Editing Frank Herbert (section)

==Status and influence on science fiction==
[[File:Dune.peninsula.tacoma.wa.jpg|thumb|upright|The Dune Peninsula at [[Point Defiance Park]] in [[Tacoma, Washington]], with the volcano [[Mount Rainier]] in the distance]]

''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' and the [[Dune (franchise)|''Dune'' saga]] constitute one of the world's best-selling science fiction series and novels; ''Dune'' in particular has received widespread critical acclaim, winning the [[Nebula Award]] in 1965 and sharing the Hugo Award in 1966, and is frequently considered one of the best science fiction novels ever, if not the best.{{sfn|Touponce|1988|p=2|ps= "His dominant intellectual impulse was not to mystify or set himself up as a prophet, but the opposite – to turn what powers of analysis he had (and they were considerable) over to his audience. And this impulse is as manifest in ''Dune'', which many people consider the all-time best science fiction novel, as it is in his computer book, ''Without Me You're Nothing''."}} ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'' subscribers voted it the all-time best SF novel in 1975, again in 1987, and the best "before 1990" in 1998.<ref name="isfdb-dune" />

''Dune'' is considered a landmark novel for a number of reasons:

* ''Dune'' is a landmark of [[soft science fiction]]. Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in his ''Dune'' universe so that he could address the future of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology. ''Dune'' considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time.<ref>Building Sci-fi Moviescapes: The Science Behind the Fiction by Matt Hanson.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Frank Herbert Biography Author Page|url=http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/authors/frank-herbert.html|work=bestsciencefictionbooks.com}}</ref>
* Frank Herbert was a great popularizer of scientific ideas. In ''Dune'', he helped popularize the term ''ecology''. Gerald Jonas explains in ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'': "So completely did Mr. Herbert work out the interactions of man and beast and geography and climate that ''Dune'' became the standard for an emerging subgenre of 'ecological' science fiction."
* ''Dune'' is considered an example of literary world-building. ''[[Library Journal|The Library Journal]]'' reports that "''Dune'' is to science fiction what ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is to fantasy". [[Arthur C. Clarke]] is quoted as making a similar statement on the back cover of a paper edition of ''Dune''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Herbert|first1=Frank|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0425080021|title=Dune|date=January 1977|publisher=Berkley Publishing Corp|isbn=0425-04376-2|edition=Berkley Medallion|location=US|page=Back Cover|ref=berk|url-access=registration}}</ref> Frank Herbert imagined every facet of his creation. He included glossaries, quotes, documents, and histories, to bring his universe alive to his readers. No science fiction novel before it had so vividly realized life on another world.<ref name="gm" />

Herbert never again equalled the critical acclaim he received for ''Dune''. Neither his sequels to ''Dune'' nor any of his other books won a Hugo or Nebula Award, although almost all of them were [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Sellers]].<ref name="KJA">Speaking at the 2006 induction of Herbert in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Kevin J. Anderson stated that ''Children of Dune'' (1976) "was the first SF novel ever to hit the New York Times bestseller list." [http://www.frankherbert.org/dune7blog/page81.html Dune 7 Blog: Wednesday, June 21, 2006: The Science Fiction Hall of Fame] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721074407/http://www.frankherbert.org/dune7blog/page81.html|date=July 21, 2011}}. By KJA. ''Dune: The Official Website''. Retrieved July 17, 2011. KJA spoke and presented the award to son Brian Herbert.</ref>

[[Malcolm Edwards]] wrote, in ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'':<ref>Malcolm Edwards, "Herbert, Frank" in ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', edited by [[John Clute]] and [[Peter Nicholls (writer)|Peter Nicholls]]. London, Orbit, 1994. {{ISBN|1-85723-124-4}} (p. 558–560).</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Much of Herbert's work makes difficult reading. His ideas were genuinely developed concepts, not merely decorative notions, but they were sometimes embodied in excessively complicated plots and articulated in prose which did not always match the level of thinking [...] His best novels, however, were the work of a speculative intellect with few rivals in modern science fiction.}}

The [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame|Science Fiction Hall of Fame]] inducted Herbert in 2006.<ref name="KJA" /><ref name="sfhof2006" /><ref name="sfhof2006-b" />

[[California State University, Fullerton]]'s Pollack Library has several of Herbert's draft manuscripts of ''Dune'' and other works, with the author's notes, in their Frank Herbert Archives.<ref>{{cite web|date=February 27, 2014|title=Remembering Science Fiction Author Frank Herbert: Highlighting His Archives In the Pollak Library|url=http://libraryblogs.fullerton.edu/2014/02/27/remembering-science-fiction-author-frank-herbert-highlighting-his-archives-in-the-pollak-library/|access-date=October 28, 2014|publisher=[[California State University, Fullerton]]}}</ref>

[[Metro Parks Tacoma]] built Dune Peninsula and the Frank Herbert Trail at [[Point Defiance Park]] in July 2019 to honor the hometown writer.<ref>{{cite web|last=Krell|first=Alexis|date=July 6, 2019|title=The Dune Peninsula and Frank Herbert Trail — 'Tacoma's newest treasure' — are open|url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article232329717.html|access-date=July 7, 2019|work=The Tacoma News-Tribune}}</ref>