Frank Herbert’s correspondence files yielded interesting gems that show an author’s passion and his continuing drive to find a publisher for a massive novel that he knew was good but which did not fit into the marketing niches of the time.
FOR YEARS after his initial article idea of “They Stopped the Moving Sands,” Frank Herbert toyed with the story about a desert world full of hazards and riches. He plotted a short adventure novel, Spice Planet, but set the outline aside when his concept grew into something much more ambitious.
When Herbert finally presented an early draft of Dune to Lurton Blassingame in the spring of 1963, the agent wrote back:
April 5, 1963
Dear Frank,
Congratulations! You have a novel that is big in many ways, not only in sheer size, but in ideas and story value. It is not a Once and Future King of the future because I think it stumbles too often, but it did make me think of that delightful book.
For some readers it may prove to be too slow and I wouldn’t be surprised if some editor asked you to cut. But the main thing right now is to know when you will have in the remainder—or the outline of the remainder. There isn’t much science here, but you have a very good adventure story laid in the future and I suppose that is all that matters. That, and the fact that you have done a good job with your characters.
I think this will be called a better book than Dragon in the Sea and that has won many songs of praise. I bow three times—and hold out my hands for the rest of the story.
Cordially,
Lurton
Later in the month, Frank Herbert replied, sending additional chapters. He wrote:
The science in these books is essentially broad-focus—the shaping of politics, the transformation of an entire planet, religion (the transformation of an entire people), and does not dwell long on specific single tools—although I’ll be surprised if you don’t discover that the “stillsuit” concept is a new one, and it plays a key part in the stories. And for that matter, human individuals are treated as ecological tools, so what this adds up to is that we’re looking at science in a different way here.
I did 70 pages final draft last week (part enclosed) and don’t see why I can’t duplicate that this week and mail it off to you about next Tuesday. The rest of it can come to you at about the same rate. (Think of it as a weekly serial.)
Blassingame liked the new chapters but said: “I am quite pleased with your story and your way of telling it. Length is the only problem that worries me. I will look forward to more chapters. I find the work very interesting—but how in the world are we going to sell the serial rights when it runs so long?”
The mechanics of Frank Herbert working with his agent were quite different in those days from what they might be today. Blassingame was a hands-on agent, even assisting in the preparation of the manuscript pages before sending them to Analog editor John W. Campbell, Jr.:
May 24, 1963
Dear Frank,
I had a call from John Campbell this morning. He is interested in Dune and I am seeing him Monday to hear what he has to say.
The original copy went to him last week after I had corrected all pages, deleting, adding and substituting certain pages. In places where one to half a dozen words had been substituted, the old lines were X’d out and new words either typed above old lines or printed in by pen.
Here are seven pages to retype. Certainly those pages where additions have been added in the left margin must be retyped. We had time only to start page 210, enclosed with returned pages, for you to follow with the others if you wish. I’m sorry we have no time to do all the others but I’m sure you will understand. I’d like to get this carbon copy to Doubleday next week. The margin inserts on original copy were typed, the sheet cut and the new lines scotch taped onto the page and the page folded up at the bottom to the length of uncut sheets. These pages look OK.
I’m looking forward to receiving the rest of the book!
Cordially,
Lurton
Five days later, Blassingame wrote again, somewhat concerned about the sheer amount of information Frank Herbert was introducing at the start of the novel:
One way that might help us solve the problem is to do a little more with your history with which you precede each chapter of the book. Opening this novel, you might quote from some encyclopedia, “When the Duke Leto inherited Arrakis in the year____, the planet had no oceans, no streams. In the northern section, there were the cities (in a few sentences you can tell about the water problem on the planet for the cities and the desert). The Duke’s reign lasted only____, then the Harkonnens fell upon him and (here you can add about the wiping out of the troops, the killing of the Duke, the escape of Paul and Jessica).”
You’ll do better than this, but I do think we need to have a little more background on the planet and the situation into which you plunge us. And your clever use of quotes at the beginning of each chapter gives you a chance to provide us with this information.
Campbell purchased the story in a matter of days, for serialization in the magazine, paying $2,550 (three cents a word) for it (a net of $2,295 to the author after agent’s commission). Early in June 1963, the legendary editor wrote the first of many letters he would exchange with Frank Herbert in ensuing years.
Concerning the leading character, Paul Atreides, Campbell wrote: “Congratulations! You are now the father of a 15-year-old superman!” He then went on for four pages to give suggestions on how to fit the powers of the superhero into the novel, culminating in this comment: “If ‘Dune’ is to be the first of three, and you’re planning on using Paul in the future ones … oh, man! You’ve set yourself one hell of a problem! You might make the next one somewhat more plottable if you didn’t give Paul quite so much of the super-duper.”
Frank Herbert did not agree, and adhered to his basic view of Paul’s powers, in which he had future vision, but with some limitations. Frank wrote a detailed and philosophical five-page response discussing the nature of metaphysics, time, and prescience. After Blassingame read a copy of this response, he wrote to Frank: “I think you did a brilliant job of defending your position. So far [Campbell] has known of only two ways of handling supermen and I hope he will accept your arguments and say that in future he knows of three ways.”
