INTERVISTA IN LINGUA ORIGINALE
___________
DI = Dune Italia KJA = Kevin J. Anderson
DI - Let's begin with a topic that will interest every Dune fan: Dune 7.
By now, the first part of this climax to the Dune Saga, "Hunters of Dune",
has been published, and the second, "Sandworms", will be released in
August. Could you give us any further hints about these conclusive
episodes of the Dune Chronicles?
KJA - Well, this is the chronological grand finale of a saga that spans more
than fifteen thousand years, tying up plot threads laid down in thirteen prior
novels -- so there's a lot to do! We are posting a few excerpts and sneak
previews on dunenovels.com.
DI - It's nearly a decade that you and Brian Herbert are involved actively
in the Dune novels, since the publication of "A Whisper of Caladan Seas",
the short story set during the events of the first Dune novel. How did you
decide to first write the Prelude to Dune and the Legends of Dune series,
and not directly the Dune 7 episodes?
KJA - We've described in greater detail elsewhere, but anyone who has
read HUNTERS can see some of the necessary story foundations that had to
be laid down, major characters to be introduced, and so on. In a practical
sense, when we began our work it had been more than ten years since the
previous Dune novel, CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE. All of Frank Herbert's non-Dune
novels were out of print and the Dune chronicles themselves had begun to
fall off the radar. Many of Frank Herbert's core readers had not followed the
Dune series all the way through to CHAPTERHOUSE. If we had just started out
cold with "Dune 7," the interest would not have been nearly as great. By
beginning with the HOUSE books, we reawakened worldwide interest in the
DUNE universe, and the reception was overwhelming. The Butlerian Jihad
trilogy told another vital piece of the backstory, and it was the set of novels
that Frank Herbert had asked Brian to write with him. When we, and the
fans, were ready, we turned our efforts to the grand climax.
DI - According to what Brian Herbert says in his afterword to "House
Atreides", he discovered a "lost literally treasure" by Frank Herbert,
containing a complete Dune 7 outline, upon which you wrote the Hunters
and Sandworms. Will there be a chance in the future to see these notes,
or at least a part of them, maybe in a book like "Road to Dune"?
KJA - Possibly, but not likely, at least for now. THE ROAD TO DUNE was an
immensely difficult and complex undertaking, and the interest level was much
lower than for our other Dune books, which surprised us, since ROAD contains
the first new Frank Herbert material published in more than a decade.
DI - Twenty years is a long wait. So long that in the last period, prior to
the publication of Hunters of Dune, some Dune devoted fans have decided
to give their own "vision" of what Dune 7 might be. What is your opinion
about the "alternative" climaxes to Chapterhouse, "Dune Revenant"
(by Marco van Leeuwen) and "Dune Advent" (by William Mitchell), and about
Dune-related fan fiction in general?
KJA - For legal reasons and copyright restrictions, Brian and I cannot read,
or even acknowledge, fan fiction, so I have no opinion on them.
DI - When "Sandworms of Dune" will be published, the original Dune
Chronicles will be concluded. But, as the Children of Dune miniseries says,
"The Saga of Dune is far from over", isn't it? Could you tell us more about
your and Brian's Paul of Dune trilogy project? Could you hazard an indicative
date for the publication of the first of these future novels?
KJA - SANDWORMS will be the chronological end to the series, wrapping
up the story in the way Frank Herbert intended. However, he also left us
with 15-20,000 years of history, entire epochs of legends that give us ample
material for filling in the gaps. PAUL OF DUNE (which we're writing now)
should be out next Fall (2008). We anticipate that the other two novels in
that series, IRULAN OF DUNE and JESSICA OF DUNE, will be published every
other year after that (2010 and 2012). These novels will tell the story of
Duke Leto's War of Assassins with Grumman (between HOUSE CORRINO
and DUNE) and Muad'Dib's Jihad (between DUNE and DUNE MESSIAH), along
with many other complex stories.
DI - Apart from the Paul of Dune series, do you plan other works for the
Dune Universe? For example, Brian said, always in the "House Atreides"
afterword, that he compiled a huge Dune Concordance before beginning to
plan anything about the new novels. Will there be a chance to see this
(certainly very interesting for any Dune fan!) work, either in a book format
or in a CD/DVD format (I remember Byron Merrit suggested the latter in an
interview)?
KJA - Right now we're entirely focused on PAUL OF DUNE and the other
two novels, but obviously we could pursue many other projects, such as the
Concordance, or an extensive updated and accurate Encyclopedia, a lavish
art book, and other novels, such as a book or trilogy set after the end of the
Butlerian Jihad with the formation of the great Schools and the Spacing Guild.
DI - Now, a question perhaps a little thorny. Since the publication of
House Atreides, many people, declaring themselves devoted Dune fans,
have harsly attacked you and Brian Herbert and hardly criticised the new
Dune novels. After some years and the release of the first part of Dune 7,
do you think this feelings have been hampered or remained as before?
What is your opinion about it?
KJA - I am aware of some of the complaints, and the complainers tend to
congregate in certain website discussion groups, but don't overestimate their
numbers. Over the years, Brian and I have received many thousands of
letters from the fans, and yes we keep them all. We sort the positive letters
from the negative letters. Honestly, less than 4% of the readers are dissatisfied
with our continuation of the Dune series. We receive one complaining letter
for every 28 complimentary letters. I very much doubt you could find any other
series where the readers are so satisfied -- 96% of the fans love them. Even
though some of the die-hard Dune fans approached our first novel, HOUSE
ATREIDES, with healthy skepticism, we appreciate their open-mindedness
and willingness to give us a chance. By now, however, after seven published
Dune novels by Brian and Kevin, the readers know exactly what they're going
to get. If they keep reading the books, and they keep complaining because
the books aren't exactly what they expected them to be...well, those people
just look silly.
