NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The saga of how slowly permeated the mainstream over decades is a tale with almost as many twists and turns as 鈥淒une鈥� itself, and author Ryan Britt recounts it in the lively and entertaining 鈥淭he Spice Must Flow.鈥�
As Britt details, author Frank Herbert began to plot the novel 鈥� about a young boy named Paul Atreides who may be the future leader of the galaxy 鈥� after doing research for a nonfiction article about a manmade technique to stabilize sand dunes.
Much of the action takes place on Arrakis, a desert planet that has reserves of a precious natural resource, spice, and is infested with sandworms, Herbert鈥檚 iconic dune creature.
Herbert had authored sci-fi short stories and novels before, but the only place he could find willing to publish 鈥淒une鈥� in 1964 was an auto-repair book publisher.
But slowly 鈥淒une,鈥� and its sequels caught on. Different aspects of the novel 鈥� a swashbuckling adventure tale, an environmental treatise and a polemic against combining religion and politics, all in one 鈥� appealed to different people at different times throughout the decades.
But bad timing plagued the book鈥檚 mainstream success. The first two Dune books sold slowly, but the third sequel 鈥淐hildren of Dune,鈥� was a massive bestseller when it was published in 1976 and proved a sci-fi story could breakthrough to the mainstream. But everyone forgot about that a few months later when 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� 鈥� itself influenced by 鈥淒une鈥� 鈥� hit theaters and became a massively successful space opera.
Britt details the many attempts to bring the story to the screen, including the doomed attempt in the 1970s by Alejandro Jodorowsky that was ultimately scrapped, the 1984 David Lynch version that flopped, and finally
Britt peppers the book with entertaining interviews with Herbert鈥檚 son, Brian, who keeps the legacy alive by writing sequels; pop culture critics; and cast members from different 鈥淒une鈥� movies, including and 鈥淒une鈥�-superfan
Britt鈥檚 book should appeal to 鈥淒une鈥� aficionados and newbies alike. He hopes more people pick up the novel and become converted, like a staff recommendation he noticed in a bookstore in Portland, Maine.
The staffer wrote: 鈥淪tarted reading it; thought it was dumb. Kept reading, realized it was fun.鈥�
Mae Anderson, The Associated Press
