I am in a con session with author of the Dune sequels

It is called 11 tips for increasing your writing productivity.

Give him a kick in the balls courtesy F:AT!

BRIAN HERBERT?

Edit: or KJ Anderson?

Michael Barnes wrote: Give him a kick in the balls courtesy F:AT!

Beat me to it.

KJ Anderson, OK. I get it. Fine.

But if it's Brian Herbert, please, see if you can fart on him a little.

I've really enjoyed reading the first one and now the second one The Machine Crusade. If you're expecting it to have a religious/metaphysical edge like Papa Herbert's books then you'll be disappointed. In fact I really like the straightforward sci-fi story being presented and I don't prefer one over the other.

Please pass on a warm compress and two advil for the nut kick, courtesy F:AT.

Dr. Mabuse wrote: I've really enjoyed reading the first one and now the second one The Machine Crusade. If you're expecting it to have a religious/metaphysical edge like Papa Herbert's books then you'll be disappointed. In fact I really like the straightforward sci-fi story being presented and I don't prefer one over the other.

Please pass on a warm compress and two advil for the nut kick, courtesy F:AT.

My wife is studying Arab history right now and making me read her sources. I had no idea the degree to which Herbert borrowed from the history of the rise of Islam. It's pretty cool, and a damning critique, especially by the time you get to Dune Messiah.

Ok, here's a concrete criticism: We're expected to believe that EVERY organization of any importance in the original books (swordmasters, Bene Gesserit, mentats, Fremen, the Guild, I'm sure I'm forgetting some) have their origins roughly during the same lifetime and events in the Jihad books, 10,000 years previously. How does that make any sense? Thank you, KJA and BH, for spoiling everything for us. As if we needed it all spelled out.

From the interwebs:

I must not read McDune
Brian Herbert is the mind-killer
Kevin J. Anderon is the little-death that brings total commercialization
I will resist McDune
I will permit is to pass over me unread, my memories unsullied
And when it has gone away, I will turn my reading eye to see its slime
Where Brian and KJA are gone and there will be no McDune
Only Dune will remain

I've never read even Herbert's sequels to Dune, am I missing out? I've heard so many negative things about them.

Of course they're not going to stand up well against some of the best genre defining works of all time, but because of the amazing worlds created in the original, I didnt mind them just for the "trashy fun" of getting some prequel and sequel extras using all that.

Brains, inside mechs. That's it. Brains-in-mechs. A brain, with wires and shit attached, inside a mech. So it can move around and be mean to people. A brain in a mech body. This is bad for people, and hence:

THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD.

I am not kidding. Read it. Read that fucking book and think, "Wow, finally the source material for DUNE!" It's a crime.

Track down THE DUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Still silly, but at least blessed by Frank.

I think it's a little more "AI" than Brain-In-Mech, but you're 99% right.

metalface13 wrote: I've never read even Herbert's sequels to Dune, am I missing out? I've heard so many negative things about them.

Dune is my favorite work of fiction of all time. Despite this I stayed away from all the sequels just like you due to negative stigma. About a year ago I picked up Messiah on a whim at the library and blew through it in 2 days. It was fun to return to Arrakis, but nothing struck a chord like the original. I was left wishing some of Messiah had been condensed into the end of the first novel just to tie some things up, but overall I had no desire to read any further and in a way never needed to read Messiah either.

My suggestion would be to pass on them, which pains me to say because I love the original so much and wish there was more stuff from that universe that spoke to me the way that first one did.