Customer Reviews (3)

Eight Steps Into Herbert's Universe!
Frank Herbert (1920-1986) wrote his masterpiece "Dune" (1965), generating a recognizable turning point in sci-fi literature.
The variety of themes he touched influenced many genre authors thereafter: ecology, political-religious interaction, genetic manipulation, longevity drugs and secret sisterhoods and brotherhoods.
"The Worlds of Frank Herbert" has 1970 as publication date. It comprises eight short stories published between 1961 and 1967 in prestigious sci-fi magazines.
The collection allows the reader to perceive the portentous imagination of Frank Herbert and at the same time why he was better novelist than short-stories writer. IMHO Herbert needed more than a few pages to fully exploit his creativity.

"The Tactful Saboteur", first story in the collection, is a very peculiar one and the best of the book. The backdrop is the ConSentient universe, common environment for "A Matter of Traces" (short story 1958), "Whipping Star" (novel 1970) and "The Dosadai Experiment" (novel 1977). In this scenery humans coexist with several alien races and the Government needs to be slowed down in order to preserve "Sentient Rights".
The story centers on Jorj X. McKie "saboteur extraordinary" of the Bureau of Sabotage who is in search of a missing colleague and mixed up in several schemes.

"The GM Effect" explores genetic memory in a very compact and thrilling tale. I just love this one!

"The Featherbedders" shows Herbert's classical wit to device unexpected plots that run deeper and deeper from a superficially anodyne situation.

The rest of the stories give you an idea about Herbert's imaginative universes!

I recommend this quite short book to sci-fi lovers (especially Frank Herbert enthusiasts) and general public too.

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Pre-Dune Frank Herbert
This is an interesting book for fans of Frank Herbert. These short stories are classic sci-fi, but show the master in his developmental stages.

At times, the stores seem ill-fitted to the genre of short story sci-fi. The conversation has Herbert's elliptical, convoluted style with the characteristic thoughts in italics, something that would be familiar to readers of the Dune series. As a critical reader, you could see how this type of dialog and exposition would fit a novel, a long novel better. Eventually, Herbert moved from novels to full-blown long books in series, really one long work. It's fun to contrast this with an author such as Robert Silverberg, whose novellas are in my opinion, his best work and show off his writing like a small but perfect gem in a restrained but elegant setting. Herbert needed room to expand and grow. The short story shows him ill-at-ease in the confines of a story, but clearly developing grand themes.

One reward--the first story is about Jorg X. McKie, saboteur extraordinaire and the Bureau of Sabotage's real activities. The Pan-Spechi, humanoid aliens who move their ego between five members of a creche, are more fully drawn out in this tale, so readers of "Whipping Star" and "The Dosadi Experiment", two of Herbert's most successful novels outside the Dune series will be able to get some insight and background. One senses there were other Jorg X. McKie tales that never saw the light of day or were never written, an interesting thought. What if "Dune" hadn't taken off. Perhaps McKie would have been Herbert's greatest creation. A treat for Herbert fans, even if the rest of the stories are a bit clunky.

Short stories by early Herbert
This is a collection of eight short stories originally published from 1961 to 1967, so essentially pre-Dune. By today's standards these stories are rather slow and convoluted, but not bad, with some rather alien aliens. Thestory on women in military uniform actually looks rather modern (instead offorty years old: some things never go out of date!).

This book willprobably be liked by those who liked "Whipping star". Better than"The Godmakers". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

dune
De fapt nu am citit carte ci numai cele 6 volume ale seriei Dune si am ajuns aici din greseala.. scuze! ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: London, F. Warne and Co.; Publication date: 1882; Subjects: Sports; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Inside, Outside
Children of Dune takes place about 8 years after Dune Messiah.The emperor Paul's twin children, Leto and Ghani, are mentally adult (since they are pre-born - born with all of their ancestors' memories and consciousnesses), but physically children.They are in the care of their aunt Alia, who is also pre-born, and clearly going crazy from all those voices in her head, and running the country into the ground in the process.The twins have to deal with the possibility of someday going crazy like Alia, and meanwhile keep trying to be taken seriously so that they can do something about the present.

Meanwhile:The Preacher, a blind freeman from the desert preaches about how corrupt the government has become.Alia is afraid to arrest him and no one wants to personally deal with him, because there is a chance that he is really Paul, returned from the wandering in the desert.Jessica, Paul's and Alia's mother, is trying to sort out for herself and for the Bene Geserit (kind of like nuns with intergalactic political power) whether or not Alia has gone crazy and needs to be dealt with.A grandson of the former emperor, who Paul deposed, is being manouvered into position to be the next emperor, by marriage to Ghani or by force.

