Brian Patrick Herbert (born June 29, 1947) is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert.
Brian Herbert's novels include Sidney's Comet, Prisoners of Arionn, Man of Two Worlds (written with his father), and Sudanna Sudanna. In 2003, Herbert wrote a biography of his father titled Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert. The younger Herbert has edited the Songs of Muad'dib and the Notebooks of Frank Herbert's Dune. Herbert has also created a concordance for the Dune universe based on his father's notes, though, according to the younger Herbert, there are no immediate plans to publish it.[2] He has also written several comic books with Kevin J. Anderson based on Dune novels and short stories.
Career
Herbert is known for his collaborations with author Kevin J. Anderson, with whom he has written multiple prequels (and some sequels) to his father's landmark 1965 science fiction novel, Dune, all of which have made The New York Times Best Seller list. The duo began with the prequel trilogiesPrelude to Dune (1999–2001) and Legends of Dune (2002–2004). Brian and Anderson next published Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), two sequels to Frank Herbert's original Dune series, which was left incomplete at the end of Frank's sixth Dune novel, Chapterhouse: Dune. These novels are claimed to be based on an outline and notes left behind by Frank Herbert after his 1986 death for what he referred to as Dune 7, his own planned seventh novel in the series. However, they never provided any proof for that, which, together with multiple contradictions between their novels and the original Dune, created a strong backlash in the fan community.[3][4][5] In 2008, Brian and Anderson began publishing Heroes of Dune (2008–2023), a series of four novels which take place between the first five novels of Frank Herbert's six original Dune series, but only two were published initially. The others were set aside, first for the Great Schools of Dune trilogy (2012–2016), and later for the Caladan trilogy (2020–2022). However, in 2023, Herbert resumed the Heroes of Dune series by publishing Princess of Dune (2023). Furthermore, Brian, along with Kevin, has also written numerous Dune short stories (2001–2017).
Anderson, Kevin J. (December 16, 2005). "Dune 7 blog: Conspiracy Theories". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2008 – via DuneNovels.com. Frank Herbert wrote a detailed outline for Dune 7 and he left extensive Dune 7 notes, as well as stored boxes of his descriptions, epigraphs, chapters, character backgrounds, historical notes—over a thousand pages worth.
^Neuman, Clayton (August 17, 2009). "Winds of Dune Author Brian Herbert on Flipping the Myth of Jihad". AMC. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009. Retrieved June 16, 2020. I got a call from an estate attorney who asked me what I wanted to do with two safety deposit boxes of my dad's ... in them were the notes to Dune 7—it was a 30-page outline. So I went up in my attic and found another 1,000 pages of working notes.
"Before Dune, After Frank Herbert". Amazon.com. 2004. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2008. Brian was cleaning out his garage to make an office space and he found all these boxes that had 'Dune Notes' on the side. And we used a lot of them for our House books.
"Interview with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson". Arrakis.ru. 2004. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2008. We had already started work on House Atreides ... After we already had our general outline written and the proposal sent to publishers, then we found the outlines and notes. (This necessitated some changes, of course.)
^Ascher, Ian (2004). "Kevin J. Anderson Interview". DigitalWebbing.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2007. ... we are ready to tackle the next major challenge—writing the grand climax of the saga that Frank Herbert left in his original notes sealed in a safe deposit box ... after we'd already decided what we wanted to write ... They opened up the safe deposit box and found inside the full and complete outline for Dune 7 ... Later, when Brian was cleaning out his garage, in the back he found ... over three thousand pages of Frank Herbert's other notes, background material, and character sketches.
Adams, John Joseph (August 9, 2006). "New Dune Books Resume Story". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2007. Anderson said that Frank Herbert's notes included a description of the story and a great deal of character background information. 'But having a roadmap of the U.S. and actually driving across the country are two different things,' he said. 'Brian and I had a lot to work with and a lot to expand...'
^Herbert, Brian; Anderson, Kevin J. (October 13, 2020). Dune: The Duke of Caladan (The Caladan Trilogy 1) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. ISBN978-1250764744.