Campbell did accept the defense. Five days later, he responded in a three-page letter, continuing the esoteric discussion but adding: “I’m not suggesting you drop Paul’s time-scan ability because I dislike it—but because I suspect it might make adequate plotting damn difficult. Your suggestions as to the limitations of the ability are sound.”
The interchange between editor and author proved thought provoking in more than just the specific story at hand. A few weeks later, Frank Herbert wrote back to Campbell:
Your letters on Time set off a prolonged conversation here the other night between Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, and myself. We missed you.
Vance: Past and future as “entities” are merely illusion; the only reality is the now-instant. (This tosses out all Time-travel stories.)
Anderson: Time is related purely to standards of measurement. (Very hard-headed on empirical science.)
Herbert: Time and life are related in a way that does not hold for Time and inanimate objects.
That oversimplifies, but pretty well summates points of view. There was more—much more. A good Time was had by all.
As I said, we missed you.
To fit Analog’s requirements, Frank Herbert prepared four synopses, which would appear with each of the planned four serializations of Dune World, around 85,000 words. Frank wrote: “The synopses, oddly enough, break the book into almost equal parts—four of them. This doubtless comes from lavish use of cliffhangers.” Subsequently, he had to modify this to three synopses, as Campbell changed his mind and decided to run the story in three parts.
All the while, Blassingame had been in contact with major publishers such as Doubleday & Co., trying to find one of them to publish the nov
el in book form. By the summer of 1963, word began to filter back to Frank Herbert that this would be no easy task, primarily because of the length of the book. Most science-fiction novels at the time were only around 50,000-75,000 words, and Dune (when the author included more material after the serialization) approached 200,000.
Because of such artificial attitudes, Frank Herbert did not always think highly of New York publishers. One letter attests to this: “As to Doubleday—if they take it, excellent. If not, there are other publishing houses. I can feel in my bones that the Dune trilogy [the three parts of the original novel now published as Dune] is going to be a money maker for whoever publishes it. I always remind myself that editors come and editors go, but writers outlast most of them. (Campbell is a delightful exception, but then he’s a writer, too.)”
A week later, Doubleday said they might offer a contract on Dune World, but only if it could be cut to 75,000 or 80,000 words. Frank Herbert made changes to the manuscript, but in August, Timothy Seldes of Doubleday withdrew his offer of a contract, saying he had too much trouble with the beginning of the novel: “In fact, I recommend to you the adding up of unfamiliar technology in the first ten pages. It is conceivably a reflection on the story as a whole that, at least to my mind, Mr. Herbert has so much trouble getting into it.”
Blassingame had sent the manuscript out to several publishers, and in late October of 1963 it was declined politely by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Shortly afterward, Frank Herbert completed Book II of Dune (“Muad’Dib”), and sent it off to his agent, with this comment: “I was unhappy to learn that Scribner’s rejected Dune. The editor’s comment that he may have been mistaken (in doing so)—let us hope that’s prophetic.”
On November 1,1963, Frank Herbert completed Book III of Dune (“The Prophet”) and sent it off to his agent with this note: “Here’s Book III of the trilogy, the one I think most successful of the series. Let’s hope some editors share this judgment.”
Blassingame liked the third part but wrote back: “One big obstacle is the division of material. Most trilogies have big time gaps between books or shift viewpoints. Your story is continuous. You really don’t have three novels; there is only one big novel. It may have to appear as a single volume.” In December, Doubleday asked for a second look at Dune, so the agent sent it to them again, cautioning the author: “Your chief trouble is length. Your novel is about twice as long as most other persons’ novels …”
Just before Christmas of 1963, John W. Campbell wrote to Blassingame that he liked the new Dune material for serialization in Analog, saying: “ … this is a gee-gorgeous hunk of stuff.” He went on to make suggestions about cutting back the prescient powers of Paul Atreides but did not make this a condition of publication. He said that “the major trouble you [have] with the Dune World series [is] getting Paul’s psi faculty into focus as a useful, profitable faculty, rather than something that just confused him and everything else.”
The new material—another 120,000 to 125,000 words—would require an additional five magazine installments to publish, but Campbell said it was exactly the sort of “swashbuckler” that he wanted for Analog.
When Frank Herbert saw the cover art for the first “Dune” issue of Analog, he was tremendously impressed and wrote: “Frequently, I have to ask myself if the artist was actually illustrating the story his work accompanied. No so with John Schoenherr. His December cover caught with tremendous power and beauty the ‘Dune mood’ I struggled so hard to create. It’s one of the few such works of which I’d like to have the original.”
With equal enthusiasm, John W. Campbell wrote that the cover art was “ … Schoenherr’s sixth attempt, I believe. Getting the feeling of desolation, danger, dryness and action was not easy; the guy earned his pay on that one!”