A big theme here is people changing from the inside out.Alia has become possessed by one of the lives whose memories she carries.The twins are trying to find balance so that none of their inner personalities will possess them.Leto eventually begins a different sort of inside out change, but doesn't fully accept it even as he feels it happening.Water is changing the planet.There is enough humidity that extinction of worms is a possibility.The freemen have also changed in response to the water.

If you have not read the previous books in the series, I recommend reading those first.Partly this is because it will give you some idea of what is going on in this book and partly because I preferred the first two books to this one.Overall this book was unsatisfying for me.The amount of content about what the twins were thinking (always about how they aren't children and how they have lots of voices in their heads) dragged.The ending to the main story was unexpected, though not unhappy, but the endings to subplots tended to be unhappy.So you get a lot of strange sci-fi psychology and then some unhappy endings.Read other books in the series first, then if you liked those you will read this one regardless of what I say.Just don't read this one first.

This is probably not the best book to practice reading Spanish on.Many of the words refer to fictional items in the Dune universe.On the other hand, the plot is much more straight forward than in other books in the series, so if you read it to practice and don't understand 100%, then you won't miss something major.

Increible tercera parte de las crónicas de Dune
El libro que originalmente sería la secuela de "Dune" e incluiría "El mesías de Dune" (Dune 2) como primeraparte. Revive el espíritu analítico y sociopolítico de la serie y nos da otra visita al increible Universo trazado por Herbert. Han pasado nueve años desde que Paul Muad 'Dib, el Mahdi de todos los Fremen caminó al desierto y los gemelos que dejó atrás se preparan para afrontar la tremenda herencia presciente de su padre. Mientras el fiero Naib Stilgar los guarda, hay quienes conspiran en oscura intriga para conseguir el poder. Dama Jessica vuelve al planeta que comienza a ser un paraiso verde y se define el perfil de Alia como la sucesora de su hermano en el trono. Un excelente libro para los seguidores de la serie y los amantes de la ciencia ficción ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Giant Worms, Deep Desert, Fremen & their Messiah!
Editorial Plaza & Janes presents the whole Dune Saga and its prequel thru this "out of collection" paperback format. This format also shows books written by Clarke, Aldiss and Pratchett amongst other.

The present book is one of my all time favorites regardless of genre!
I've read it more than a dozen times since the first time I did it in the late `60s. Then I proceed to read every new book of the series as soon as published, treasuring the six original in my library.
It was a sad day for me when I read Frank Herbert's obituary.
Frank Herbert (1920-1986) wrote masterpiece "Dune" (1965), generating a recognizable turning point in sci-fi literature.
The variety of themes he touched influenced many genre authors thereafter: ecology, political-religious interaction, genetic manipulation, longevity drugs and secret sisterhoods and brotherhoods.

Dune's universe is fascinating not only as the backdrop to the present story but for all the other issues that are glimpsed in each chapter heading.
This thematic richness allows Frank's son nowadays to produce prequel trilogies deploying those implied scenarios and also extend his father uncompleted saga.

The story is as follows.
The Scenery.
There is a Galactic Empire ruled by the Emperor. There are powerful Noble Houses that rule different planetary systems and confront each other in endless struggle, yet subject to strict rules. There is a Guild of interstellar Pilots. There is the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood following their eugenic plans and playing in backstage as advisors to all powers. Computers & AI are forbidden and replaced by human-computers called Mentat. Arrakis is Desert Planet inhabited by fanatical desert dwellers: the Fremen.
The Conflict.
Noble House Atreides is forced out of its Home system under Emperor's command and ordered to take care of the planet Arrakis. It is a two edged task in one hand Arrakis is the only galactic source of "Mélange" a drug that prolongs human life AND allows pilots of the Guild to conduct foldspace traveling ships. Controlling the planet is of supreme importance.
In the other hand Noble House Harkonnen, Atreides' ancestral enemy, was in command of Arrakis and Duke Leto Atreides suspects a trap was laid by them to ruin his House.
The Adventure.
As soon as the Atreides set foot on Arrakis conflicts erupt. Paul, Duke Leto's son & heir, seems to immediately adapt to this planet conditions.
After several issues that I will not disclose, Paul and his mother are left isolated in deep desert.
There the will meet the Fremen and their Destiny!

I recommend this book to sci-fi lovers and general public too. I will characterize "Dune" as unforgettable, outstanding and amazing.Do not let it pass by unnoticed!

