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DUNE

Bob asked me how Dune compared to other sci-fi novels I have read. How did it stand next to Zelazny? That question caught me for a moment. I loved the Chronicles of Amber. Zelazny pulled me in deeper and deeper with every shift between shadows.

But Dune was different. Dune didn’t just pull me in (yes, I rolled through it in a couple of days, unable to put it down), it also pushed me out. It made me look at the world differently than before.

Herbert’s exploration of religion and ecology in an interstellar future is both compelling and foreboding. Ack! It even makes me slip in to academic-ease. Sorry! I can’t help it!

It was so freaking good. And not because of the sandworms and space. I could give a crap less about sandworms. Herbert had me with the way he built up the life of a messiah and the prophecies surrounding his coming of age. I was head over heels with how he was always a step ahead of the reader, laying out plots that intricately linked back to earlier reveals. Clever stuff.

All of that story-building is amplified by the basic question: what would life on a desert planet be like? How would it change the way you lived?

It makes me take a second and look around. How does where I live impact the way I live? I have some thoughts on this. But first, what do you think? How has place impacted your life? Shoot out a comment below.