master’s Degree in History and rediscovered my love for writing. My novels explore dark fantasy, immortality, and the nature of love as we know it. I live near Nashville, Tennessee, with the aforementioned wife, son, and herd, and, when I’m not writing, I teach history, grow wildly enthusiastic tomato plants, and restore my 1967 Mustang.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~Facebook ~ GoodReads

Synopsis of Heartborn:

Her guardian angel was pushed.

Keiron was never meant to be anything other than a hero. Born high above in a place of war and deception, he is Heartborn, a being of purity and goodness in a place where violence and deceit are just around every corner.

His disappearance will spark a war he cannot see, for Keiron has pierced the light of days to save a girl he has never met, for reasons he cannot understand. Livvy Foster is seventeen, brave, and broken. With half a heart, she bears the scars of a lifetime of pain and little hope of survival.

Until Keiron arrives.

In the middle of a brewing war and Livvy’s failing heart, Keiron will risk everything for Livvy, because a Heartborn’s life can only end in one way: Sacrifice.

Fall with Livvy and Keiron as they seek the truth about her heart, and his power, and what it means to love someone who will give their very life to save you.

Audible Amazon

About the Narrator Julia Whelan:

Julia Whelan has appeared in many films and television series, most notably ABC’s Once And Again. After receiving a degree in English and Creative Writing at Middlebury College and Oxford University, Julia began narrating audiobooks. She’s recorded hundreds of novels across all genres and has received multiple Earphones and Audie Awards. She is repeatedly named one of Audiofile Magazine’s Best Voices and was Audible’s Narrator of the Year.

IMDB ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ GoodReads

GIVEWAYS!!!

There are 3 different giveaways for this tour. You can enter any of them or all of them. These giveaways are hosted by The Audiobookworm and the prizes provided by the author. Enjoy!

Giveaway 1: A $10 Amazon Gift Card

Heartborn Audiobook Blog Tour

Giveaway 2: A Digital Audiobook Copy of Halfway Dead by Terry MaggertHalfway Dead Digital Audiobook

Giveaway 3: Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

Mini Bluetooth Speaker

Dune by Frank Herbert

Where I Got It: Own it

Narrators: Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, Ilyana Kadushin

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (2007)

Length: 21 hours 8 minutes

Series: Book 1 Dune, Book 12 Dune Saga

Author’s Page

Set in a sweeping science fiction universe, the human empire is vast and complicated. Spice, from the planet Arrakis (aka Dune) powers it all, sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes in not so subtle ways. For years, the Harkonnen family has managed Dune for the Emperor, but now the Emperor has handed control of that planet over to House Atreides. Of course, the Harkonnens will do whatever they can to take down the Atreides. Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica will have to learn how to survive the most harshest zones of this desert planet in order to survive the Harkonnen.

I have read this book so many times over the years and each time I take something new from it. I was originally fascinated by the book because of the desert planet, which holds such great significance for the plot. Having spent most of my life in one desert or another, I really appreciated that Herbert built real desert life into the scenery. It’s not all sandy dunes, dry heat, and wind. Plus there’s giant sandworms and who doesn’t love giant worms of any kind?

This book is full of cool SF tech as well. There’s the small transport ships for collecting the Spice in the desert, the enormous space going vessels, personal protective shields, assassin’s tricks and tools, the specialized desert suits that reclaim and recycle the body’s water, and plenty more. If you’ve only seen the various movies/mini-series based on the book, then you are missing out.

The characters are also fascinating. While some are drawn simply, they still have motives and are useful to the plot. The main characters are layered, complex, have faults and foibles. Duke Leto, Paul’s father, comes across as a capable ruler who is worthy of respect. He is sure in his priorities and his code of honor. Jessica, Leto’s concubine and most trusted companion, is Bene Gesserit trained. Yes, she does scheme but her reasons are solidly good. Still, she miscalculates and makes mistakes. Paul starts off as a smart but somewhat sheltered boy. His story arc tosses him into a world of danger, literally, and there are so many ways he could have ended up dead. Gurney Halleck, Paul’s troubadour warrior trainer, is also a favorite. He has some of the roughest humor but also pushes Paul the hardest.