Frank Herbert and John Campbell talked extensively by phone about the manuscript, and the author won the arguments over the prescient powers of Paul Atreides. Frank had a strong affinity for ESP and had been researching the subject for years, as he explained to his agent:
ESP is one of my interests to the extent that I have done considerable reading on it in what I would call the quasi-scientific end of the field. This includes Rene Sudre’s Para-Psychology and a considerable amount of J. B. Rhine—including The Reach of the Mind and New World of the Mind. I’ve also dabbled in Puharich, the “sacred mushroom” writer.
I’m what you might refer to as an agnostic where ESP is concerned—a “Doubting Thomas.” Some of the writers on this end of the field, such as Fodor and Tassi, are too kookie for my tastes, and I have strong doubts as to the mathematical basis for the statistics of Rhine’s tests.
Okay, I’m from Missouri. This does not, however, limit my enjoyment of a good ESP story or stay in my imagination in exploring the “what ifs” of possible mental powers.
In the interaction with Campbell, however, Frank Herbert did take one important suggestion. In the first version of the manuscript, Paul’s sister Alia was killed, but the editor talked him into reversing this decision and keeping her alive for future stories. This proved to be wise counsel, as she became one of the most interesting characters in the Dune universe.
(As an aside, Frank also decided to “revive” Duncan Idaho in later novels because the fans liked him so much. The Dune universe would be much poorer without Alia Atreides and the serial gholas of Duncan Idaho.)
In the various drafts of the book, Frank wrote additional chapters, which he eventually trimmed from the manuscript in an attempt to keep the length under control. These lost chapters are published later in The Road to Dune.
In late January 1964, Timothy Seldes of Doubleday again declined the novel, writing: “Nobody can seem to get through the first 100 pages (of Book I) without being confused and irritated.” A few weeks later, Julian P. Muller of Harcourt, Brace & World also rejected the manuscript, citing “slow spots,” “wearying conversations,” “bursts of melodrama,” and the sheer size of the material. He also said: “It is just possible that we may be making the mistake of the decade in declining Dune by Frank Herbert.”
In the midst of such rejections, Frank wrote to his agent, insisting : “This is going to be a salable property.” More people were beginning to appreciate the story as well. A short while later, the 22nd World Science Fiction Convention (Pacificon II) notified him that Dune World (based upon the Analog serialization) had been nominated for the prestigious Hugo Award.
In response, Frank Herbert wrote back to the convention:
I really feel very deeply honored that “Dune World” has been nominated for the Hugo. It really is quite a surprise. As a rule, I don’t believe writers think about such things. We’re too busy writing “the story.”
Win, lose or draw, I’m looking forward to seeing you in September. Right now it’s back to the typewriter. I’m piled twenty feet deep in work … and I love it.
That summer, Blassingame reported continuing problems with placing the novel with a book publisher: “I hope the enormous length of Dune isn’t going to prevent a sale, but we are still being bothered by it.” Saying the novel was “old fashioned in presentation” and in need of cutting, New American Library rejected the manuscript a short while afterward.
At Pacificon II in Oakland, California, Dune World was up against Here Gather the Stars by Clifford D. Simak (book title Way Station), Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein, and Witch World by Andre Norton for the Hugo Award. Dune World did not win (Way Station did), but John Campbell’s Analog received a Hugo for best professional magazine. Frank Herbert went to the convention and appeared on Campbell’s behalf to pick up the award, which he then shipped to New York. In appreciation for Frank’s contribution, the editor wrote: “I want to thank you for helping us get the Hugo this year—in both ways! I told the Committee that either you or Poul Anderson would be the obvious proxies for Analog, both being West Coasters, and both being major reasons why the Hugo was coming this way.”
Campbell sent
payment for the postage, but Frank Herbert wrote back: “It was my honor to pick up your hard-earned Hugo and forward it. The postage was such a small thing, you shouldn’t have bothered. However, it did arrive just as #2 Son (Bruce) asked for an advance on his allowance. You may take some satisfaction from the fact that you were there to provide that advance.”
Fan letters began to stream in from Analog readers, but so did rejection letters from major publishers. E. P. Dutton added their name to a list of turndowns that would eventually reach more than twenty, writing: “ … something of this size would require a perfectly incredible investment and a list price far in excess of that any science fiction book has ever had before.” Citing similar reasons for his rejection, Allen Klots Jr. of Dodd, Mead & Co. added: “It is the sort of writing that might attract a cult and go on forever, but we have not had much luck with science fiction and there is too much of a chance, in our opinion, that this would be lost of its own weight.”
Early in 1965, Frank Herbert received good news from a surprising source. Chilton Books, best known for publishing auto repair manuals, made an offer of $7,500 (plus future royalties) to publish the three Dune segments—“Dune World,” “Muad’Dib,” and “The Prophet”—in a single hardcover. Chilton’s farsighted editor Sterling Lanier had tracked the agent down after seeing the story in Analog. (Lanier was a science-fiction author himself, and wrote the novels Hiero’s Journey and Menace Under Marswood.)
Road to Dune Page 23