Dangerous Worlds: The Short Fiction of Brian Herbert

Brian Herbert

May 2016 · WordFire +ORM

About this ebook

The fantastic collection of bestselling author Brian Herbert’s short fiction, a volume packed with highly imaginative, intriguing stories and ideas. This is the first collection of Brian Herbert’s short fiction, a volume that is packed with highly imaginative, intriguing stories and ideas. In the previously unpublished “Death of the Internet,: Under Burning Skies,” the internet is wiped out—forever!—leaving hundreds of millions of people unable to function without a technology that they have become addicted to, and totally dependent upon. Another previously unpublished story, "Earth Games" describes an alien world where Earth people are kept prisoner and forced to perform competitions with hotrod automobiles. Those games strongly resemble rush-hour commute experiences in major U.S. cities, where drivers compete for lane space and make rude hand gestures to one another. A slight difference: the cars in this story have machine guns on the fenders, and cannons on the rooftops! Two of the stories in this collection—“Earth Games” and “The Stakeout”—were edited by Brian’s father Frank Herbert, the famed author of DUNE, in the early 1980s, and rewritten by Brian, with those expert comments in mind. A New York Times-bestselling author, Brian has written many works of fiction and non-fiction. Brian is best known as the coauthor of 14 new Dune-series novels, written with Kevin J. Anderson. In his solo books, Brian is known for addressing important social issues, such as the environment, politics, and religion. In his highly original novel OCEAN, the ocean and its sea creatures declare war on human civilization, in retaliation for pollution and other human-caused abuses that are fouling the waters of the planet. In DANGEROUS WORLDS, the characters find themselves in an ocean of deep, deep trouble, and must try to get out of seemingly impossible situations. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t!

About the author

BRIAN HERBERT is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. He has won a number of literary honors including the New York Times Notable Book Award, and has been nominated for the highest awards in science fiction. After more than five years in development, he published DREAMER OF DUNE, a moving biography of his father (Frank Herbert) that was a Hugo Award finalist. His acclaimed novels include the TIMEWEB trilogy (TIMEWEB, THE WEB AND THE STARS, and WEBDANCERS); THE STOLEN GOSPELS; THE LOST APOSTLES; THE RACE FOR GOD; SIDNEY'S COMET; SUDANNA, SUDANNA; and MAN OF TWO WORLDS (written with Frank Herbert). He also wrote the HELLHOLE Trilogy (HELLHOLE, HELLHOLE AWAKENING, and HELLHOLE INFERNO) and many international-bestselling DUNE-series novels with Kevin J. Anderson. Recently, Brian published OCEAN, an epic fantasy novel about environmental issues (based upon a concept by his wife, Jan). The premise of OCEAN is highly original and revolutionary-the ocean and its dangerous sea creatures declare war against our civilization, in retaliation for human-caused pollution and other abuses to those waters. Like many of Brian's novels, it exposes an important social issue in a thought-provoking way. Brian's highly original SF novel, THE LITTLE GREEN BOOK OF CHAIRMAN RAHMA, came out in 2014- the imaginative story of a green utopia that is not a utopia for those living in it-the ecologically oriented government enforces its edicts with deadly police state methods. Publishers Weekly referred to this work as "a fresh and forbidding near-future world." That was just one of many excellent reviews that Brian's works have received, going all the way back to his first SF novel, SIDNEY'S COMET, which Publishers Weekly described as "unusually inventive and original." He is currently working on a new SF novel, THE ASSASSINATION OF BILLY JEELING, as well as a collection of his short stories, DANGEROUS WORLDS. He and Kevin are also polishing up their 14th DUNE series novel, NAVIGATORS OF DUNE. Many of Brian's novels are highly original, and involve not only environmental issues, but issues involving politics, religion, and the history of human civilization. His new short story collection, DANGEROUS WORLDS, includes many of his original ideas, including the startling premise for the collaborative story he wrote with Bruce Taylor, "Death of the Internet."