For a book that has staunchly remained in the SF genre, there is a mystical side to the story. The Bene Gesserit is a long-standing sisterhood that has spread it’s seeds of religion throughout the human universe. Most are trained from birth in mental abilities as well as history, languages, and martial arts. They also have the Voice, which allows them to compel most people to simple actions. The Bene Gesserit use the Spice to peek into the future (a talent called prescience) and thereby have kept humanity from being snuffed out by this disaster or that (or it’s own stupidity). Yet there is a place they can’t look, a place that terrifies them. Paul will play a role in helping them discover what is hidden there. Since this mystical element to the story can’t be nailed down by science, it has fascinated me the over the years.

There is so much to love about this book. The desert people, the Fremen, have their own well-formed culture, shaped by the environment of Dune. Indeed, Dune itself is like a character in the story because it’s nature has such a strong influence on the story. The little touches of various languages throughout the story are also appreciated. I find it immensely sensible that House Atreides would have it’s own battle language, making it that much more difficult for their enemies to figure out what they are doing during a fight.

If you haven’t given this book a read yet, I highly recommend it. There is plenty to be discovered and enjoyed in this classic SF novel.

The Narration: The narration on this book is a little odd. There are chunks where multiple narrators are giving voice to the characters and then chunks where it is only Simon Vance narrating all the characters. I wonder if a trimmed radio theater version was recorded and then the publisher went back later and had Vance fill in all the in between spaces for an unabridged version. Vance’s performance is really good and the multi-cast parts are really good, but I found myself not liking switching between the two. I would get used to a character sounding a certain way and then have to get used to Vance’s performance of the same character, and then switching back and forth throughout – it was an unnecessary annoyance. Still, I love this book enough to tolerate it and for the most part, I still enjoyed the narration.

What I Liked: The desert planet Dune and how it shapes the human existence; all the SF tech; so many assassins!; the worms of Arrakis; Paul’s story arc; the use of languages; the mystery of the Bene Gesserit; a worthy classic.

What I Disliked: The narration is odd – switching between a multi-cast performance and a single narrator, and back and forth for the entire book was a little annoying.

What Others Think:

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Interview: Michelle Murrain, Author of Friends with Wings

Everyone, please welcome science fiction author Michelle Murrain to the blog. We chat about Starbuck, life in academia, drinking with some favorite SF characters, and so much more. Sit back and enjoy!

Are minions/sidekicks just throwaway devices in a tale? Can they become more? Do they need to become more?

In general, I write not only novels, but series. So there are a mix of characters. Some characters that are important to the main character have a lot of air time themselves. But many don’t – and are just instruments of a plot. In a sense, I guess that can be throwaway, but in general, every character should have a role to play, whether it be important to the main characters, or important to the plot.

For instance, a minion that makes his way known in my current in-progress work is himself not interesting, but his actions and connection form a very important part of the plot. So he’s not memorable, but he’s not throwaway, either.

I’ve also had a situation happen where a minor character decides on their own to become a major character. I then have no choice but to accede to their wishes. 🙂

Reality in my fiction: how important is it? Lengthy travel, cussing, and bathroom breaks happen in real life. How do you address these mundane occurrences in your writings?

My fiction is mostly pretty real, although I generally don’t include too many bathroom breaks (although there are often baths and showers, though.) Sometimes, lengthy travel is meaningful to make things about the world I’m building more clear, or to bring out things about the character, but when it’s not important, I just mention it, rather than describe it.

I do think it’s important to how people can sink into a book when events are portrayed in all their mundane glory. And, of course, there is always the potential plot twist waiting around the mundane corner…

Conventions, book signings, blogging, etc.: what are some of your favorite aspects of self-promotion and what are some of the least favorite parts of self-promotion?

