DUNE 7 BLOG

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Timeweb

While Kevin takes his turn editing our Dune books, I have been writing my own epic, galaxy-spanning science fiction series. Timeweb (the first of three projected novels) is scheduled for publication in May. Reminiscent of my first novel, Sidney's Comet, there is rampant consumerism in the Timeweb universe, but on a much bigger scale, encompassing multiple planets and star systems that are ruled by the Merchant Prince Alliance. As a result of such excesses, or for other mysterious reasons, an ecological catastrophe threatens to destroy the entire universe. Noah Watanabe, the estranged son of one of the merchant princes, leads a force of ecological warriors in a desperate attempt to save the day.

This is how the cover copy reads:

Bestselling author Brian Herbert has created Timeweb, a universe of wondrous possibilities that is populated by sentient spaceships, shapeshifters, intriguing robots, and miniature aliens with mysterious powers. The Human race is a mercantile society that has spread throughout the galaxy, ruled by wealthy merchant princes who live in regal, profligate splendor, but are totally unaware of another dominion just beneath the surface of the galaxy, one that threatens to break open and hurl everything into chaos.

Galactic ecologist Noah Watanabe is a heroic, revolutionary thinker, but the causes of a strange, cosmic disintegration are mind-boggling to him, far beyond anything he can possibly solve on his own. Embarking on an epic journey to restore the ancient balances of the crumbling galaxy, Noah must work with warring, alien races that are millions of years old, in a desperate attempt to unravel secrets about the early days of the universe that could hold the solution to a vast celestial puzzle.

Part of the answer may lie in Noah tapping into his own undiscovered powers.

But to do so he must learn to negotiate the mysteries of Timeweb, a fantastically beautiful galactic web that can only be seen in certain states of consciousness. This cosmic filigree, an immense canvas of space and time, connects solar systems and other celestial bodies, and acts as a transportation infrastructure on which enigmatic, sentient spaceships travel at faster-than-light speeds.

Timeweb can also be used for instantaneous communication across space, but the galactic races have barely tapped into its potential . . .until Noah begins to do that very thing, setting the stage for a power struggle that will envelop the very cosmos itself.

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In early April, Brian received advance reading copies of Timeweb. The cover art is outstanding, showing a gossamer web that encompasses the universe, with sentient spaceships traveling along the strands of the web. He is giving it a final look for typographical errors. At this point, so close to the May, 2006 publication date, only minor editing changes can be made.

The first hardcover edition of TIMEWEB will be released in a limited edition of only 500-1000 copies. Any DUNE fans will be sure to get a copy before they're all sold out of this special printing.

--BH