Interesting bit of puffery here from Orbit...

... here on their blog. I have no time for Kevin J Anderson's books, but I find it telling that he's selling his "magnum dopus" on the fact that he's stuck to a schedule. The quality of the books is clearly not relevant. No, what counts is that he promised seven books and delivered seven books, one a year. Buy my books, he's telling us, because... because "each book in the Saga came out on time".

If there is a God, Anderson's books will one day be pulped and recycled into toilet paper. THAT'S his proper metier and the best possible use for pages carrying the taint of his "writing"...

I was discussing KJA's Dune books on Friday evening. I maintained they were terrible, the other person disagreed. Admittedly, my position was somewhat compromised when I admitted I owned the Dune Pop-Up Panorama Book...

Now that sounds like an interesting tie-in. You open a page and a sandworm arches into the air? Man, that's a keeper...

#1
Why on earth you were reading that blog is beyond me.

#3
How can your argumentative position be comprimised when you own such an obvious piece of Dune memorabilia? Surely this would show you are a dedicated fan and, as such, are able to make value judgements on these books?

Orbit publish Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod, so they deserve some credit.

I have some photos of my Dune collection somewhere. I'll have to stick them on flickr, and post links here. It's... sad.

>6 iansales: the very fact that you have photos of your Dune collection is all I need to know:-)

"I find it telling that he's selling his "magnum dopus" on the fact that he's stuck to a schedule. The quality of the books is clearly not relevant."

I think this is supposed to be an antidote to situations like the one where people grumble about when the next GRRM book is out, or authors dying before they've finished their opuses (see: Robert Jordan). So what Anderson is saying is "if you choose to invest in my story, I promise you that you'll get the whole story! In a timely fashion! Not like those other guys who make you hang on, and on, and then inconsiderately die."

I would think also that Anderson has long since given up on trying to sell his books to those who buy on quality.

I have some friends who say that the series in question is pretty good not like his other stuff. I haven't been tempted yet.

I read the first one. Your friends are mistaken.

I beginning to think that if Kevin J. Anderson didn't exist sf fans would have to invent him - a modern day Kilgore Trout.

Well, in their way, they're both pornographers...

#11

I have finally read enough science fiction to understand my first in-joke without having to ask about where it came from.

I have some photos of my Dune collection somewhere. I'll have to stick them on flickr, and post links here. It's... sad.

's ok, Ian. You're among friends.

As long as it's True Confessions time here, I'll admit that I still have a box of Star Trek paperbacks that I haven't be able to bring myself to catalog on LT.

i reread Diane Duane's Wizardry series regularly.....

Stop, I beg you. Any more true confessions and I'll tell you about my autographed picture of Olivia Newton-John and rows of Bratz dolls lining my office shelves...

As promised, though I shall no doubt live to regret it (click on photos to embiggen)...
















Sorry about the KJA novels but - what the hell - I'm a completist. And yes, that is a 1978 Dune calendar. and those three Dune books on the left of the second shelf, they're signed and numbered limited editions.

9

Yeah, they ain't good, andy. If you have some compulsion about the Dune backstory like some of us, well... Anderson has written some decent short stories that I have come across, no novels though.

14

That is funny, as it would be impossible for you not to have some stuff a lot cheesier than Star Trek books.

Is that a Billy I see?

>17 iansales: - while most people will concentrate on the Dune collection I would just like to congratulate you on using the word 'embiggen'; surely the first time it has been used on LT.

>16 CliffBurns: - nothing wrong with ONJ: she was one very attractive woman.

Billy?

#18

It was the Shattered Empires stuff I was talking about. Everyone says the Dune stuff is trash. I haven't been tempted by KJA ever and as I have a shelf of interesting unread books I don't think I will be in the future.

The Saga of Seven Suns series is on a par with the Dune stuff.

iKEA bookshelf system.

Is that a Chilton First Edition of Dune? First picture, fifth book over?

Ah. No, they're not Billy bookcases. Bought from John Lewis, in fact.

And sadly, no, that's not a proper first edition. It's a book club edition. A true first edition is out of my budget.

Billys and First Editions are also out of my budget, it was a BCE that I had years ago.

Collecting every Dune edition can't be in too many people's budgets either! :)

>20 Jargoneer: Not even close to being the first use of embiggen! Tim used it in a blog comment in Jan 2006, and I found a talk post from Oct 2007. Google finds 5 instances of embiggen (and 4 of cromulent) on LT. :)

Ian,

Do you have the Marvel Comics adaption of Dune? I've been curious about that just because they got Bill Sienkiewicz to do the art (though I read in an interview they had to restrain him from doing an expressionist adaptation).

Even if you didn't like the David Lynch movie, his artwork is worth a look:

Yes, it's there in the last photo, next to Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium RPG.

#17

Respect.

Sadly, the collection is not complete...

