Search Worlds Without End

Earth has become a library planet for thousands of years, a bastion of both useful and useless knowledge--esoterica of all types, history, science, politics--gathered by teams of "pack rats" who scour the galaxy for any scrap of information. Knowledge is power, knowledge is wealth, and knowledge can be a weapon. As powerful dictators come and go over the course of history, the cadre of dedicated librarians is sworn to obey the lawful government... and use their wits to protect the treasure trove of knowledge they have collected over the millennia.

Eye features the startlingly original collaboration "The Road to Dune," a walking tour of Arakeen narrated by Frank Herbert and illustrated by acclaimed British artist Jim Burns. Also included is an introduction by Herbert describing his personal feelings about the filming of David Lynch's movie version of Dune; Herbert's own favorite short story, "Seed Stock"; and tales from throughout his career, some never before collected.

Table of Contents:

• Rat Race
• Dragon in the Sea
• Cease Fire
• A Matter of Traces
• Try to Remember
• The Tactful Saboteur
• The Road to Dune
• By the Book
• Seed Stock
• Murder Will In
• Passage for Piano
• Death of a City
• Frogs and Scientists

One of the most bizarre and original fictional concepts ever attempted, this book is a remarkable tour de force for a quintet of today's top writers of speculative fiction. From a common story- hook--Bailey's death at the Euthanasia Center--each author was commissioned to extrapolate his own individual vision of Bailey's fate. No two even remotely resemble one another, and with consummate individuality each of the stories validates beyond doubt the incredible fertility of both the science fiction genre and its singular practitioners.

Table of Contents:

• The Fatal Fulfillment - (1970) - novella by Poul Anderson
• Murder Will In - (1970) - novelette by Frank Herbert
• Maverick - (1970) - novella by Gordon R. Dickson
• The Region Between - (1970) - novella by Harlan Ellison
• Of Death What Dreams - (1970) - novelette by Keith Laumer

First published in 1973, Frank Herbert's vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology have never been more evident than in this classic of science fiction. America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the world: insects. When the Agency discovered that Dr Hellstroms Project 40 was a cover for a secret laboratory, a special team of agents was immediately dispatched to discover its true purpose and its weaknesses - it could not be allowed to continue. What they discovered was a nightmare more horrific and hideous than even their paranoid government minds could devise.

This is FRANK HERBERT's never-before published dystopian novel, written between his classics The Dragon in the Sea and Dune.

EMASI! Each Man A Separate Individual! That is the rallying cry of the Seps engaged in a class war against the upper tiers of a society driven entirely by opinion polls. Those who score high, the High-Opps, are given plush apartments, comfortable jobs, every possible convenience. But those who happen to be low-opped, live crowded in Warrens, facing harsh lives and brutal conditions. Daniel Movius, Ex-Senior Liaitor, rides high in the opinion polls until he loses everything, brushed aside by a very powerful man. Low-opped and abandoned, Movius finds himself fighting for survival in the city's underworld. There, the opinion of the masses is clear: It is time for a revolution against the corrupt super-privileged. And every revolution needs a leader.

Frank Herbert's last published novel, a charming and witty science fiction adventure coauthored with his son Brian. What if the entire universe were the creation of alien minds? After an unfortunate spaceship accident, the hedonistic and ambitious human Lutt Hansen, Jr., finds himself sharing his body and mind with a naive alien dreamer. The two have to survive numerous dangers, schemes and assassination attempts... but can they survive each other?

Katsuk, a militant Native American student, kidnaps 13-year-old David Marshall—the son of the US Undersecretary of State. The two flee into the deepest wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where they must survive together as teams of hunters try to track them. David begins to feel a growing bond of respect for his captor, even as he struggles to escape. What the boy does not know, however, is that he has been chosen as an innocent from the white world for an ancient sacrifice of vengeance. And Katsuk may be divinely inspired . . . or simply insane.

Contents:

• 1 - Seed Stock - (1970) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 17 - The Nothing - (1956) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 30 - Rat Race - (1955) - novelette by Frank Herbert
• 61 - Gambling Device - (1973) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 70 - Looking for Something? - (1952) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 84 - The Gone Dogs - (1954) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 108 - Passage for Piano - (1973) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 135 - Encounter in a Lonely Place - (1973) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 144 - Operation Syndrome - (1954) - novelette by Frank Herbert
• 200 - Occupation Force - (1955) - shortstory by Frank Herbert
• 205 - Listening to the Left Hand - (1973) - essay by Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert, the New York Times bestselling author of Dune, is one of the most celebrated and commercially successful science fiction writers of all time. But while best known for originating the character of Paul Atreides and the desert world of Arrakis, Herbert was also a prolific writer of short fiction. His stories were published individually in numerous pulps and anthologies spanning decades, but never collected. Until now.