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

A must-have 20th century SF Classic
To sci-fi fans, Frank Herbert needs no introduction, but for those who may be new, one is probably necessary.

Frank Herbert was a professional writer and photographer who had a penchant for science fiction.His first story, somewhat prescient, was about a nuclear submarine being used for warfare under the Arctic, a story he wrote in the 1950's.

Dune was not Herbert's first novel, but is his most famous.It is basically an epic in the same sense War and Peace or Lord of the Rings are epics, though this epic is set to a science fiction theme, rather than history or fantasy.

The novel is set in the distant future when humanity has mastered interstellar space flight and has colonised many planets throughout the galaxy.Humanity has not achieved this easily though; first there was the Butlerian Jihad, a war against a hostile A.I. civilisation which had enslaved humanity (which is told in the novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson based on Frank Herbert's unpublished notes on the series) and then a massive series of religious wars, caused in part by the advent of FTL spaceflight and partly by the stresses of the anti-machine jihad.

Human spaceflight however has come at a cost; FTL travel throughout the universe can only be achieved by 'folding space', a process which requires vastly enhanced states of human conciousness that are capable of performing the incredibly complex mathematical calculations necessary for FTL spaceflight and navigation.These enhanced states can only be accomplished by consuming a substance known as 'The Spice', a hyper-psychotropic substance that completely alters human conciousness and physiology.

The only known supply of Spice in the universe is the planet Dune, also known as Arrakis.Since Spice is such a valuable, rare and essential commodity, without which the human interstellar empire would collapse, human politics in the period of time in which the novel is set revolves around the control of its production, extraction, harvesting and trade.Many wars have been fought over control of Arrakeen spice, however by the time the novel begins, a sort of uneasy stability reigns.

The political control of human civilisation rests with a complex arrangement between the Spacing Guild (a Guild of humans who navigate foldspace using spice), The Houses of the Laandsrad (the most powerful stellar empires in the galaxy), dominated by Houses Atreides and Harkonen and by the Emperor Shaddam the IVth, and by the religious order known as the Bene Gesserit, whose aim is to create a superhuman being with super-cognitive powers, including the ability to accurately forsee the future.

The focal character is Paul Atreides, son of Leto Atreides, the King of House Atreides.House Atreides control the harvesting of Spice on Arrakis and the lucrative power and wealth that flows from it.But Baron Harkonen is determined to unseat this dominance and destroy the Atreides, who are mortal enemies of the Harkonens.

The story unfolds with an almost Byzantine complexity in terms of politics and power relationships, intruige, war, and betrayal.Towards the end however, both the Harkonens and the Emperor himself are undone by the hidden power and strength of the native people of Arrakis, Sufi-Buddhist warriors called the Fremen, under Paul's leadership and military skills.However, this is not the end but only the beginning of the story, one which will unfold over thousands of years and across entire planets.

The book is a staggering achievement of vision, scope and complexity.Herbert manages to create a convincing set of worlds with their unique politics, religions, civilisations and history told in a way that is plausible and fascinating.While hard SF fans may be dissapointed at the lack of details over things such as space folding, soft SF fans will no doubt be fascinated with topics such as interplanetary politics and economics, interstellar diffusion of religions, the effect of drugs on human conciousness and its possibilities, and extra-ordinary forms of human cognition such as prescience.In terms of world builders Herbert is one of the most imaginative and inventive, and make the Dune series one of the boldest and most successful attempts ever made in science fiction to create a convincing universe where humans have made it to the stars and carried the human condition with them.

This book is a must read for any serious fan of SF, hard or soft, and will be enjoyed by anyone at multiple levels.

A Benchmark For The Sci-Fi Genre!
Author Frank Herbert's masterpiece of science fiction, "Dune," has earned the bragging rights to be known as one of the premier sci-fi classical writings of all time.

If you can get past the commercialism spanning over decades of a board game or two, a movie, a television series, comic books, etc., and read the book objectively with no biases, you most likely will find an unbelievably rich and detailed story that harkens back to the likings of a Greek tragedy.

The setting in "Dune" is far into the future where mankind has warred and has spread out into the universe.Organized religion still plays a vital role (Orange Catholic Bible, etc.).The nobility of each habitable planet bicker, plot, negotiate, and war with each other like Renaissance city-states.The title planet, Arrakis or "Dune" is a desert planet of sand that is rich in the spice "Melange."Melange allows, when ingested as a narcotic, primarily among other things, the Space Guild to bend space so as to transport personnel and cargo great distances in little time.The main plot involves two warring Noble Houses that compete for control of "Dune" for various reasons involving much deceit and treachery.The protagonist of the story, Paul Atreides, finds himself a sort of "Hamlet" type of figure who grows physically, mentally, and spiritually to become a Messianic type of figure who controls the desert planet and terraforms it to become habitable (like Earth).The story is so much more involved than this though! I believe, however, that the sci-fi reader will not be disappointed.