Still missing:-
- true first edition of Dune (too expensive!)
- true first edition of Dune Messiah (too expensive!)
- first edition, first impression of Children of Dune (mine is 4th impression)
- signed & numbered limited edition of Eye
- booklet containing production design work for Jodorowsky's Dune, put together for investors (the issue of Métal Hurlant above has an article on the subject; it'd have been a really cool film...)
- an LP of Frank Herbert reading from God Emperor of Dune

I'm not that bothered about owning every edition of Dune, although I do have seven (BCE, Putnam 1984, Berkley Illustrated, Gollancz Illustrated, NEL paperback, SF Masterwork, Easton Press). But ownership of those is sort of... accidental. I also draw the line at Dune sheets, pillowcases, paperplates and party balloons, etc. (all merchandise from Lynch's film - what were they thinking?).

Back to K. Anderson: I read the first 3 in the "new" series because I love Herbert's originals, and since they were supposed to be written with the support of his original research materials, I gave them a try. I was....quite disappointed. Although the first was quite readable, the overall quality just wasn't there, and I gave up. I gave those books away via paperbackswap.com and have no regrets. Nor have I felt *any* temptation to read Anderson's own books.

#32 - Ian,

all merchandise from Lynch's film - what were they thinking?

What they were thinking, in the words of Yogurt was "Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower..."

I must say though, I remember really wanting the Spice Factory toy they'd put out...

It's not so much the fact they were merchandising, as the fact that they thought party hats and pillowcases were a good idea for Dune. They were appealing to entirely the wrong age group.

Having said that, my nephew is a big fan of Batman and has toys from the Christopher Nolan film... but he's not actually old enough to watch it.

#32:

Still missing:-
- true first edition of Dune (too expensive!)

Just an aside, but that's something that's always mystified me:
The "true first edition" of Dune is its serialization in Analog.

And yet those issues are next to worthless, while the first book publication of Dune is worth hundreds.

It's a mystery.

they thought party hats and pillowcases were a good idea for Dune.

Clearly, what's needed is a line of Dune squirt guns. Water bottles!
A Dune spice rack!

Dune gumboots and Dune umbrellas, too.

Speaking of spice (and someone's spousal unit who has been making cinnamon coffee occasionally recently) - for the convention geek types, do they ever do that, serve 'spice coffee'? :)

#32

Isn't it amazing the way collectors think? I am talking collectors with deep pocket books, not people like me. A lot of Sinclair Lewis's work, Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea were first serialized in magazines but the magazines are all but worthless. My favorite though is Robert Crais The Monkeys Raincoat, it was a paperback original and his first book. It is about worthless but the hardback edition, published years later is worth more than a few dollars.
Guess which one I have.

#39

Both.

#32, #39,

The Dune serialization had cool covers, too - John Schoenherr, I believe.

For you, Bob (it's clickable)

Thanks, avaland, that literally made me LOL.

30: Iansales

Not many copies of the RPG around, it goes for a couple of hundred dollars these days if you can find a copy.

A Dune RPG?

I have now been near-forced to go and find a download of said RPG on the internet, regardless of the actual quality, gameplay, date of creation, or any attempt to dissuade me of this action.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium was published by Last Unicorn Games. Unfortunately, shortly before release LUG signed a deal with George Lucas for a Star Wars RPG. Part of that deal was that LUG would not publish any other science fiction products. So the Dune RPG was canned.

A special promotional edition of around 2000 copies had already been launched at a GenCon, however. Those are the only editions available. They're rare, and can cost up to $300 (£150) for a copy.

There was a web site somewhere - I've never managed to find it again - that had the artwork for the planned supplements for the RPG, too. They looked pretty cool...

I didn't know about that, either. I had seen the boardgame though.

There were a number of Dune games.

The original Avalon Hill game which was followed by two expansions also published by Avalon Hill.

There was also a Parker Brothers game (not as good as the AH game) which was a tie-in to the film.

Finally Last Unicorn Games also put out a CCG (collectible card game).

The CCG was by Five Rings, not Last Unicorn. I have several packs of the cards. I've yet to make head or tail of the rules...

The Avalon Hill game was also re-released with a Lynch film tie-in box art. And there's a French version, I believe, with box art by Moebius.

I've seen the Parker Brothers game, but never picked up a copy.

I have just checked reviews of the game upon release and they all say the CCG was by Last Unicorn Games/Five Rings. I believe that most of the actual game design was by Last Unicorn.

Ah. The boxes say Five Rings on them. Perhaps they licensed the property from Last Unicorn. I'll check the rules booklet when I get home this evening.

#48

There is also a Dune RTS game on PS1, and a Dune action/adventure game on PS2. Not exactly collector's items, but both should be mentioned out of completeness.

Not to mention the old computer games - Dune, Dune II, Dune 2000 and Emperor: Battle for Dune, and Frank Herbert's Dune. Of which I only have Dune 2000.

I think they are scaring me, now, avaland.

:)