pre Butlerian Jihad, Wormhole Books: Interview, BH, KJA

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pre Butlerian Jihad, Wormhole Books: Interview, BH, KJA

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http://www.wormholebook.com/interviews/brian_kevin.htm

An Interview With Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Brian Herbert (right), the son of Frank Herbert, is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author. Kevin J. Anderson (left), has written bestselling novels for Star Wars, X-Files, and other popular properties, as well as award-winning original novels.

Together, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have completed the phenomenally successful "Prelude to Dune" trilogy- House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and House Corrino. These novels have become international bestsellers, popular favorites, and award winners. They are currently working on a new Dune prequel trilogy, "The Butlerian Jihad".

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are the authors of Wormhole special edition chapbooks Dune: Fremen Justice and Dune: Hunting Harkonnens.



Wormhole Books: Probably the first thing most people would like to know is how this collaboration between you two came about?

Brian and Kevin: When Frank passed away in 1986, his last published novel, Man of Two Worlds , was a collaboration with his son Brian, and the previous book- Chapterhouse: Dune -left the Dune series with a cliffhanger. Kevin was always a big Frank Herbert fan-not just Dune, but all the Frank Herbert books. After years of waiting, expecting Brian to pick up the Dune series and finish the storyline, Kevin was out hiking in Death Valley when he had the idea to write Brian and ask about the plans (maybe it was heat prostration!).

Brian called Kevin, and we hit it off immediately. Both of us knew Frank's work inside and out. Brian had already considered telling the story of the Butlerian Jihad, a "super" prequel set ten thousand years before the events in Dune; Kevin had wanted to finish the Dune storyline after Chapterhouse: Dune . However, given the Dune readership and fan expectations, after discussing the possibilities with Kevin's wife Rebecca, we decided the best "return" to the Dune universe would be to tell the "immediate prequel", the story of Duke Leto and Lady Jessica, their battles with Baron Harkonnen, how Emperor Shaddam came to power, how the Planetologist Kynes began his studies on Arrakis.

After we had decided what to do, we met together in Brian's Seattle home, brainstormed the whole "Prelude to Dune" trilogy -- and THEN the Herbert estate lawyer called to say he had discovered an old safe deposit box key that had belonged to Frank. Inside the box was, among other things, the full and complete outline for Dune 7, the climactic novel Frank had intended to write. Later, while clearing out his garage to convert part of it into a writing office, Brian also found a large box of Dune notes Frank had stored there years before. Suddenly, we were faced with an overwhelming amount of material, clues, details, storylines, quotes-all of which we have incorporated into our books.

WB: You live several states apart. Does the distance make collaborating more difficult?

B&K: We meet face to face when doing the major brainstorming, plotting out the broad strokes of the novels. Then we write outlines and iterate them back and forth through the mail until we're happy with the result. We work until we feel we both have the same story in our imagination, and then we each write our separate chapters. Of course, we use the telephone and fax machine a lot, and then we edit the whole book back and forth numerous times. It works.

WB: For Brian, how does it feel to write in a world of your father's creation? That must be a unique experience for a writer.

Brian: My father taught me how to write. We had many discussions about my solo novels and he helped me with my prose and plotting and characters. My collaboration with him, Man Of Two Worlds , was the last novel he ever wrote, and we had discussed doing a Dune project together, but that was not to be.

I feel like the steward of a great vineyard that my father planted. It's time to tend the vines and make the wine again. This is like a family business.



WB: For Kevin, what was it like to tackle a legendary project like the Dune universe? Were you intimidated by it at all?


Kevin: Can you think of a bigger word than "intimidated"? I had already accepted a few "missions impossible" by writing numerous Star Wars and X-Files novels; those are both big properties with a large and loyal (i.e., fanatic) base of supporters. I had also written original work that won or was nominated for major awards. But Dune was something else entirely-not only the best-selling science fiction book of all time, but also my personal favorite SF novel. The fans were going to have incredibly high (and probably unrealistic) expectations-but no one put more pressure on us than we placed on ourselves. Both of us are firmly confident that these Dune prequels are the best work we have ever written.

WB: Each of you has a solo career apart from your collaboration. What individual projects are you each working on? Where do the collaborated Dune books fit into your project schedule?

B&K: Brian has spent years researching and writing an exhaustive biography and perspective on his father, Dreamer Of Dune , which Stealth Press will be releasing this fall. He has also developed a new science fiction series, still in proposal and outline form.

Kevin has always been prolific, and though the Dune books demand an enormous amount of time and attention, he still manages to write original novels, notably a new SF series, The Saga Of Seven Suns , to be published by Warner (US) and Simon & Schuster (UK), as well as standalone SF novel Hopscotch (from Bantam, Feb. 2002) and the "fantastic historical" Nemo , the life story of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, which comes out in hardcover from Pocket in Jan. 2002. Kevin works on these other projects while Brian is taking his turn editing a draft of the Dune novels.

WB: Do you plan to do more Dune books or any other collaborated projects?

B&K: After House Corrino, we have already sold another Dune prequel trilogy, "The Butlerian Jihad," which tells the genesis of the Dune universe, the original war against the thinking machines, the first feud between Atreides and Harkonnen, the formation of the Imperium, the Bene Gesserit, many of the ideas familiar to Dune fans. The first novel, The Butlerian Jihad , is written and currently being polished. It will come out from Tor in October 2002. The second and third novels -- The Machine Crusade and The Battle Of Corrin -should be published annually.

