Frank Herbert (1920-86) was born in Tacoma, Washington and worked as a reporter and later editor of a number of West Coast newspapers before becoming a full-time writer. His first sf story was published in 1952 but he achieved fame more than ten years later with the publication in Analog of DUNE WORLD and THE PROPHET OF DUNE, amalgamated in the novel DUNE in 1965.
A fourth visit to distant Arrakis that is every bit as fascinating as the other three -- every bit as timely * Time * A tight mesmerising fabric, interwoven with a potent element of mysticism ... intensely realised * Brian W. Aldiss on Dune * A novel of extraordinary complexity ... the work of a speculative intellect with few rivals in modern SF * The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction on Dune * Powerful, convincing, and most ingenious * Robert A. Heinlein on Dune * One of the monuments of modern science fiction * The Chicago Tribune on Dune * An astonishing science fiction phenomenon * The Washington Post on Dune * It is possible that Dune is even more relevant now than when it was first published * The New Yorker on Dune * I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings * Arthur C. Clarke on Dune *