I’ll just say that self-promotion is one of the most difficult things about being a writer, for me. I don’t like it in general, and most of it is not really my favorite. I do enjoy going to cons. I do blog, and enjoy that, as well as doing social media (like getting into conversations, meeting new people, etc.)

What has been your worst or most difficult job? How does it compare to writing?

I don’t know that I’ve really had a *worst* job. I’ve been really lucky, every job I’ve held is one that was in a field doing things I basically enjoyed. My most difficult job, bar none, was being an academic, trying to balance teaching and research and committee work. It was stressful, and all consuming. Writing, that is, just the writing part of writing, is heavenly in comparison.

Who are your non-writer influences?

Primarily my non-writer influences are science and scientists. I try my best, mostly, to be pretty scientifically accurate. Not that science can explain everything, but I use what we know.

If you could sit down and have tea (or a beer) with 5 fictional characters, who would you invite to the table?

Beer, certainly. 🙂 Paul Atreides, of Dune. Bren Cameron, the main character of CJ Cherryh’s Foreigner series. Lauren Olamina from Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Father Emilio Sandoz of Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow and Children of God.

If I were to have a beer with 5 of my own fictional characters, I’d choose Marianne from the Casitian Universe, Jame’lo, also from the Casitian Universe, Max from the Cassiopeia Chronicles, Daneli from the House Trageri Saga, and Trina from “Friends with Wings.”

What is a recurring or the most memorable geeky argument or debate you have taken part in?

I’d say it was an argument about the final fate of Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica. The debate still isn’t over.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Friends with Wings by Michelle Murrain

What if you were stranded on another planet? What would do? How would you live? And how would you deal with the intelligent native winged species on the planet?

The year is 2102, the earth is in crisis, and Trina, a gutsy young woman from a poor family, is forced to sell herself into slavery to pay off her family’s debt. To her surprise, she ends up being sent into space to help colonize a star. Her future seems bright until crisis strikes the colony – leaving Trina the only human being left alive on Planet Johannes. Another spaceship is slated to arrive in a decade, but how will Trina survive alone for ten years? And even if she does, how can she keep the next colony from meeting the same fate?

Read an excerpt here: http://author.murrain.net/friends-with-wings/

on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MYHSAN6

on Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/friends-with-wings-michelle-murrain/1120200827?ean=2940046121599

on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469496

Bio:

Michelle has been writing science fiction since 2006, and has been an avid reader and fan of science fiction since she started to read. She has been both a scientist and a technologist by trade, and she even went to seminary. So as a polymath, her interests span a wide range of topics, including science, technology, religion and spirituality, philosophy, history, culture, politics, race, gender, and sexuality. She brings all of these to bear in her science fiction writing. She specializes in stories of culture clash and/or first contact, and her work has numerous strong female protagonists and characters, as well as a lot of diverse characters. She lives in Sonoma County, California with her spouse and 2 cats. Find out more about Michelle here: http://author.murrain.net/

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Interview: Michael Meyerhofer, Author of Wytchfire

Everyone, please welcome the author of Wytchfire to the blog today, Michael Meyehofer. We’re going to chat about poetry, ways to burn down a city under siege, the Star Wars Holiday Special, a college course in SFF literature, sidekicks, along with a lot more! Prepare to be entertained!

What are your non-writer influences?

Being an unapologetic addict to the History Channel (Ancient Aliens notwithstanding), I get a lot of inspiration from documentaries. I’m fascinated by ancient and religious history, and of course ancient military history, and I try to weave those elements into my stories whenever I can. One small example: in The Knight of the Crane, the forthcoming sequel to Wytchfire, I needed a quick way for one of my more loathsome antagonist-generals to take down a well-fortified city. I recalled a documentary that mentioned how someone (I think it was Olga of Kiev) conquered a hostile town by capturing birds, tying burning twigs to their claws, and setting them free to spread the blaze around the rooftops of the town. I thought it was a fascinating, if macabre, story (those poor birds!) and decided to incorporate something similar into my book. I also tried to incorporate a lot of my nerdy interest in the history of the samurai and medieval European knighthood.

