Kevin J. Anderson

The Landsraad Interview

In this candid interview with the Landsraad Dune site, Kevin J. Anderson  shares his true feelings about criticism from online Dune fans. He also confirms his involvement in the upcoming Dune 7 novel, and unexpectantly hints at another Dune writing project following The Legends of Dune trilogy. Special thanks from BaronMoritani to Catherine Sidor and Kevin J. Anderson for the interview. 

June 11, 2002

Since Frank Herbert’s untimely death in 1986, many authors have wanted
to create projects in his Dune universe. Describe for us the feelings you
had when you first realized the opportunity was yours.

It's a huge joy and a huge responsibility.  DUNE is the best SF novel ever
written, and I had very much wanted to learn how the story ended after
CHAPTERHOUSE.  After ten years, when Brian hadn't written the grand finale, I finally contacted him through a mutual friend.

When he and I first talked on the phone, we hit it off immediately.  Other
people who had approached him saw only dollar signs with DUNE and didn't have any innate love or passion for the epic.  Frank Herbert had always been my favorite author and I had read all of his backlist novels, not just the DUNE books. 

Brian really sees this as his responsibility, a legacy his father left him --
he compares it to a grand old family vineyard, and he is making wine from the same grapes.  But because Frank Herbert left such big shoes to fill, it takes both of us with all our skills and all our creativity to fill them.

The Afterword to HOUSE ATREIDES tells more about how the project came about.

As is well known, you and Brian Herbert co write the Dune prequels.
From what I’ve read, you and Brian Herbert send each other emails
with your respective sections and then edit each other’s work. Do the two
of you choose separate storylines, or do you work on the same sections?

Do the two of your brainstorm together on the story’s outline?

We send disks back and forth through the mail, after we have our individual chapters written.  (Brian isn't on e-mail.) With all of Frank Herbert’s notes, we have a basic framework of major events, which is like having a flashlight in a big, dark room.  We talk a lot on the phone and, at least once before starting each book, we meet together for a very intense brainstorming session.  Because we are collaborating, Brian and I need to know in detail how the chapters are arranged and what happens in
all of them.  After we have the complete book plotted, Brian and I choose
chapters—usually, we will each take particular storylines for
consistency—and after we split them up evenly, we each write the drafts of
our parts.  Brian and I divide the work equally.  When we’re done with our
chapters, we swap computer disks and then rework the other person’s prose. 

In the forthcoming book, THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD, we went through eleven drafts, by my count.  By the end, every sentence in the manuscript is a collaboration.

The result is a novel that blends our styles, our strengths, our skills,
better than anything either of us could have written individually. 

It has been noted that Frank Herbert wrote Dune to address the Messianic
and Hero literary models, and of course, to critique man’s need for both.
While writing the Dune prequels, did Brian and yourself use these or any
other literary models?

Our main objective was to broaden and strengthen the foundation of the main characters in the novel DUNE.  Personally, I think Duke Leto is the greatest hero in the entire series, and I was delighted to spend so much time with him in our first trilogy.  In THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD we are laying the groundwork for every major event, institution, and interaction in the series.

We also want to maintain the ecological message that Frank Herbert put into his original novels, and the warning that "quick fixes" usually cause more damage than good.  Unfortunately, American politicians (and, sadly, most of their constituents as well) solve problems with the fastest, cheapest manner possible, not wanting even to consider that a real solution might take longer than one term in office, or one person's lifespan.  Global warming?  We fix that by officially pretending it doesn't exist.  Too much reliance on middle-eastern oil?  Why not drill in Alaska to give us five more
years...instead of mandating efficient or alternative-fuel cars.

Anything you can tell us about Legends of Dune Book 1: The Butlerian
Jihad?

Things can change a lot in ten thousand years.  Our first three DUNE prequels were set immediately before Frank Herbert’s classic novel, using familiar characters and settings.  But for THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD, we had to create a storyline and universe set ten millennia earlier.  Everything would be a lot different . . . yet we had to retain the flavor and complexity of the original books.  We owed that to the readers.

From Frank Herbert’s voluminous notes, we had a broad-strokes outline of the epochal events that establish the DUNE universe, but none of the details.  We spent many days immersed in brainstorming sessions up in the Pacific  Northwest, locked in an office or taking strolls around some of Frank Herbert’s favorite haunts.  (Certainly, anyone eavesdropping on our
conversations got a bizarre earful of mayhem, revolts, and sadistic thinking
machines.)

The Butlerian Jihad has always been the tale that most fascinates DUNE fans, and we finally lay out the answers.  It was a process of learning and
discovery for us as much as it will be for the reader.  And we even managed
to include plenty of sandworms!