8,500 Pages

So, Wednesday I finished Sandworms of Dune.

With the completion of the series, I read just about 8,500 pages.

There are probably other books that will come out that will be designed to fill in portions of the story, but the over-arcing tale is complete.

I have to admit that Brian and Kevin did a pretty good job of writing like Frank.  There are still bits of the story that I wish had gone better, but I am happy to have read the complete tale.

Running in the Sand - UPDATED

So, I had a friend who has been tracking my progress through the Dune saga ask me, how many pages are there in the whole thing.

So I took some time at lunch to go find articles on the books and short-stories online and totaled what I found.

It turns out that it is essentially 8,500 pages.  And that's so far as Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are still writing interim books.

What I have left are 5 1/2 books and three short-stories.  And at this point, I am almost at exactly 67% completion.
_________________________________________________________________________________

So I doudble-checked my numbers on my spreadsheet, and I found a typo.

I'm at over 70%.

Happy New Year

Last night was a very sedate evening. Jennifer and I watched three episodes of the original Twilight Zone, and two episodes of the original Star Trek. On TZ we saw Art Carney become Santa Claus, Agnes Moorhead repel tiny invaders, and Robert Redford as Death. On ST we saw one of my favorite episodes, "A Piece of the Action". Seeing Kirk and eventually Spock talk like '20s gangsters becomes hilarious, as is Kirk driving a manual transmission.

Then we played "Life" and "Perplexcity". Jennifer beat me good at "Life", and I ran the board in one turn on "Perplexcity" which is like "Trivial Pursuit". All the while listening to classic rock on satellite.

And then I tried to read Paul of Dune. I've stopped after four of the little chapters that Herbert and Anderson write. All I can think as I'm reading this is "Where's the tension?" I've read all of the Dune books so far, including the originals, and so I know what's going to happen. I just can't bring myself to care what happened one year after the fall of Emperor Shaddam IV, when I know in a few years Paul and Chani's son Leto will be born. And then Children of Dune and the rest will take off.

I enjoyed the two prequel trilogies, and the wrap up of the series, but I think it's time for Brian Herbert to let his father's legacy lie now. Move on and write your own stuff.

And so on this first day of 2009, I pledge to finish Serenity Found and Jumper, and then I'm going to re-read my Roger Zelazny.

I shall also endeavor to post every day.