I read this book in 1987 after having seen the Dino DeLaurentis movie of the same name a few years before.Needless to say, I loved it!This book is the benchmark of the sci-fi genre.I rate this book at five stars.A masterpiece! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

Product Description
Missing Link and Operation Haystack are two independent stories starring Field Agent Lewis Orne. In the Missing Link, he is sent to investigate a missing ship and runs into ‘native’ trouble on the planet Gienah III. In Operation Haystack Agent Orne must content with genetic manipulation and dig deep into a complex political situation to untangle deep embedded secrets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Fantastic!
This short book was absolutely enchanting to me. I read it twice non-stop. I have read SF most of my life, and ones that I call extra good are a treat. I liked Dune so well that I had to try other Herbert books. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone by giving any details, but it's a great story.

Metaphysical navel gazing and UFOs.
Frank Herbert produced a number of pot boilers, such as the "Whipping Star" series, before creating "Dune" which, excluding someof its sequels, must rank as the definitive alterntaive future history witha unique depth of characterisation and "world building". Thisbook has a couple of gimmicks to it, some salacious imagery, but themetaphysical value of it all escapes this reviewer (apologies to our Dutchcontributor). There is a good point about the comparative differencebetween human/organic potentials and closed, mechanistic systems, but thatisn't enough to sustain the read. Read "Dune" or "Dragonunder the Sea" (a.k.a "Under Pressure") for better FrankHerbert.

another fascinating novel from the science fiction master!
The feel to "Heaven makers" is similar to that of "Godmakers" and "Whipping Star". Herbert again manages to bring to life a complete future world. In true Herbert fashion, hecontinues to surprise and fascinate as you try to get your mind around hiswonderful, amazing ideas. The Chem are an immortal species, whose greatestfear is boredom. The story focuses on one of their ways to amuse themselvesby "experiencing stories", a sf- version of watching movies. Onlythese stories are the real lives of people, who are being manipulated bythe Chem to provide a good "movie". One of the countless peoplemanipulated in this fashion are humans on Earth... As the story unfoldsaround these main ingredients, Herbert manages to put forward somefascinating, mindboggling views on life, deah and immortality, as well ascreating a great deal of suspense. If you like Herbert, you will like thisbook the same way you liked his others, although still nothing tops"Dune". If you don't know Hebert, here's an excellent way ofmaking your acquaintance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Delightful short stories from the creator of Lord Darcy
Randall Garrett (1927-1987) was a prolific SF and Fantasy writerin the 50s and 60's. He wrote under a number of pseudonyms and collaborations, including `Robert Randall".

He is most famous for his superb series about Lord Darcy, set in a great alternate universe where Richard the Lion Hearted didn't die from a crossbow bolt, and where Magic (under strict rules) has taken over much of what Technology does today. The series is set in the late 20th century. It's one of the best Fantasy Alternate History series out there.

This collection was done in 1982, edited by Randall's friend and collaborator Robert Silverberg. Each short story has a personal introduction by many of Randall's SF author friends. The intros are worth reading.

The stories are a mixed bag of course, since they include his first (showing great promise, but ...) and other selections. The collection contains two Lord Darcy stories, including one I have never seen collected before- starring Captain Darcy in an alternate WWI.

I heartily recommend the omnibus collection "Lord Darcy" (1983).
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
A reasonable collection of science fiction stories, but nothing too exciting, with an average of 3.33.Nothing bad to be found here, though.

Worlds of Frank Herbert : The Tactful Saboteur - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : By the Book - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : Committee of the Whole - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : Mating Call - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : Escape Felicity - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : The GM Effect - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : The Featherbedders - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : Old Rambling House - Frank Herbert
Worlds of Frank Herbert : A-W-F Unlimited - Frank Herbert


Life transfer attitude appointment.

3.5 out of 5


Seedling contact repair.

3.5 out of 5


Personal weapon power restraint.

3.5 out of 5


Musical breeding assist.

3 out of 5


Pilot bars breakdown advanced discovery.

4 out of 5


Genetic memory group conflict.

3 out of 5


Smeg parent mission.

3 out of 5


Strange trade.

3 out of 5


Poor armour coverage design.

3.5 out of 5





3.5 out of 5 ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more