Brian Herbert - House Corrino

Praise for theDunenovels
of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

DUNE: HOUSE HARKONNEN

Succeeds admirably.

New York Times Book Review

The second Dune series is proving to be more accessible and just as entertaining as the original.

Oregonian

Extraordinarily well-developed and continually fascinating.

Kirkus Reviews

Each action lays another stone in the remarkable construct of the world of Dune.

Booklist

A solid novel: rich, complex, and vivid. If youve read the original Dune novels, I think youll like this new series.

Explorations

Entertaining page-turning Dune fans will enjoy visiting familiar places and encountering familiar characters.

Contra Costa Times

DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES

Rich interweaving of politics and plotting made the Dune novels special. And Dune: House Atreides does its predecessors justice.

USA Today

A spirited and entertaining adventure The real pleasure here comes from watching the authors lay out the plot threads that will converge in Dune.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The authors have woven a web of plots and ideas every bit as complex and compelling as the original Dune novels.

St. Petersburg Times

A rousing story.

New York Post

The attendant excitement and myriad revelations not only make this novel a terrific read in its own right but will inspire readers to turn, or return, to its great predecessor.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Also by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Dune: House Atreides
Dune: House Harkonnen

This edition contains the complete text
of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED .

DUNE: HOUSE CORRINO

A Bantam Book

PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam hardcover edition published October 2001
Bantam export edition published February 2002
Bantam mass market edition / September 2002

All rights reserved.
Copyright 2001 by Herbert Limited Partnership.
Map designs by David Cain.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001025777.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.

eISBN: 978-0-553-89695-4

Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words Bantam Books and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, New York, New York.

v3.1

To our wives,
JANET HERBERT
and
REBECCA MOESTA ANDERSON
for their support, excitement, patience,
and love during every step of this long
and complicated project

Penny Merritt assists in managing the literary legacy of her father, Frank Herbert.

Our editors, Mike Shohl, Carolyn Caughey, Pat Lo-Brutto, and Anne Lesley Groell, offered detailed and invaluable suggestions through many drafts to fine-tune this story into its final version.

As always, Catherine Sidor at WordFire, Inc., worked tirelessly to transcribe dozens of microcassettes and type many hundreds of pages to keep up with our manic work pace. Her assistance in all steps of this project has helped to keep us sane, and she even fooled other people into thinking were organized.

Diane E. Jones served as test reader and guinea pig, giving us her honest reactions and suggesting additional scenes that helped make this a stronger book.

Robert Gottlieb and Matt Bialer of the Trident Media Group and Mary Alice Kier and Anna Cottle of Cine/Lit Representation never wavered in their faith and dedication, seeing the potential of the entire project.

The Herbert Limited Partnership, including Ron Merritt, David Merritt, Byron Merritt, Julie Herbert, Robert Merritt, Kimberly Herbert, Margaux Herbert, and Theresa Shackelford, gave us their enthusiastic support, entrusting us with the care of Frank Herberts magnificent vision.

Beverly Herbert gave almost four decades of support and devotion to her husband, Frank Herbert.

And, most of all, thanks to Frank Herbert, whose genius created such a wondrous universe for us to explore.

The axis of spin for the planet Arrakis is at right angles to the radius of its orbit. The world itself is not a globe, but more a spinning top somewhat fat at the equator and concave toward the poles. There is a sense that this may be artificial, the product of some ancient artifice.

Report of the Third Imperial Commission on Arrakis

U nder the light of two moons in a dusty sky, the Fremen raiders flitted across the desert rocks. They blended into the rugged surroundings as if cut from the same cloth, harsh men in a harsh environment.

Death to Harkonnens. All members of the armed razzia squad had sworn the same vow.

In the quiet hours before dawn, Stilgar, their tall and black-bearded leader, stalked catlike ahead of a score of his best fighters. We must move as shadows in the night. Shadows with hidden knives.

Lifting a hand, he commanded the silent squad to halt. Stilgar listened to the pulse of the desert, his ears probing the darkness. His blue-within-blue eyes scanned towering rock escarpments profiled against the sky like giant sentinels. As the pair of moons moved across the heavens, patches of darkness shifted moment by moment, living extensions of the mountain face.

The men picked their way up a rock buttress, using dark-adapted eyes to follow a steep, tool-hewn trail. The terrain seemed hauntingly familiar, though Stilgar had never been here before. His father had described the way, the route their ancestors had taken into Hadith Sietch, once the greatest of all hidden settlements, abandoned long ago.

Haditha word taken from an old Fremen song about the patterns of survival in the desert. Like many living Fremen, he carried the story etched into his psyche a tale of betrayal and civil conflict during the first generations of the wandering Zensunni here on Dune. Legend held that all meanings originated here, in this holy sietch.