Frank Herbert: Behind the Santaroga Barrier (part 2)

                  Frank was 8 when he decided to be a writer. By 19 he got his first job with a newspaper. 10 years later, when the Tacoma Times folded, he moved to Northern California to write for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Two years later his first science-fiction story got published, and his first sci-fi novel two years after that. Today, 30 years after his death, his epic series about the mystical spice-rich desert planet Dune still ranks Frank Herbert the best-selling sci-fi writer in the world.

                  In August 2013 I started researching at the Press Democrat, collecting and compiling Frank Herbert’s early journalism writing. I knew Herbert started some time in April 1949, so I started looking there.

                  I hit paydirt on Day One. The April 1, 1949 Press Democrat issue had a page-two article about Herbert’s former newspaper shutting down: “Tacoma Times Suspended.” Then on page 14 I found an April Fool’s joke, an Easter egg hidden by some time-travelling prankster: 
Herbert Family 
Now Living 
In Eureka Home

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Herbert have moved to Eureka and are living at 2964 Summer Street. The change of residence was made when Mr. Herbert was transferred to that part of the state. He went north as soon as his orders were received, but Mrs. Herbert and their sons, Michael and Billie did not go to their new home until last week. Mrs. Herbert is the former Beverly Nielsen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. Nielsen.

                  “Eureka,” as any student of Archimedes knows, is Greek for “Holy hypotenuse! I found it!” Frank Herbert the sci-fi writer also had a wife named Beverly (Stuart) and two sons, Brian and Bruce, born in Seattle in 1947 and Santa Rosa in 1951. Since Santa Rosa had a population of only 17,000 people in 1949, it’s an odd coincidence that two people with the same name could move in and out of such a small town during such a short timespan.

Synchronicity stretches even deeper: it was in Santa Rosa where Frank Herbert met Ralph and Irene Slattery, who influenced his writing by introducing him to the philosophers Heidegger and Jaspers, Zen Buddhism, and Jungian psychology. Irene studied under Carl Jung in Zurich, and Jung wrote the book “Synchronicity,” which became the title for two songs and an album released by The Police in 1983. That same year, their lead singer Sting began production in David Lynch’s film version of Frank Herbert ‘s novel “Dune.” Coincidentally, Sting appears on the cover of their Synchronicity album reading a copy of Jung’s book.

                  Most newspaper articles in 1949 were simply attributed “by Staff Correspondent” in the byline, the line saying who wrote the article. The Press Democrat‘s first “by Frank Herbert” article appeared April 25, 1949: “14-Year-Old Bride Misses Death by Hair’s Breadth!” 

July 1949 held nine more bylines, mostly about the new telephone building and the new freeway signs. The July 1 article “Telephone Company Endeavoring to Improve Service” dialed up  “Phone Company Statements of Improvement Expenditures Difficult to Break Down” on July 5. His two-part local history feature “When Lynch Law was Invoked” appeared on July 17 and 19, subtitled “A Story of Sudden Death and Mob Violence in 1920” and “Sheriff Petray’s Slayers Are Hanged By Angry Mob.” 

It is entertaining to read these mundane articles while also looking forward into this great writer's future. There is certainly more to come.

Copyright 2013 by Erik Jorgensen