Dune: House Atriedes (Score 1)

I just finished Dune: House Atriedes, by Frank Herberts son and another collaborator. The original Dune books were excellent, and should be on anyones Sci Fi 101 list (IMHO). Dune: House Atriedes is a prequel to the series, and is worth reading (again IMHO). It is obviously set to be a series, and is less crytic than the Frank Herbert books. This is probablu both good and bad. For example, the prequel makes it very plain that this is taking place in Earth's distant future. My recollection of the original is that this was never made explicit. My other critique of the book is that it make the good guys too good, and the bad guys unremittingly bad. I prefer my heroes to be a bit more balanced. (Plus the most evil character of all was gay. I'm not opposed to having gay characters be evil, but if you are going to introduce a character that is so evil that they have blood splashed over the walls after they have sex, there should be someone who balances this out. Especially in a universe with over a million inhabited planets. Pardon my consciousness raising comments.)

Another classic of scifi is "A Canticle for Leibowitz". It has been a long time since I read it, and I wonder how it would hold up, now that the cold war is over. I wonder if youth is still being scarred by the potential for potential nuclear anihilation at any moment. I imagine that post-nuclear holocaust fiction is loosing its appeal.