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Like the Dune books, all eight of them.
The statement above is enough to provoke anger and fierce discussion among Dune fans. A big part of them dislike two of the eight books for the sole reason they were written by the son of the author of the first six books.
In case you try to question that preference, you will get empty answers and lots of emotions.
In my head, as a father of two children, I can only think about the average dinner at the Herberts’ when they discussed, possibly for years and years, the various plots not only in the Dune books under development, but also in future books.
Brian, Frank Herbert’s son, knows a lot by the simple fact he has lived with his father and mother (a great contributor to the chronicles as we all know as well) and could exercise possible plots unfolding on his own. He could be sketching a lot in order to, someday, produce pieces of literature parallel or complementary to his father’s.
With that said, if I were Frank, I would be proud of my son. I would create an expectation on him that he would be better than me, surprise me with his work. I would never try to diminish him or make his work be less than mine.
I would want his work to be built on top of mine. His work would have to be at least at my level. That would satisfy me as a father.
To me, it would be unfair to make things harder for my children. The world itself is harder today than it was when I started my adult professional life. There is more competition. There is more exposure and things at stake.
So if there is one solid contribution I can give to my offspring and possibly to the next, it is to pass along my experience and guide their effort in a way they can leverage their lives from mine, and not start from scratch each time.
They can be whatever they decide to be, as long as they are better than me.