DI - Co-writing novels about one of the most beautiful science-fiction
universes like Dune must be a very interesting and delightful job. How do
you and Brian organize the entire writing process for a new Dune book?
KJA - We have read and reread all of Frank Herbert's Dune novels, and we
try to refresh our memories and immerse ourselves in the Dune universe with
each new project -- but because we write a new Dune novel each year, we
never really allow ourselves to get out of it. We are always thinking of Dune.
Though Brian and I live far apart, we always get together for a long face-to-face
brainstorming session, in which we plot out the whole novel. From there we
expand our notes into a detailed outline, choose chapters to write (each of us
does half), and then we get to writing.
DI - Now, a little more personal question. Reading on Dunenovels.com and
your blog on Myspace.com, you are a very prolific writer. When you decide to
write, you wait for the inspiration to come, or, like Frank Herbert did, just sit
down and write?
KJA - I have so many ideas and so many projects, I am always "inspired" --
if I lose interest in one project, there is always another one to switch to.
DI - In your afterword to "House Atreides" it is clear that you are a big fan
of many SF universes like Star Wars and X-Files. When was your "first contact"
with the work of Frank Herbert?
KJA - I read DUNE when I was 11 or 12 years old, I think. I loved it. I reread
it when I started college and saw so much more in it, then I read it again, and
again, and again. Each time it gets better.
DI - Dune is a literary Universe which can be analyzed and enjoyed on
many layers. In fact, in the novels Frank Herbert wrote can be found elements
and allusions to literature, mythology, philosophy, ecology, politics and many
more. Did you and Brian attempted to continue this "layer stucture" in the
new Dune novels, or focused on one of these particular themes?
KJA - We did not set out to imitate Frank's style. Not only did that seem
an impossible task but we were each well-established authors in our own right.
We have studied Frank's work intimately, and he provides the roadmap for
all of these novels, but they are a combination of his inspiration and our
own work.
DI - In Italy (neglecting the Prelude of Dune state of publication), your
solo SF project, "Saga of Seven Suns", is completely unknown. Could you tell
us more about these novels?
KJA - The series has been translated and very successful in German,
Russian, French, Bulgarian, Czech, and many other countries -- I wish an
Italian publisher would be interested! This is a huge epic, a giant science
fiction story of a great galactic war, with many races and alien creatures,
lots of characters and interactions. It takes seven large volumes just to tell
the story -- and it contains everything I love most about science fiction. So
far, almost every Dune fan who has read the books loves them.
DI - Is it true that you and Brian are planning, after the forthcoming Dune
novels, to co-write a science-fiction saga of your own?
KJA - Yes, we would like to do something completely original. We both
have many ideas and we enjoy working together very much, and we certainly
have proved ourselves with the success of the Dune novels. We hope to be
working on this new series very soon.
DI - Let's turn our focus on the cinematographic aspects of Dune. We
have heard rumours by Byron Merritt, on the dunenovels.com forum, that
there might be in the near future a new Dune Movie, probably involving Brian
and you as co-producers. Could you give us any other hints about this news?
KJA - People in Hollywood always like to talk about big projects, but so far
we don't have a contract to sign. Don't hold your breath -- there's nothing in
the works yet.
DI - New Amsterdam Production, the company that filmed the two
awards-winning miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and Children of Dune, seems
interested in making another TV movie set during the Prelude to Dune novels.
If this project will be produced, what are your feelings about one of your works
being brought to the TV screens?
KJA - We are always open to that, and we work very closely with New
Amsterdam, but as with the answer above, there's really nothing in the works.
DI - We want to thank you, Mr. Anderson, for the attention and the time you
dedicated to us. Would you like to wish something to the Dune Italian fans and
the new Dune Italia Cultural Association that will be constituted at the Convention?
KJA - I'm afraid this might be too late for your convention, but both Brian
and I very much appreciate all the enthusiasm and support we receive from
Dune fans around the world. We know there's a very strong contingent of Dune
supporters in Italy, and we hope to see you in person one day.
...
[edit]
16 August 2010
I realized I did not include in this post a link to the original source page.
After a few Google searches, I determined that my source had been a link
from the Official Corporate Dune forum, at this link:
http://forum.dunenovels.com/phpBB2/view ... 98db1c06ed
However, when I (the SandRider) click on this link from my personal home computer,
the Official Corporate Dune forum say to me (the SandRider):
Going to the home page of Dune Italia (http://www.duneitalia.com/) returns:Critical Information
You have been banned from this forum.
Please contact the webmaster or board administrator for more information.
I did as many searches using the allowed 32 maximum characters of text fromsito di Dune Italia è offline per manutenzione.
Tornerà online il prima possibile. Ci scusiamo per il disagio.
Lo Staff di Dune Italia, 08/03/2010
this interview as I could stand doing, in an attempt to find this interview posted
elsewhere, as another source, to no avail; if anyone is aware of another location
where this interview is posted, please linky-linky below ... if the Dune Italia site
is closed and lost, this may be the only repository for this interview.
[/edit]