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To: abuelita who wrote (19533)	5/23/2003 12:50:41 PM
From: Mannie	Respond to of 89467

I agree on both counts... very prescient, that Frank Herbert. Friday, April 11, 2003 Forgiveness, generosity inspire biographer of 'Dune' author By JOHN MARSHALL SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER BOOK CRITIC Many tales of fathers and sons are tales of stress, distrust and distance. There were times when the relationship between writer Frank Herbert and his eldest son, Brian, fit that familiar pattern, especially when the younger man was starting to chart his own course. But there were times later when past hurts were addressed by the two men and this father and son moved on to a real friendship -- especially when writing became common ground. So the spirit of forgiveness and generosity infuses the son's latest writing project, a biography of his famous father, the creator of the science-fiction classic "Dune." Brian Herbert's "Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert" (Tor Books, 536 pages, $27.95) is an engaging, highly personal account, filled with family minutiae and insights that lift the veil of rumor and myth that have come to surround the creator of one of science fiction's most enduring works. But all the details of Herbert family feasts (including what fine wine was served) and Herbert family trips (including one notable vacation in an old hearse driven from Tacoma to Mexico) do not detract from the important theme of this book -- that forgiveness may be the most crucial ingredient in a successful family. Herbert recalled this week, "I learned later that my father didn't have the patience for children -- they were noisy, boisterous and sometimes smeared stuff on his manuscripts, so his study was off-limits to us kids, and his big voice got our attention more than once. "But he and I discussed the pain I went through as a child, and he apologized in his own way for what happened. I forgave him. And I later found I pulled some of the same things on my own three kids, including locking them out of my study so I could write. But my wife made sure that I didn't get away with that for long." How a father's traits start to emerge in a son at midlife is one of the scariest developments of advancing age for many sons. But in Herbert's case, those father traits that made him seem "a grouchy bear" also included abilities with the written word that have made the 55-year-old Herbert a best-selling author in his own right, with a recent series of prequels to "Dune," co-written by Kevin J. Anderson. Brian Herbert's 15 books have allowed him to split his time between homes in the enviable locations of Bainbridge Island and Sonoma County, Calif., much as his father split his time between homes in Port Townsend and Maui. Frank Herbert's life as a writer includes classic struggles to find success. His pursuit of novel writing was supported by newspaper work, including a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he was the education editor at the Post-Intelligencer. ("The job ... seemed perfect to my father," Brian writes). "Dune" took its sweet time to become a phenomenon, but Frank Herbert savored success, since it allowed him to follow his questing intellect into various fields of study and to exotic locales. "Dreamer of Dune" has many fascinating sections, but none more illuminating than Brian Herbert's in-depth discussion of "Dune" and its many influences, including Greek mythology, Jungian psychology, Bedouin culture and "Beowulf." "I lived with my father during the years he worked on 'Dune,' and I understand a great deal about the making of the work," he writes. "Nonetheless, the creation of this magnificent piece remains to me almost beyond comprehension. I find something new and intriguing in it on nearly every pass through the pages. "My father was a man who spoke to me often of the importance of detail, of density of writing. He understood the subconscious, wrote books in vertical layers. He said a reader could enter 'Dune' on any one of numerous layers, following that particular layer through the entire work." "Dreamer of Dune" is a son's heartfelt salute to a father's legacy.