Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington. He began his career as a journalist and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1941 he married Flora Parkinson. They divorced in 1945, and next year he married Ann Stuart. He and his wife had three children, one of whom, Brian Herbert, became a sci-fi writer in his own right. In 1946-47 Herbert studied at the University of Washington, Seattle.
             Well known as a short story writer and as a professional photographer, he studied such diverse subjects as undersea geology, marine architecture, navigation, semantics, psychology, jungle botany, and oriental religions. He worked as a reporter and editor on a number of West Coast newspapers and wrote speeches for politicians.
             During the Second World War he was an accredited photographer with the U.S. Navy, and he has also worked as a newspaperman, oyster-diver, judo instructor, TV cameraman, radio news commentator, jungle survival instructor, and lay analyst.
             Herbert worked in Vietnam and Pakistan as a social and ecological studies consultant in 1972 and lecturer in general and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Washington. In 1973 he was a director-photographer of the television show 'The Tillers'.
             Though he believed he could beat it, Frank Herbert died of cancer on February 12, 1986.
             Until 1972, when he began to write full-time, Herbert published socially engaged science fiction. Herbert's first published Sci-Fi work was in 1952 for Startling Stories entitled "Looking for Something." The major career break for Frank came after John Campbell serialized Dune in 1963-64 for the new Analog. Two more Dune books followed, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune creating a Dune Trilogy. Some years later, three more Dune books were added. During the next decade he was an infrequent contributor to the science fiction magazines, producing fewer than 20 short stories. As a novelist Herbert started with THE DRAGON IN THE SEA...