The authors of Navigators of Dune on building an epic, lasting world

After a half a century, the sprawling Dune novel series is coming to a close with the latest installment, The Navigators of Dune, which arrives in bookstores today. Its authors, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, told us about its long life and how they turned a decades-old science fiction novel into a franchise that has renewed interest in its epic story.

Dune, set in the distant future, tells the story of a young noble named Paul Atreides, whose family is given control of a strategically important planet called Arrakis, the source of “spice” melange, a vital component in interstellar transportation. With its complex politics and rich world, the novel became popular on college campuses during the counterculture of the 1960s. Its author, Frank Herbert, wrote five sequels in his lifetime, but an additional 15 novels have come not from its creator, but from a collaboration between his son Brian and fellow science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson.

The pair faced a major challenge when they began talking about reviving the series. The original novel was written 30 years earlier, and while it is considered a classic, writing a new installment deep in a series long after its original author died is a hard sell. “Before we could [finish Book 7],” Anderson told The Verge, “we had to reawaken interest in Dune itself, more than a decade after Frank Herbert’s last book was published.”

Dune has always been something of a reluctant franchise. Herbert began work on what he envisioned as a trilogy of novels, but eventually packaged the three together into one massive tome that was eventually serialized in Analog Science Fact and Fiction in the first half of 1965. Dozens of publishers passed on publishing the novel until Chilton (a publisher of thick automotive repair manuals) bought the rights and released the first edition in December 1965. Ace Books produced a cheaper paperback edition in 1966.

Even as Dune gained considerable popularity in the 1960s, the effort of writing and publishing the novel had worn its creator out. It wasn’t until 1968 that Herbert began to write a sequel called Dune Messiah, that continued the story of protagonist Paul Atreides, and his new role as a messiah and emperor. While that wasn’t well-received, its sequel, 1976’s Children of Dune, became a major bestseller. Interest in the book continued, and cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky began planning out a film adaptation, which ultimately ended unsuccessfully.

Herbert planned on ending the series with Children of Dune, but fan pressure prompted him to write three more installments, ending on a cliffhanger in 1985’s Chapterhouse: Dune. The series received more attention when David Lynch directed a film adaptation of the original novel, and Herbert began work on a seventh book to finish his saga. But he died a year later, leaving the series incomplete. With his death, however, he left behind a copious pile of notes for it and other aspects of the world.

“It [was] like a chef finding ingredients in a large and well-stocked pantry,” Anderson recalled. “Frank Herbert left many little nuggets referencing great events and characters from” the rest of the Dune saga. Herbert’s son Brian had discovered a pair of safety deposit boxes and boxes that had been placed in storage: his father’s original notes. “We combed through those notes carefully to make certain that they were remaining true to his vision,” Herbert told The Verge, “and writing new stories that he might have written himself, had he lived long enough to do so.”

“Ultimately,” Herbert said, “we decided to go back a few years before Frank Herbert’s classic novel Dune, to write about events in the lives of key characters — including when Duke Leto and Lady Jessica met, and the birth of their messianic son, Paul Atreides.”

The pair ended up writing the Prequel to Dune trilogy, which began in 1999 with Dune: House Atreides and was followed by Dune: House Harkonnen and Dune: House Corrino. Over a dozen other books followed, broken up into smaller arcs that took readers 10,000 years before Dune, covering major events within the world’s history. The books were helped along by a television adaptation called Fran Herbert’s Dune, which aired on the SciFi channel in 2000. A second adaptation, Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune, aired in 2003.

It wasn’t until 2006 that the pair finally returned to Herbert’s unfinished, seventh book, working off of his notes. The result was a pair of novels, Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, which helped to resolve the cliffhangers that Chapterhouse: Dune had left readers with for over two decades.

In 2012, Herbert and Anderson began putting together another trilogy, the Great Schools of Dune, set millennia before the original novel, and covers the early years of the Bene Gesserit, Mentat, and Suk Schools, that would become major parts of the later world. Anderson noted that they drew from current events for inspiration when it came to the trilogy and its final installment, Navigators of Dune. “This is the culmination of the Great Schools trilogy, which is possibly our most ambitious trilogy in the series, dealing with some truly fundamental issues that the world is facing now, particularly the vicious war between reason and fanaticism.”

Herbert noted that the novel was the last one that the two authors had been contracted for, but that they had competed a pair of short stories that will be available soon. “I think we are very satisfied with how it wrapped up,” Anderson noted, “and it feels like a good place to recharge our batteries.”

Looking back, the pair is proud of what they’ve accomplished. “In a time when other science fiction grand masters such as [Robert] Heinlein and [Isaac] Asimov are not being picked up by a new generation of readers,” Anderson told The Verge, “our Dune novels are read by many fans from across the science fiction spectrum. One of the most important things we’ve added is a renewed interest in Dune.”

Indeed: science fiction is changing, with interest in many of the genre’s classic authors, such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein, waning with time. Herbert and Anderson have found a way to generate and maintain a fan base of the series in ways that few properties have been able to match. That interest has been key to keeping Frank Herbert’s original novel alive and relevant for a new generation of readers.

“There is a huge amount of interest in moving forward to expand the Dune universe,” Herbert noted, “making it familiar to more than the legions of fans around the world who already know about it.” That interest isn’t limited to the novels that they’ve written: plans are being laid for other potential projects, which could include games, television or film. Herbert is confident in the staying power of the series his father began. “Dune will be read for centuries to come.”

When asked about what his father would think of everything that they’ve done, Herbert was unequivocal: “My father would have been immensely pleased to learn that his classic novel is still popular more than 50 years after its first publication.”