Frank Herbert (1920-86) was born in Tacoma, Washington and worked as a reporter and later editor of a number of West Coast newspapers before becoming a full-time writer. His first sf story was published in 1952 but he achieved fame more than ten years later with the publication in Analog of DUNE WORLD and THE PROPHET OF DUNE, amalgamated in the novel DUNE in 1965.
I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings -- Arthur C. Clarke It is possible that Dune is even more relevant now than when it was first published * NEW YORKER * An astonishing science fiction phenomenon * WASHINGTON POST * One of the monuments of modern science fiction * CHICAGO TRIBUNE * Powerful, convincing, and most ingenious -- Robert A. Heinlein A novel of extraordinary complexity ... the work of a speculative intellect with few rivals in modern sf * THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION * A tight mesmerising fabric, interwoven with a potent element of mysticism ... intensely realised -- Brian W Aldiss Huge and important . . . it feels grand, it's blood-stirring * Neil Gaiman *