Dune

Only once in a blue moon does a work of imaginative fiction like 'Dune' come along - and since its first publication more than thirty years ago, Frank Herbert's brilliant novel has become a classic consistently voted the number one science fiction book of the century by readers all over the world.

In the far future, two great dynastic families are locked in a bitter feud. The Duke of Atreides has been manoeuvred by his great enemy, Baron Harkonnen, into accepting the job of administering the planet known as Dune. A vast desert, almost uninhabitable, a drop of water is worth a fortune - but Dune is also a planet of fabulous wealth, for it is home to a drug prized throughout the Galactic Empire.

The Duke, together with his wife and son Paul, know that they can expect treachery as they set out to take up their new appointment, but it comes from a source both shocking and unexpected.

And when Paul succeeds his father, this gifted youth becomes a catalyst for the natives of Dune; a people who exist in the sand and the heat of the deserts. Unbeknownst to the past rulers of the planet, their knowledge of the ecology of this inhospitable desert gives them immense power. All they need is a revolutionary leader to harness this force: and Paul Atreides could be that man.

This special edition is illustrated in full colour by Hugo Award-winning artist John Schoenherr, who provided the original covers and interiors for Herbert's 'Dune' stories when they were serialised in "Analog" in the early 1960s.