The last DUNE novel Frank Herbert wrote before his death, CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE, ends on a cliffhanger, the story obviously unfinished.

The success of HOUSE ATREIDES, HOUSE HARKONNEN, and HOUSE CORRINO, as well as the popularity of the Sci Fi Channel DUNE miniseries has brought countless new readers to Frank Herbert's marvelous universe.

The history of the epic Butlerian Jihad was the tale the fans most wanted to read. Brian and Kevin have published THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD, delivered the draft manuscript of THE MACHINE CRUSADE, and are beginning work on the final volume of the trilogy, THE BATTLE OF CORRIN.

While there are many more important stories to tell in the Dune universe, Brian and Kevin have decided that the next major project they will undertake -- the next story the fans want to read -- is "DUNE 7," based on a detailed outline Frank Herbert left in a safety deposit box before his death. A great deal of vital information has been set up in the first two prequel trilogies, and now a large readership -- who had never before finished reading HERETICS OF DUNE and CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE -- is ready for the rest of the story after the end of CHAPTERHOUSE.

After publication of THE BATTLE OF CORRIN (Fall, 2004), while they prepare for "Dune 7," Brian and Kevin may publish an interim volume of short stories, selections from Frank Herbert's notes, and missing chapters from the original DUNE novels, which will be called THE ROAD TO DUNE.

Originally posted by Giantrobo

If the son can do a great job on DUNE 7 like IMHO he did on the Prequels then maybe there's hope. Hopefully he can clean up the mess his father left.

Originally posted by milo bloom
Most opinions I see on the new books are less than favorable, do you really enjoy them? I've never read the books, but I enjoy the movie and the miniseries, and want to know how many books I'm going to need to pick up if I ever do so.

Originally posted by milo bloom
Most opinions I see on the new books are less than favorable, do you really enjoy them? I've never read the books, but I enjoy the movie and the miniseries, and want to know how many books I'm going to need to pick up if I ever do so.

Originally posted by Giantrobo
neiname what do you mean "sci fi smut"?

I read your post and I felt like a "low life" for loving the pre-quels

Originally posted by neiname
It is a term I loosely use when I read sci-fi that is obviously not a heavy read or if it is derived from a more substantial piece of literature. I compare it to trashy romance novels a woman (or a man) may read merely for enjoyment.

DEFINITIONS FOR FEN.
"Sci-Fi" was listed with the explanation that it was pronounced "skiffy," to rhyme with the peanut butter, but wasuch more glutinous and vastly less nourishing, and already rancid when first produced. "Skiffy" was given as an alternate spelling, and the reader was cautioned not to use it in reference to any respectable material.

Originally posted by Damien Broderick on rec.arts.sf.written, in 1996
In my 1995 book on sf, READING BY STARLIGHT (Routledge), I tried in a couple of places to capture the feel of this distinction in ways that square with Gary's:-

A mass media version is the odious `sci fi', a journalistic term taken over with bleak wit by some practitioners to denote junk sf - which is to say, crudely-wrought or ill-conceptualised entertainments constructed around a few poorly-understood narrative devices ripped rootless from any but the most meagre `sf mega-text' or shared universe established by generations of earlier sf-canonical writers. Those exhausted tropes are all too familiar: Mad Scientists, galumphing robots, thundering spaceships, ray-gun battles, cosy holocausts.

and:

`Sci fi' - which insider critics sardonically pronounce `skiffy', like a toy or a breakfast cereal - is now more common than sf, for an opportunistic market has forced a return to the 1930s.

A bad-tempered outburst by [Brian W.] Aldiss is poignant:

`The love of art and science I developed as a child was a rebellion against the smug bourgeois society in which I found myself. Art and Science were what They hated most. In this way, I reinforced the solitude I felt. This also: I merely wished to _epater_ society, not overthrow it; the satirist needs his target.... During the 70's and 80's, sf has become widely popular, widely disseminated. Its sting has been removed. The awful victories of The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars have brought - well, not actually respectability, but Instant Whip formulas to sf. The product is blander. It has to be immediately acceptable to many palates, most of them prepubertal...
The nutritive content has been fixed to suit mass taste. Now the world, or the solar system, or the universe, or the Lord Almighty, has to be saved by a group of four or five people which includes a Peter Pan figure, a girl of noble birth, and a moron of some kind... In the old days, we used to destroy the world, and it only took one mad scientist. SF was an act of defiance, a literature of subversion, not whimsy.' (_The Pale Shadow of Science_, pp. 108)

Originally posted by benedict
<small> </small>
.... perhaps the word/term you are esearching for is "skiffy"!!
&

Originally posted by neiname
Is this in honor of The Machine Crusade?

Originally posted by benedict
<small></small>Well, that was what made me re-read this thread. But I think "skiffy" is the term used by some to cover the kind of writing you described earlier so I thought I'd research, bump and thereby share!