Frank Herbert: Collected Stories is the most complete collection of Herbert's short fiction ever assembled--thirty-seven stories originally published between 1952 and 1979, plus one story, "The Daddy Box," that has never appeared before.

Table of Content

• Introduction - (1975) - essay
• Looking for Something? - (1952) - shortstory
• Operation Syndrome - (1954) - novelette
• The Gone Dogs - (1954) - shortstory
• Pack Rat Planet - (1954) - shortstory
• Rat Race - (1955) - novelette
• Occupation Force - (1955) - shortstory
• The Nothing - (1956) - shortstory
• Cease Fire - (1958) - shortstory
• A Matter of Traces - (1958) - shortstory
• Old Rambling House - (1958) - shortstory
• You Take the High Road - (1958) - shortstory
• Missing Link - (1959) - shortstory
• Operation Haystack - (1959) - novelette
• The Priests of Psi - (1960) - novella
• Egg and Ashes - (1960) - shortstory
• A-W-F Unlimited - (1961) - novelette
• Mating Call - (1961) - shortstory
• Try to Remember - (1961) - novelette
• Mindfield - (1962) - novelette
• The Tactful Saboteur - (1964) - novelette
• Mary Celeste Move (1964) - shortstory
• Greenslaves - (1965) - novelette
• Committee of the Whole - (1965) - shortstory
• The GM Effect - (1965) - shortstory
• The Primitives - (1966) - novelette
• Escape Felicity - (1966) - shortstory
• By the Book - (1966) - novelette
• The Featherbedders - (1967) - novelette
• The Being Machine - (1969) - novelette
• Seed Stock - (1970) - shortstory
• Murder Will In - (1970) - novelette
• Passage for Piano - (1973) - shortstory
• Gambling Device - (1973) - shortstory
• Encounter in a Lonely Place - (1973) - shortstory
• Death of a City - (1973) - shortstory
• Come to the Party - (1978) - novelette with F. M. Busby
• Songs of a Sentient Flute - (1979) - novelette
• Frogs and Scientists - (1979) - shortstory
• Feathered Pigs - (1979) - shortstory
• The Daddy Box - shortstory

A New World in Embryo

Public Law 10927 was clear and direct. Parents were permitted to watch the genetic alterations of their gametes by skilled surgeons... only no one ever requested it.

When Lizbeth and Harvey Durant decided to invoke the Law; when Dr. Potter did not rearrange the most unusual genetic structure of their future son, barely an embryo growing in the State's special vat-the consequences of these decisions threatened to be catastrophic.

For never before had anyone dared defy the Rulers' decrees... and if They found out, it was well known that the price of disobedience was the extermination of the human race...

On the edge of a war-weary and devastated galaxy, charismatic Lewis Orne has landed on Hamal. His assignment: to detect any signs of latent aggression in this planet's population. To his astonishment, he finds that his own latent extrasensory powers have suddenly blossomed, and he is invited to join the company of "gods" on this planet--and the people here place certain expectations on their gods. The Godmakers is an expansion of four short stories written from 1958-1960. It is an exploration of the concepts of war and peace, government and relgion.

Immortal aliens have observed Earth for centuries, making full sensory movies of wars, natural disasters, and horrific human activities . . . all to relieve their boredom. When they finally became jaded by ordinary, run-of-the-mill tragedies, they found ways to create their own disasters, just to amuse themselves. However, interfering with human activities was forbidden, and by the time Investigator Kelexel arrived to investigate, things were really getting out of hand. . . .

Santaroga seemed to be nothing more than a prosperous farm community. But there was something . . . different . . . about Santaroga. Santaroga had no juvenile delinquency, or any crime at all. Outsiders found no house for sale or rent in this valley, and no one ever moved out. No one bought cigarettes in Santaroga. No cheese, wine, beer or produce from outside the valley could be sold there. The list went on and on and grew stranger and stranger. Maybe Santaroga was the last outpost of American individualism. Maybe they were just a bunch of religious kooks. . . . Or maybe there was something extraordinary at work in Santaroga. Something far more disturbing than anyone could imagine.

What if women were an endangered species?

It begins in Ireland, but soon spreads throughout the entire world: a virulent new disease expressly designed to target only women. As fully half of the human race dies off at a frightening pace and life on Earth faces extinction, panicked people and governments struggle to cope with the global crisis. Infected areas are quarantined or burned to the ground. The few surviving women are locked away in hidden reserves, while frantic doctors and scientists race to find a cure. Anarchy and violence consume the planet.

The plague is the work of a solitary individual who calls himself the Madman. As government security forces feverishly hunt for the renegade scientist, he wanders incognito through a world that will never be the same. Society, religion, and morality are all irrevocably transformed by the White Plague.

