Editing Frank Herbert (section)

===Early career===
In a 1973 interview, Herbert stated that he had been reading science fiction "about ten years" before he began writing in the genre, and he listed his favorite authors as [[H. G. Wells]], [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Poul Anderson]] and [[Jack Vance]].<ref name="vertex">{{cite magazine |last=Turner |first=Paul |date=October 1973 |title=''Vertex Magazine'' Interview |url=http://members.multimania.co.uk/Fenrir/ctdinterviews.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021031705/http://members.multimania.co.uk/Fenrir/ctdinterviews.htm |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |magazine=Vertex Magazine |volume=1 |issue=4 |access-date=October 21, 2012 |quote=Well, I did read some Heinlein. I shouldn't really tie it down to ten years because I had read H. G. Wells. I'd read Vance, Jack Vance, and I became acquainted with Jack Vance about that time&nbsp;... I read Poul Anderson.  |via="The Prelude to Dune Trilogy" at members.multimania.co.uk/Fenrir/ctdinterviews.htm}}</ref>

Herbert's first science fiction story, "Looking for Something", was published in the April 1952 issue of ''[[Startling Stories]]'', then a monthly edited by Samuel Mines. Three more of his stories appeared in 1954 issues of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' and ''[[Amazing Stories]]''.<ref name="isfdb" /> His career as a novelist began in 1955 with the serial publication of ''Under Pressure'' in ''Astounding'' from November 1955; afterward it was issued as a book by [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] titled ''[[The Dragon in the Sea]]''.<ref name="isfdb" /> The story explored sanity and madness in the environment of a 21st-century submarine and predicted worldwide conflicts over [[petroleum|oil]] consumption and production.<ref name="gm">Gina Macdonald, "Herbert, Frank (Patrick)", in ''[[Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers]]'' by Curtis C. Smith. St. James Press, 1986, {{ISBN|0-912289-27-9}} (pp.&nbsp;331–334).</ref> It was a critical success but not a major commercial one. During this time Herbert also worked as a [[speechwriter]] for [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] senator [[Guy Cordon]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Richards|first1=Linda L.|title=The Sons of Dune|url=http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/duneprofile.html|access-date=August 31, 2014|work=January Magazine}}</ref>