Anyone else excited? I look forward to these prequels every year and they never disappoint.

Just noticed this one as well: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...080649&loc=106

You read it yet? I'll probably order it at the same time as "Machine Crusade". Could be good.

I saw that before but was unsure whether I wanted to read it or not, let me know how it is.

Looking forward to it. I enjoyed the last two books thoroughly. Have it on reserve at the library.

You can read the lead-in short story Whipping Mek here:
http://www.dunenovels.com/news/short_story.html

It appears this book is about the current Washington administration. Interesting.stuff. The parallels are quite obvious.

I saw this book but I'm waiting for the paperback. I'm currently reading The Butlerian Jihad and loving it.

You know I never noticed the obvious reference in these two words:

Zensunni and Zenshiite.

The Mid East influence has always been in Dune books but this hit me this time around...

You can really see it in MC, as I suspect they have been writing it after 9/11. The best SF has always looked at the past through the eyes of the future.

Now you just have to figure out which side is which.

I recommend reading the Whipping Mek short before MC as the subject comes up.

Zensunni has shown up tons of times in the first set as well as in some of Herbert's other non-Dune-related books, but I think BJ was the first appearance of Zenshiite. Could be wrong though.

Yeah, I think you're right about "Zenshiite" being new. I can remember "Zensunni" from way back in the DUNE series.

Fremen were always the decendants of Zensunni wanderers. I'm also not certain if Zenshiite was ever a term used in the 7 Dune books. Same for Buddallah.

I do recall that the Jews are alluded to in Chapterhouse, that they still exist and were connected to the Honored Matres in some way. I suspected Frank was going to introduce them in his forthcoming sequels, so it will be interesting to see how BH/KA handles it.

Yes I also remember Jews being mentioned. I think the Bene G's have a long relationship with the Jews. As matter of fact a Jewish family had big part in either Heretics and or Chapterhouse. I can't remember which. It had something to do with a Jewish girl keeping a Bene Geserit's memories safe from the Honored Martres. Her Rabbi Father felt she was possessed.


I know one thing, I decided to look at my DUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA to see if they pulled anything from this book for Butlerian Jihad and let me say that the Encyclopedia is obsolete at this point.

For instance, the 1st worm rider and how it happened are totally different.

I noticed my library has this available in audiobook form- 22 CDs!

I assume these are plain-jane productions? Just a guy reading the book, correct?

Yeah if it was a dramatization, I don't think it would be unabridged. That'd be pretty hardcore.

I'm more than halfway through the book and it's pretty good- they made one huge mistake by making a character more powerfull than Paul. I won't give it away. But it's pretty stupid to make a character essentially a god 10,000 years before Maud'Dib shows up.