When I was young and delving into science fiction, I discovered this dense, rather difficult novel called Dune. It was hard to get into as a 6th grader, because it used lots of made-up works, but I really enjoyed it.

I was surprised to find on the author flap that the author was from Tacoma. I didn’t know anyone famous had come from Tacoma.

It was always in the back of my head that Tacoma had this famous and groundbreaking author from here. Last year I investigated that a little bit more in the research room at the downtown library. I also picked up Dreamer of Dune, Brian Herbert’s biography of his father.

I was looking for as much as I could about the life story of Frank Herbert in Tacoma, and I was surprised by the richness I found.

Here’s the story of Frank Herbert’s Tacoma roots, and the legacy that Tacoma left on his masterpiece Dune. My thanks to Post Defiance for publishing it.

Enjoy.