Fly me to the DUNE The House Atreides

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ImageI loved the prequels but not the sequels.

Like many sci fi lovers I read Frank Herbert’s Dune–a book I loved for its richness and detail with all of the subcultures, traditions and intrigue centered on the spice–the eye-blue-ing, mind-altering and space-bending drug of drugs. Add the aristocracy and royal “Houses” murdering, betrayal, plots within plots and I did little else but read for days. It seemed that sequels were not as compelling and when Herbert died, I assumed a grand story was finally done. Then the “prequels” came out and I was delighted with how engrossing they were. Each House has its own saga leading up to Dune and then, more in prequels to the prequels with three novels detailing the machines. House Atreides was the first Dune novel other than the original that I really liked. Now if they would just come out with a decent DUNE movie . . .  You’d think if they could do justice to The Lord of the Rings that someone could figure out how to bring DUNE to life. The first film was a big mess and the TV miniseries was pretty icky. In the meantime, if you haven’t read DUNE, I hope you’ll take a look.  It grabs you on the first page and like all good fiction transports you to a different realty and DUNE is a really different, layered mystical place. Peter Jackson, fly me to the DUNE please.

James Michener is one of my favorite authors.

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When I was a kid, I remember my mother reading Hawaii. That was a time when I was reading everything I could get my hands on and so I read Hawaii, and eventually Centennial, The Source, Texas and I forget–probably others. One of the aspects that I really enjoyed was the way Michener married the stories of everyone who lived there to the land. Not just people, but animals as well. I still remember the story of a little buffalo and he was as layered a character as many of the humans. I see Michener’s influence in my first book, The Demon Rift. Many stories are woven together over a span of time.

Link to used paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Hawaii-by-James-A-Michener/dp/B004HSS12K/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1334679176&sr=8-46