After that trilogy, we have other Dune stories to tell, as well-not the least of which is to finish Dune 7, the climactic story Frank Herbert had intended to write before his death.

WB: The Dune books must draw a lot of attention from fans and editors. I know Kevin has also done X-Files and Star Wars books, which are also popular with a large number of fans from the television shows and movies. Do you ever feel it is a disadvantage for your other stand-alone projects? Is it hard to interest your audience in both?

B&K: There is a lot of carry-over audience from the huge successes (like Star Wars and X-Files) to other books. Kevin has received a lot of fan letters from his Star Wars fans who had never read Dune, but followed his work to House Atreides and then to Frank Herbert's original books. It's not 100% of course, but the sales on the standalone projects certainly increase.

WB: A number of our readers are authors themselves or would-be novelists. Can you tell us a little about your preferred writing habits or schedules for writing? We hear a lot of writers tell us it's hard to make time to write. Do you have any ritual that helps you fit more writing time into your days?

B&K: Make the time, somehow. Kevin tries to write a chapter or two first thing in the morning by going out for a walk and dictating into a tape recorder.

Brian sometimes stays up late at night until he finishes his pages for the day. Nobody has the luxury of sitting around and waiting for the gentle muse to inspire them-many would-be writers fail because they give everything else in the world priority...going to movies, playing card games, cleaning toilets...

Becoming a successful writer is like making the Olympic Team-you have to devote your life to it, practice constantly, improve your skills, and hope you make the cut. Nobody ever said it would be easy.

WB: On the same subject, do you have any advice for a writer who is just starting out?

B&K: Similar answer-persistence. You might face hundreds of rejection slips until something hits. Most people will give up. Some people will stick with it and eventually succeed.

WB: Speaking of persistence, Kevin, you have a collection out now, Dogged Persistence, that is drawing a lot of praise. Granting time and opportunity, would you like to write more short fiction or do you prefer longer lengths?

Kevin: I have done a great many short stories (over a hundred published, at last count)-but frankly I prefer to work at the novel length ... or, lately, at the Fat Novel length. For big epics like the Dune prequels or my Seven Suns novels, I have such a big canvas to work with, many characters and settings, and the time and space to tell a giant story with a really big scope. A short story is like a piece of candy, intense and tasty, but a novel (or a unified trilogy) is like a seven-course gourmet meal. On the other hand, sometimes in between book projects I like to "clear my palate" by doing a standalone short piece just because I want to write it. Even so, my short stories are often distillations or launching points for much larger tales-such as my two recent Analog novellas, which are snippets of my novel Hopscotch .

WB: Kevin, you've written a lot of different types of literature including both science fiction and horror. Do you have a preference? Are you drawn to one genre over another?

B&K: I understand the commercial reasons for genre pigeonholes, but I don't *think* that way when I'm writing. I love to read GOOD STORIES, whether they are historicals, suspense novels, mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, whatever-I have done a lot of horror fiction, but even when I'm playing in straight SF, I try to adapt the techniques of suspense and foreshadowing. In writing horror or mystery, I learn from the worldbuilding methods I use for creating SF worlds...even if a story is set in modern-day San Francisco, for instance. I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to genres. Hey, I'm even adding some bona fide romance plotlines in Nemo and Seven Suns .

WB: Brian, growing up with a famous author for a father, did you want to be a writer as a child?

Brian: Actually, I was a bit of a rebel and I did a lot of things when I was younger. I found myself in a lot of trouble, and for a long time I didn't get along very well with my father. I didn't read any of his books until much later in my life, and we finally became very close in his later years. He was a struggling writer for a lot longer than he was a famous writer. I didn't decide to try writing my own fiction until I was older and settled down.

WB: Another thing we hear author's complain about is promotion, how difficult it is for a reclusive writer to devote time and resources to it and how much energy it takes away from the actual writing. How much promotion does a writer need to provide? You both must have a lot of experience and you seem to do a really good job at it.

B&K: Today, we have to consider ourselves not just as writers and plain storytellers, but we have to go the whole nine yards and be "entertainers" in every sense of the word. We would both RATHER be at home writing and editing, but when a publisher invests so much in our project and wants us to help them promote the book by doing booksignings or interviews, we have to do our part, too. If the publisher gets behind the campaign, then a writer should pitch in however possible.

However, too many writers who have no clue what they're doing spend months and months of their time driving around to local bookstores and tiny malls to sign the four paperback copies on a rack. That just wastes a lot of time and effort when a writer could have been working on his or her next novel. Kevin has an article in the new Mystery Scene all about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of doing your own publicity on a shoestring. The best way to get new readers is to write the next book and turn it in on time.

WB: On behalf of our readers, customers and staff, I would like to thank you for participating in this interview. It has been a pleasure. In the Wormhole Books chapbook, Fremen Justice , you've given us a wonderful taste of Dune: House Corrino . We look forward to reading the entire Bantam Spectra novel in October.
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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Re: pre Butlerian Jihad, Wormhole Books: Interview, BH, KJA

Post by Serkanner »

D Pope wrote: Kevin has an article in the new Mystery Scene all about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of doing your own publicity on a shoestring. The best way to get new readers is to write the next book and turn it in on time.
LMAO!!!!
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