Fear is the Mind Killer...

Once again, too many years in between posts... my struggles with discipline are real... and also my really crappy ability to sustain a visible presence online. Which is odd, because I teach marketing. Doh.

So, new thoughts, centering around Frank Herbert. When I read with the goal of transporting myself to some otherworldly realm, I gravitate more towards the Fantasy genre than to Sci-Fi. It's probably a 60/30 thing, most of my library contains works from authors like Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Robert Howard, L. Spraque de Camp (when writing Conan), Robert Jordan, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Brooks, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, Brain Sanderson, Duncan Hamilton, etc... but I do have almost every work by Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and one book by L. Ron Hubbard. Yes, I read through "Battlefield Earth." Curse John Travolta for that crappy film... yes, I watched that as well. 

This leads me to Frank Herbert's "Dune." This has got to be one of my favorite contemporary books (I am still drawn to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," and for some odd reason, that tops my list). In my humble opinion Herbert brings both genres together in this series, it is Sci-Fi, but also has Fantasy elements running through the story. The history of the Bene Gesserit and the 'Missionaria Protectiva" has such an element of mysticism to it, it screams fantasy. The principles behind Kanly seem to be rooted in an understanding of medieval politics and chivalry. I have not researched that in depth, but it certainly feels like Herbert found his inspiration there. The intense chivalric attitude towards warfare and hand to hand combat, at least among the Atreides and Fremen, and finally the feudal nature of the Landsrad. This all feels so fantasy like. And then we get the cool technology stuff, space travel, the spacers guild, thopters, space frigates, still suits, etc. It's the perfect marriage of the two.

Quick tangent... I highly recommend Dennis Villeneuve's "Dune." I didn't see the first half in theater, huge mistake. I will not be missing the second release, Lord willing. Such a close retelling of the book.

I have read "Dune," so many times I cannot count, and I have listened to the audiobook read by Simon Vance at least a dozen or more times. Highly recommend that as well. So, as a guy who teaches visual storytelling, and the reality that there are no new stories, only different perspectives on certain story arcs, I began to think, "how could Dune become a full fledged fantasy novel?" Not that it needs to, but these are my thoughts. 

Feudal society, duchies that are inextricably tied to one another, secret societies, guilds, and sects, that operate across duchy lines influencing policy, an ancient order of women who have worked to instill prophecies that manipulate bloodlines, policy, and politics... how much fun?

Oh, it's Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Has anybody else made that connection? I realize my missive may come to an abrupt halt here, but the more I think about it, the more I think the "Wheel of Time" had to be inspired by Herbert's "Dune." Thoughts?