It's the story DUNE fans have been waiting for. On the very day that DUNE: HOUSE HARKONNEN hit the New York Times bestseller list, Brian and Kevin accepted an offer from Tor Books to do a new DUNE trilogy based on the seminal events of the Butlerian Jihad, the epochal conflict between humans and thinking machines set many thousands of years in Dune's past.

Establishing the genesis of Frank Herbert's DUNE universe, The Legends of Dune Trilogy will detail the saga of the century-long conflict, as well as the original breach that formed the deadly feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen. The story will include Tio Holtzman's development of foldspace and shield technology, how House Corrino establishes the Imperium, how the Zensunni Wanderers escape slavery and flee to the desert world of Arrakis. Readers will also see the seeds of DUNE's famous Great Schools of the Mentats, the Bene Gesserit, the Suk Doctors, and the Swordmasters.

The contract for three books, with an advance of a solid seven figures per novel, calls for the volumes to be published annually, so DUNE fans will have plenty more to read in years to come. Tentative titles are: Book 1, THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD, Book 2, THE MACHINE CRUSADE, and Book 3, THE BATTLE OF CORRIN. The editor for the project, Pat Lobrutto, is the same editor who originally acquired the "Prelude to Dune" trilogy for Bantam Books.

Brian and Kevin also have Frank Herbert's complete outline for "DUNE 7," a sequel to CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE, which is intended to be the grand finale for the entire series.

     Taken From

26-October-2001

As usual, Anderson is juggling several projects at once. In February Bantam will publish his stand-alone SF novel Hopscotch, then in July Warner Books will publish The Saga of Seven Suns, the first in another SF series Anderson expects will extend to five or more novels. Finally, he's teaming again with Brian Herbert to launch another trilogy of Dune prequels. "It will be set in the time of the Butlerian Jihad and pretty much gives you the genesis of the Dune universe," Anderson says. "We're on the fifth draft of the first novel and it should be out this time next year."

--"Why do you test for humans?" he asked.
--"To set you free."
--"Free?"
--"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
--"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind," Paul quoted.
--"Right out of the Butlerian Jihad and the Orange Catholic Bible," she said.
(from Dune)