Four men were on board the atomic subtug Fenian Ram S1881. They were on a mission to steal vitally needed oil from underwater deposits in enemy territory - a mission from which none of the last tugs had returned..

Four men who knew everything they had to know about one another - except which one of them was the saboteur who could destroy them all.

Contents:

• iii - The Unpublished Short Stories of Frank Herbert - essay by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert
• 3 - The Cage - non-genre - short story
• 13 - The Illegitimate Stage - non-genre - novelette
• 51 - A Lesson in History - non-genre - short story
• 65 - Wilfred - non-genre - novelette
• 91 - The Iron Maiden - non-genre - short story
• 111 - The Wrong Cat - non-genre - novelette
• 135 - The Yellow Coat - non-genre - (2015) - short story
• 149 - The Heat's On - non-genre - novelette
• 187 - The Little Window - non-genre - novelette
• 225 - The Waters of Kan-E - non-genre - short story
• 237 - Paul's Friend - non-genre - short story
• 251 - Public Hearing - short story (variant of Committee of the Whole 1965)
• 269 - The Daddy Box - (2014) - short story

In an overpopulated world seeking living room in the jungles, the International Ecological Organization was systematically exterminating the voracious insects which made these areas uninhabitable. Using deadly foamal bombs and newly developed vibration weapons, men like Joao Martinho and his co-workers fought to clear the green hell of the Mato Grosso.

But somehow those areas which had been completely cleared were becoming reinfested, despite the impenetrable vibration barriers. And tales came out of the jungles... of insects mutated to incredible sizes... of creatures who seemed to be men, but whose eyes gleamed with the chitinous sheen of insects....

A fascinating examination of the fragile balance between consciousness, man and insect from one of the best-loved science fiction creators of all time

Contains:

• The Tactful Saboteur
• Committee of the Whole
• Old Rambling House
• Mating Call
• A-W-F, Unlimited
• The Featherbedders
• The GM Effect
• Escape Felicity

Note: This Dune entry is for the serialized version from Analog magazine (Dec 1963, Jan, Feb 1964) which was printed in two parts as Dune World and The Prophet of Dune. The serial was later expanded and bound into a book which went on to win the Nebula (1965) and the Hugo (1966).

The novel that to this day continues to shape modern science fiction. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, a world more awesome than any other in literature, Dune begins the story of the man known as Maud'dib -- and of a great family's plan to bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure, mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known-and feared-as the man christened Muad'Dib. As Emperor of the Known Universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremens, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne-and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence.

And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him from the machinations of his enemies, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover, Chani, and the unborn heir to his family's dynasty.

The sand-blasted world of Arrakis has become green, watered and fertile. Old Paul Atreides, who led the desert Fremen to political and religious domination of the galaxy, is gone. But for the children of Dune, the very blossoming of their land contains the seeds of its own destruction. The altered climate is destroying the giant sandworms, and this in turn is disastrous for the planet's economy. Leto and Ghanima, Paul Atreides's twin children and his heirs, can see possible solutions - but fanatics begin to challenge the rule of the all-powerful Atreides empire, and more than economic disaster threatens ...

Millennia have passed on Arrakis, and the oncedesert planet is green with life. Leto Atreides, the son of the world's savior, the Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, is still alive but far from human. To preserve humanity's future, he sacrificed his own by merging with a sandworm, granting him nearimmortality as God Emperor of Dune for the past 3,500 years.

Leto's rule is not a benevolent one. His transformation has not only made his appearance inhuman, but his morality. A rebellion has risen to oppose the despot's rule, led by Siona, a member of the Atreides family. But Siona is unaware that Leto's vision of a Golden Path for humanity requires her to fulfill a destiny she never wanted... or could possibly conceive....

Leto Atreides, the God Emperor of Dune, is dead. In the fifteen hundred years since his passing, the Empire has fallen into ruin. The great Scattering saw millions abandon the crumbling civilization and spread out beyond the reaches of known space. The planet Arrakis-now called Rakis-has reverted to its desert climate, and its great sandworms are dying.

Now, the Lost Ones are returning home in pursuit of power. And as factions vie for control over the remnants of the Empire, a girl named Sheeana rises to prominence in the wastelands of Rakis, sending religious fervor throughout the galaxy. For she possesses the abilities of the Fremen sandriders-fulfilling a prophecy foretold by the late God Emperor...

The desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. The remnants of the Old Empire have been consumed by the violent matriarchal cult known as the Honored Matres. Only one faction remains a viable threat to their total conquest-the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's power.

Under the leadership of Mother Superior Darwi Odrade, the Bene Gesserit have colonized a green world on the planet Chapterhouse, and are turning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile. And once they've mastered breeding sandworms, the Sisterhood will control the production of the greatest commodity in the known galaxy-the spice Melange. But their true weapon remains a man who has lived countless lifetimes-a man who served under the God Emperor Paul Muad'Dib.