Which ancient or historical works have you not read and periodically kick yourself for not having made time for them yet?

Ha, I’ve always wanted to sit down and read Paradise Lost but to this day, I still haven’t gotten around to it. I’m really fascinated by different religious texts (especially the Epic of Gilgamesh). Not sure if this counts because I technically read them piecemeal in college, but I’ve always wanted to go back and spend some time with The Odyssey and The Iliad, too.

Who are some of your favorite book villains?

Not to state the obvious but pretty much all of George R. R. Martin’s villains are chillingly awesome—I think because they’re so complex, never quite completely evil. In that same vein, I’m also really partial to Tolkien’s Boromir, Lloyd Alexander’s Ellidyr, and Raistlin from the Dragonlance books.

Often various historical aspects (people, locations, events) are used in fantasy and sometimes rehashed in a far-flung future. Are there examples of such historical aspects being used well in the SF/F genre? Examples of what didn’t work for you?

Not to sound like a broken record but GRRM is another great go-to for this. His rugged, realistic depictions of realistic, messy warfare seem heavily influenced by medieval history and political intrigue. I think Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni books pull that off, too. Here are a couple more examples relating to warfare, since we’re already on that topic. As I mentioned earlier, I’m also a big fan of how Raymond Feist handles his battles (and even more so, the preparation for battle). There’s also the obvious example of how JRR Tolkien’s experiences with trench warfare affected his depictions of battle in his Lord of the Rings books, not to mention how Kurt Vonnegut’s experiences informed Slaughterhouse-Five and his other works.

There are plenty of examples of historical stuff woven into stories besides those involving warfare, though. I was recently impressed by the way Deborah Harkness uses her background as an academic to weave historical elements into A Discovery of Witches. I also love the echoes of “western” philosophy and “eastern” religion that frequently pop up in SFF, plus how the social and political strife in SFF worlds often mirror the social and cultural revolutions we’ve experienced throughout our country’s own relatively short history. Frank Herbert’s Dune books and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series are a couple examples. In terms of what doesn’t work for me, though, I don’t have specific examples so much as a general complaint. I find that I’m not all that interested in stories that propagate rather silly historical misconceptions. For instance, the Knighthood in my Dragonkin Trilogy is heavily inspired by the samurai, but I tried to steer clear of silly stereotypes that the samurai were always honorable, undefeatable paragons of virtue. I think that, like medieval European knights, they could be as terrible and repressive as they could be honorable and selfless.

What reboots (or retellings) of classics have you enjoyed? Are there ones that haven’t worked for you?

I’m a sucker for pretty much any dark re-imagining of fairy tales, ever since Anne Sexton did that in her poetry. I picked up My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me the other day and I’m already halfway through it, really digging the premise! Also maybe it’s just the English prof in me but I can’t help thinking that virtually all the stories we see today can in some way be traced back to Shakespeare (of which there have been plenty of excellent and awful adaptations, by the way). That’s not a bad thing, though, since probably all the basic story elements in Shakespeare’s plays can be traced back even earlier, maybe to Homer. And his stories echo even earlier myths, back and back, to cave-shadowed campfires near heaps of charred animal bones. Even back then, I think humans had the same basic fears, desires, and curiosities (but significantly less literacy and way more body hair).

In this age of publishing, self-promotion is really necessary for the author. What do you enjoy most about advertising yourself and your works? What do you find most challenging?

