FRANK HERBERT, who created Dune, was born in 1920 and spent most of his early life in the Pacific Northwest of America. He was a professional photographer, journalist and occasional oyster-diver; he also had stints as a radio news commentator and jungle survival instructor. BRIAN HERBERT, his son, is a widely-published science fiction author in his own right. This is his first novel to call on his father's work: previously, he has created his own worlds, sometimes in collaboration. He has also written Dreamer of Dune, a comprehensive biography of his illustrious father. KEVIN J. ANDERSON is best known for his world-wide best-selling novels based on the universes of Star Wars and the X Files: he has been a Sunday Times number one bestseller. He is also the author of several more critically-acclaimed original novels. An expert on the US space programme, he worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for ten years.