The Dragon in the Sea (Paperback)

Frank Herbert began his science fiction career, like many sf writers of his generation, by publishing short stories in pulp magazines. Unlike many of his peers, though, he was not a prolific writer in the short form and in 1955, after three years and only a handful of short stories, he published his first novel, THE DRAGON UNDER THE SEA (aka UNDER PRESSURE), which was a critical success, receiving the International Fantasy Award. In the period from 1963 to 1965, Herbert produced two extended short novels in magazine installments, that, when combined as DUNE, brought him worldwide acclaim. Having long been concerned about about environmental issues, Herbert had set out to write a somewhat allegorical tale about the lack of concern regarding dwindling Earthly resources--he has written that he chose the name DUNE for its similarities with the word "doom." Eventually writing five sequels, the Dune books are among the most well-known and admired science fiction works in the world--with Arthur C. Clarke stating that the only comparison to them is THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Much of Herbert's other work, while not as well known, is nearly as impressive. In 1966 and 1973, he published two books--THE GREEN BRAIN and HELLSTROM'S HIVE--examining insect-hive mentality, the former among actual insects, the later in humans. HELLSTROM'S HIVE is generally regarded as his best book, after the first Dune book. The novel DESTINATION: VOID, an examination of computers and artificial intelligence was, along with three sequels co-written with Bill Ransom, arguably a major influence on the mid- to late-1980s science fiction movements like cyberpunk. When Herbert succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 1986, the science fiction community lost perhaps its most outspoken proponent of environmental reform, and certainly one of its most beloved authors.