35 Facts About Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, photographer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer.

Frank Herbert's upbringing included spending a lot of time on the rural Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.

Frank Herbert was fascinated by books, could read much of the newspaper before the age of five, had an excellent memory, and learned quickly.

Frank Herbert had an early interest in photography, buying a Kodak box camera at age ten, a new folding camera in his early teens, and a color film camera in the mid-1930s.

Frank Herbert enrolled in high school at Salem High School, where he graduated the next year.

Frank Herbert lied about his age to get his first newspaper job at the Glendale Star.

Frank Herbert then returned to Salem in 1940 where he worked for the Oregon Statesman newspaper in a variety of positions, including photographer.

Frank Herbert married Flora Lillian Parkinson in San Pedro, California, in 1941.

Frank Herbert subsequently moved to Portland, Oregon where he reported for The Oregon Journal.

Frank Herbert returned to journalism and worked at the Seattle Star and the Oregon Statesman.

Frank Herbert was a writer and editor for the San Francisco Examiner California Living magazine for a decade.

Frank Herbert was able to devote himself wholeheartedly to his writing career because his wife returned to work full-time as an advertising writer for department stores, becoming their breadwinner during the 1960s.

Frank Herbert later told Willis E McNelly that the novel originated when he was assigned to write a magazine article about sand dunes in the Oregon Dunes near Florence, Oregon.

Frank Herbert got overinvolved and ended up with far more raw material than needed for an article; while the article was never written, it planted in Herbert the seed that would become Dune.

Dune was not an immediate bestseller, although by 1968 Frank Herbert had made $20,000 from it, far more than most science fiction novels of the time.

Frank Herbert worked in Vietnam and Pakistan as a social and ecological consultant in 1972, and in 1973 he was director-photographer of the television show The Tillers.

Frank Herbert divided his time between homes in Hawaii and Washington's Olympic Peninsula; his home in Port Townsend on the peninsula was intended to be an "ecological demonstration project".

Frank Herbert continued his Dune saga with Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.

Frank Herbert planned to write a seventh novel to conclude the series, but his death in 1986 left storylines unresolved.

Frank Herbert helped launch the career of Terry Brooks with a very positive review of Brooks' first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977.

Frank Herbert lived ten more years, but her health was adversely affected by the treatment.

In October 1978, Frank Herbert was the featured speaker at the Octocon II science fiction convention held at the El Rancho Tropicana in Santa Rosa, California.

In June 1981, Frank Herbert was a guest of honour at Advention '81 in Adelaide, South Australia.

In 1985, after Beverly's death, Frank Herbert married his former Putnam representative Theresa Shackleford.

Frank Herbert died of a massive pulmonary embolism while recovering from surgery for pancreatic cancer on February 11,1986, in Madison, Wisconsin, aged 65.

Frank Herbert was politically active within the Republican Party, and worked as a speechwriter for several politicians, including Senator Guy Cordon.

Frank Herbert was a distant relative of the Republican senator Joseph McCarthy, whom he referred to as "Cousin Joe".

Frank Herbert was critical of welfare, arguing that it increased dependence on the state.

Frank Herbert believed that governments lie to protect themselves and that, following the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon had unwittingly taught an important lesson in not trusting government.

Frank Herbert believed civil service to be "one of the most serious errors we made as a democracy" and that bureaucracy negatively impacts the lives of people in all forms of government.

Frank Herbert stated that "every such bureaucracy eventually becomes an aristocracy" and uses preferential treatment and nepotism in favor of bureaucrats as his main arguments.

Frank Herbert used his science fiction novels to explore complex ideas involving philosophy, religion, psychology, politics and ecology.

Frank Herbert has attracted a dedicated fan base, many of whom have attempted to read everything he wrote ; indeed, such was the devotion of some of his readers that Frank Herbert was at times asked if he was founding a cult, a proposition which he very much rejected.

Frank Herbert refrained from offering his readers formulaic answers to many of the questions he explored.

Anderson said that Frank Herbert's notes included a description of the story and a great deal of character background information.