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[–] MartinTimothy 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

I encountered Frank Herbert's Dune sometime in the 1970's, SciFi had been in the doldrums since the demise of the 1960's SF Pulpies, the loud cover and numerous favorable reviews attracted my attention and I bought a copy from the local news stand.

From memory the story was set on a desert planet that resembled Mars, water was a commodity and when counsels were called canny operators filled their portable water flasks at community expense.

The inhabitants were made up of adventurers and entrepreneurs who had journeyed there in pursuit of "spice" used by navigators aboard interstellar spaceships, which was produced by rail car sized "worms" that glided across the surface of the planet.

The other group who got there before the "Spice Boom" had constructed wind vanes which collected and condensed water from the atmosphere and stored it in vast underground cisterns.

I got about half way thru Dune it started reasonably well however once the clear concept of giant sandworms, spice and wind vanes had been established the tome degenerated into something like word processed political Americana.

Herbert's Dune trilogy turned up at around the same time as Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith's Lensman Series, both sets received full publishing fanfare and had numerous reviews and garish covers .. Herbert and Smith were second class writers at best their material often being criticized as "Space Opera."

I skimmed thru a bit more of Dune before putting it down, it turned out water was a strict no-no as far as the worms were concerned .. if others saw Jewishism in it I am not surprised though it went over my head. Edit.