Doug's Sounding Board

When frank Herbert died he left a safe deposit box with notes and a detailed outline for what would be the seventh Dune novel. When Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson started writing their prequels the details of the 7th novel were found and that shaped their Butlerian Jihad series to fit in. Now that […]

I needed a quick read while brushing my teeth so I chose this book I’ve been carrying around since I was probably in elementary school. I remember picking it up at a library book givaway but it’s one I never got around to reading. It’s hard to tell if it’s trying to get young people […]

Last year something built up (I don’t remember what specific event was the tipping point, maybe it was just a bad week) and made me think wtf is going on with all the sex and fake sex and flashing and the reporting of it all. And the participants, is this truly the result they were […]

So I’ve now completed the last Dune novel that Frank Herbert wrote. Reading it reinforced my notion that Heretics of Dune is much like the original Dune. It is re-introducing you to the universe they live in since it is now drastically changed. Chapterhouse: Dune fits in to the mold of being like Dune Messiah […]

Stuff Happens is a history play by David Hare that looks at the very recent history of the Bush administration’s path to engagement in Iraq. A lot of it is made up of actual quotes and conversations that members of the administration have had and it’s filled in with reasonable conjecture. It’s a quick read […]

This one is fairly strange coming after God Emperor of Dune. 1500 years after Leto, the God-Emperor, dies there is no centralized ruling body for humanity. Conflicts still happen but they are fewer by far. There are powerful bodies but without a government to influence, what is the point of their power? You either get […]

He destroyed all the spice so that humans would invent a way to navigate fold-space without needing the Spacing Guild’s monopoly with it’s prescient navigators. Also to remove people’s dependence on spice in general and not be able to be ruled by its necessity. The Fish Speakers (Leto’s all woman police force) are all Atreides […]

Gerald will think I’m crazy, but I think this is possibly the best Dune novel thus far. It doesn’t stand on its own like Dune does but it’s just about great in every way. It’s about humanity, what it means to be human, and where they should go in the future, and where we have […]

In the on-going Star Wars saga in writing, this takes place in the latest series which is about 35 years after Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode 4). As the second book of a 9 book series I really wasn’t expecting so much to happen. It seems wide open now, like anything could happen. As […]

Now that I’ve finished Children of Dune I better understand that Dune Messiah was a necessary story to tell first. Children of Dune takes place nine years after Dune Messiah. More Dune ramblings to skip.