40th Annniversary of Dune

It's a couple of months late, but we wanted to talk about a wonderful celebration held at DragonCon for the 40th anniversary of the original book publication of Frank Herbert's DUNE.

DragonCon has long had a very special place in our hearts, both Brian and myself. Ed Kramer, past chairman of DragonCon, is the mutual friend who brought the two of us together to start work on the new DUNE novels. At the 1999 DragonCon, Brian and I were both guests of honor, and that became the official launch of DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES.

Thus, when we realized that 2005 marked four decades since the first book publication of DUNE, we contacted Pat Henry, the current chairman, and asked if he would like to do something special at the convention.

Because so many different publishers and filmmakers share parts of the DUNE universe, coordinating it all became a tremendous task. Brian and I wrote a 40-yr retrospective essay on DUNE, which was published in the program book. Ace Books took out a full-page ad for their 40-anniversary edition of DUNE. Tor Books had a color ad for BATTLE OF CORRIN and ROAD TO DUNE as the inside back cover of the program book. Tor also produced a wonderful special-edition excerpt booklet for THE ROAD TO DUNE; 25,000 copies of these booklets were provided to be given out at the con registration.

On Friday at 1:00, Tor hosted a special party celebrating DUNE and the release of THE ROAD TO DUNE in the Centennial Ballroom for 300 people. There was food and drinks as well as two large cakes hand-decorated to look like the cover of THE ROAD TO DUNE. Tor had also sent six large foam-core posters, which we set up on easels around the room, as well as three cases of previous DUNE hardcovers (BUTLERIAN JIHAD, MACHINE CRUSADE, and BATTLE OF CORRIN) and two cases of the brand-new ROAD TO DUNE, which was officially released at the convention.

I brought two cases of my own DUNE hardcovers which were double-signed by myself and Brian Herbert. Our friends at New Amsterdam sent 20 DVDs of the DUNE and CHILDREN OF DUNE miniseries, and also arranged with Stephen Lane of the Prop Store in London to provide a selection of props from the two DUNE miniseries, which we put on display.

Given all the prizes and the food, we had a very full room for the two-hour party. I gave a 45-minute talk about DUNE, Frank Herbert's struggles to get it published (reading some excerpts from ROAD TO DUNE). Then we used numbered tickets to give away the prizes (we had so many books and DVDs that every attendee received one!) Lydia Van Vogt, the widow of classic science fiction master A.E Van Vogt, also attended the party.

I did three book signings during the DragonCon weekend, all of which had a line for the full hour. I also did a reading of the first few chapters of HUNTERS OF DUNE -- this was the first time ever fans could hear even a taste of the long-awaited "Dune 7." Not surprisingly, the room was packed. We had to move out a table just to get more floor space for people to sit down. Others stood against the wall, while still more crowded the hall outside the door, cupping their ears and trying to hear me read.

The props from the two miniseries were displayed in a glass case in the exhibition hall for the weekend. The whole event went over extremely well, and the DUNE fans were very happy.

--KJA

November 3, 2005