A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | No | All
Written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
A short story in the Dune series
Cover Notes
Spice Planet is an alternate Dune story written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson based upon the original story outline that Frank Herbert made for Dune. It features House Linkam, an early House Atreides temporarily taking control of Duneworld from their rivals, House Hoskanner (the forerunner of the Harkonnens) in order to settle a dispute between them: the Hoskanners received a monopoly concession on the recently discovered Duneworld, but as melange grows in popularity in the Empire, other Houses begin to dislike the Hoskanner's wealth and push House Linkam to challenge House Hoskanner; the Emperor, in cahoots with the Hoskanners, orders Linkam to take over Duneworld for two years and if they produce more melange, then they would receive the concession — else it would go permanently to the Hoskanners. Much like in Dune, the Hoskanners sabotage and thwart to the best of their abilities, although the Linkams enlist the help of the Imperial Planetologist to devise a way to neutralize the sandworms and vastly increase the efficiency of operations.
The story holds has some obvious links to the original Dune novel, such as many of the same characters but there are some key themes that are under-developed in this version. When they arranged all the chapters and read through the remarkable outline, they found that Spice Planet was a unique and worthy story in its own right, not just a precursor to Dune. Although the harsh desert is very similar to the one familiar to millions of fans, the tale itself is thematically different, focusing on decadence and drug addiction instead of ecology, finite resources, freedom, and religious fanaticism.
Categories: Published 2005 | Publishers Tor Books | Authors Brian Herbert | Authors Kevin J Anderson
