Dune fans are in for a once-in-a-lifetime treat with The Road to Dune, a companion to the 1965 classic that has been appropriately called science fiction's supreme masterpiece. Included within are a treasure trove of never-before-published chapters, private correspondence, essays, and short stories, as well as the novelette "Spice Planet" by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, written from extensive outlines left by Frank Herbert.

The immensely fascinating "Spice Planet" is subtitled "The Alternate Dune Novel" for good reason; readers who have enjoyed Dune will catch innumerable similarities throughout. When Jesse Linkam, the foremost aristocrat on the planet Catalan, is sent to a remote world in the Arrakis system named Duneworld, his mission is to produce more melange in two years than the previous overlords, the House Hoskanner. If Linkam can achieve this lofty goal, his House will be awarded a virtual monopoly on spice production. But with broken-down equipment and no knowledge of the many dangers lurking on the desert planet, will Linkam and his eight-year-old son survive the challenge? Also included is Frank Herbert's unpublished article "They Stopped the Moving Sands" -- the initial thematic inspiration for Dune -- as well as numerous short stories by Herbert and Anderson that include exceptional entries like "A Whisper of Caladan Seas" and "Whipping Mek."