Frank Herbert's Dune is widely known as the science fiction equivalent of The Lord of the Rings. The Road to Dune is a companion work comparable to The Silmarillion, shedding light on and following the remarkable development of the bestselling science fiction novel of all time.

Herein, the worlds millions of Dune fans can now read at long last unpublished chapters and scenes from Dune and Dune Messiah. The Road to Dune also includes correspondence between Frank Herbert and famed editor, John W. Campbell, Jr.; excerpts from Herbert's correspondence during his years-long struggle to get his innovative work published; and the article, They Stopped the Moving Sands, Herbert's original inspiration for Dune.

The Road to Dune features Spice Planet, an original sixty-two thousand-word novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, based on a detailed outline left by Frank Herbert. The Road to Dune is a treasure trove of essays, articles, and fiction that every reader of Dune will want to add to their shelf.

There will undoubtedly be a time when tomorrow's bureaucrats will wish to question such dangerous survivals...

This story originally appeared in the November 1958 issue of Fantastic Universe,

It is also contained in the Frank Herbert collections "The Collected Stories of Frank Herbert" and "Eye".

The first prerequisite of a good government is that it works. The second - it mustn't work too well!

This novellette first appeared in the October 1964 issue of Galaxy Magazine.

It is also contained in the Frank Herbert collections "The Collected Stories of Frank Herbert" and "Eye".

In the far future, humankind has made contact with numerous other species: Gowachin, Laclac, Wreaves, Pan Spechi, Taprisiots, and Caleban, and has helped to form the ConSentiency to govern among the species. After suffering under a tyrannous pure democracy, the sentients of the galaxy find the need for a Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab) to slow the wheels of government, thereby preventing it from legislating recklessly. BuSab is allowed to sabotage and harass the governmental, administrative, and economic powers in the ConSentiency. Private citizens must not be harassed, and vital functions of society are also exempt.

Jorj X. McKie is a born troublemaker who has become one of BuSab's best agents. Drafted for the impossible task of establishing meaningful communication with an utterly alien entity who defies understanding, McKie finds himself racing against time to prevent a mad billionairess from wiping out all life in the ConSentiency.

Generations of a tormented human-alien people, caged on a toxic planet, conditioned by constant hunger and war-this is the Dosadi Experiment, and it has succeeded too well. For the Dosadi have bred for Vengeance as well as cunning, and they have learned how to pass through the shimmering God Wall to exact their dreadful revenge on the Universe that created them.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1981) - essay by Frank Herbert
• Camps - (1979) - novelette by Jack Dann
• Sandkings - (1979) - novelette by George R. R. Martin
• The Straining Your Eyes Through the Viewscreen Blues - (1981) - essay by Vonda N. McIntyre
• Enemy Mine - (1979) - novella by Barry B. Longyear
• giANTS - (1979) - shortstory by Edward Bryant
• We Have Met the Mainstream... - (1981) - essay by Ben Bova
• The Extraordinary Voyages of Amélie Bertrand - (1979) - shortstory by Joanna Russ
• Unaccompanied Sonata - (1979) - shortstory by Orson Scott Card
• Appendix A: Nebula Awards 1979 - (1981) - essay by uncredited
• Appendix B: Fifteen Years of Nebula Winners - (1981) - essay by uncredited

Contents:

• The Jesus Incident - (1979) - novel by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom
• The Lazarus Effect - (1983) - novel by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom
• The Ascension Factor - (1988) - novel by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom

The starship Earthling, filled with thousands of hybernating colonists en route to a new world at Tau Ceti, is stranded beyond the solar system when the ship's three Organic Mental Cores--disembodied human brains that control the vessel's functions--go insane. An emergency skeleton crew sees only one chance for survival: to create an artificial consciousness in the Earthling's primary computer, which could guide them to their destination... or could destroy the human race.

A sentient Ship with godlike powers (and aspirations) delivers the last survivors of humanity to a horrific, poisonous planet, Pandora--rife with deadly Nerve-Runners, Hooded Dashers, airborne jellyfish, and intelligent kelp. Chaplain/Psychiatrist Raja Lon Flattery is brought back out of hybernation to witness Ship's machinations as well as the schemes of human scientists manipulating the genetic structure of humanity. Sequel to Frank Herbert's Destination: Void, the first book in Herbert & Ransom's Pandora Sequence.

The Lazarus Effect (1983) is the third science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom. It takes place some time after the events in The Jesus Incident.

The Ascension Factor (1988) is the fourth and final science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom. It takes place about twenty five years after The Lazarus Effect. It completes the story of the humans descended from those left by the Voidship Earthling on the planet Pandora approximately 480 years earlier.