There’s no denying the fact that self-promotion is as challenging as it is essential—especially with so many other fine, hard-working authors clamoring to get noticed! You need to write countless blog and forum posts, plus maintain very active Facebook and Twitter accounts, and maybe even more importantly, you can’t just promote your own work! Especially with so many books coming out all the time, readers don’t just want to hear from someone who pops in once a year to announce a book release, then disappears. They want authors who are also active members of the community. And it has to be genuine because readers are smart and they’ll see through insincerity pretty quickly. In other words, an author also has to prove that they’re a voracious reader, that he or she loves the genre they’re writing in, that they’re as willing and eager to talk shop and promote other writers they admire. Oh, and authors need to do all this while still finding time to write and revise three, four, even five-hundred-page manuscripts.

That’s all pretty daunting, sure, but I don’t mind. Actually, I like it because it’s worthwhile. Whoever said that it should be easy? I’d add that I first came to publishing as a contemporary poet, and poetry has an even smaller audience than SFF! So that made me more respectful of what it takes to “make it,” and even more grateful and humbled when I find a reader willing to give my work a chance, or a fellow author willing to promote my work aside her or his own.

What is your favorite fictional holiday (from books, movies, or tv)?

I’d love to sit in a big smoky hall and hoist a mug on Durin’s Day (the Tolkien Dwarfish equivalent of New Years Day). Whacking Day from The Simpsons would be cool, provided the snakes are unquestionably eeeevil! I’m also tempted to add Life Day from the Star Wars Holiday Special, though I’m not quite sure I can bring myself to do it.

What were you like as a kid? Did your kid-self see you being a writer?

Oh, I was the poster child for shyness and over-sensitivity! I recall spending whole days sitting with a book—sometimes because I was lost in a story, other times because I was afraid to go outside and face bullying for birth defects (a malformed right ear and a bad limp, which seemed like the end of the world back then). Eventually, though, overcoming this gave me extra ambition and some extra perspective that I could weave into my own writing.

If you could sit down and have dinner with 5 dead authors, who would you invite to the table? What would they order?

Li Po – hot and sour soup and a salmon bagel. Walt Whitman – a big plate of hot wings. D. H. Lawrence – mead and a turkey leg. Emily Dickinson – a Cinnabon. Raymond Carver – straight whiskey, probably.

If you were asked to create the syllabus for a college class in SFF literature, what books would be on there as required reading? As passing discussion?

Oh, that’s a tough one! I know there’s some disagreement as to whether or not this constitutes SF but Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five would be high on my list. I already mentioned George R. R. Martin earlier, though I’d probably start with The Tales of Dunk and Egg, his Song of Ice and Fire prequels. I’m also partial to the character development (particularly for Erik Von Darkmoor) and the realism in Shadow of a Dark Queen, the first book in Raymond Feist’s Serpentwar Saga. Of course, there’s Arthur Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (though I’m maybe a bit more partial to Childhood’s End). I’d also need Madeleine L’Engle, J.K. Rowling, and Philip Dick in there somewhere, too, though I’d have a terrible time picking one of their books over another.

Care to share an awkward fangirl/fanboy moment, either one where someone was gushing over your work…..or one where you were gushing over another author’s work?

What, me be awkward?! Ha, actually, I’d have a hard time coming up with an instance when I met a writer (novelist or poet) that I really admired and I wasn’t kind of a dork about it! I tend to get really, really excited when I read something I like. In fact, I have kind of a strange rule that if I come across a book that blows me away (or a short story or a poem, for that matter), I make an effort to contact the author and let them know. I’ve been lucky enough to have a few readers do that for me and let me tell you, that kind of thing makes it all worthwhile.

Cover art can be so important for a book, making or breaking sales. What cover art has caught your eye, that you found stood above other books?

While part of me has a soft spot for minimalism, I also love the epic feel of pretty much every cover made for Richard Knaak’s books. And I’m still jealous of the cover of Raising Chaos by fellow Red Adept author, Elizabeth Corrigan!

What do you do when you are not writing?