Check this: www.cordwainer-smith.com
There is a section (can't remember where) in which a fan of both Herbert and Smith asks the latter author's daughter. Both novels, "Norstrilia" and "Dune", were published around the same time. Characters in both worlds fly "ornithopters".... I personally doubt any connection. The political system of Dune is a thinly disguised rehash of European feudalism, give or take a few coats of arms. The Lords of the Instrumentality are a cross of Chinese mandarins, bolshevik cadres and Jesuit monks. As for the struggle for the control of scarce resources, resources that for some reason cannot be found as conveniently elsewhere in the world -- well, I think it doesn't take a master of science fiction to come up with *that*, does it? Carlo _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
