Frank Herbert

Frank Patrick Herbert (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was a critically and commercially successful American science fiction author. He is best known for the novel Dune, and the five other novels in the series that followed it. The Dune saga dealt with themes such as human survival and evolution, ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics, and power.

Controversies

Since his death the main controversy among his fans is whether the new Dune books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson should be considered canonical. Critics argue that these books do not have the quality of the original series, especially with regard to the articulation of complex ideas about human life that was such a concern of Frank Herbert.

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Also, Herbert's close friend Dr. Willis E. McNelly (1920–2003) compiled a Dune Encyclopedia in 1984. It was written by fans of Dune, including McNelly. There is considerable debate about how "canonical" the encyclopedia is: Herbert wrote the introduction and read and approved the essays, but in subsequent books of the Dune series he contradicted a few points. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, offended many diehard fans when they decided against using the Dune Encyclopedia as a reference for their new Dune books, so their series often contradicts material presented in McNelly's work.

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