While conversing with fungi expert Paul Stamets, Herbert revealed that the world of Dune was influenced by the lifecycle of mushrooms, with his imagination being helped along by a more “magic” variety. Among its many properties are increased longevity and, in some cases, the ability to see the future itself. “The spice must flow!” In Herbert’s Dune universe, the single most valuable commodity is-by far-an edible substance called “melange.” Also known as “spice,” this highly-addictive material is found only on the desert planet of Arrakis, where much of the action unfolds. Dune Was Also Influenced by Psychedelic Mushrooms. Still, Herbert remained intrigued and-after boning up on deserts and religious figures-outlined the story that eventually became Dune. Fascinated, Herbert flew in and started gathering notes for a piece entitled “They Stopped the Moving Sands.” But his agent refused to send it to publishers unless it was rewritten, which Herbert never did. A certain species with unusually long roots was liberally planted in an attempt to stop the sands from excessively shifting. Department of Agriculture had begun experimenting with beach grasses near the seaside city of Florence, Oregon. They drown out forests, kill game cover, destroy lakes, fill harbors." These waves can be every bit as devastating as a tidal wave in property damage… and they’ve even caused deaths. "Sand dunes pushed by steady winds build up in waves analogous to ocean waves except that they may move twenty feet a year instead of twenty feet a second. By the 1950s, coastal Oregon had gotten fed up with a serious ecological menace: sand dunes. It all started with a scrapped magazine article. Frank Herbert was inspired by the “Moving Sands” of Oregon. Here’s some amazing stuff you may not know about this truly epic franchise. To date, that first book alone has sold upwards of 20 million copies and been printed in over a dozen languages. Yet, if anything, Dune’s humble beginnings bolster its appeal.
Publishers rejected the massive 215,000-word novel 23 times, and even Herbert's own agents had their doubts. Before Frank Herbert unleashed the first entry in his magnificent Dune series-a saga many now call sci-fi’s answer to The Lord of the Rings-almost nobody thought it had a prayer as a single book.