Dune is a novel series by Frank Herbert. series consists of eight science fiction novels, beginning with Dune and culminating with Sandworms of Dune. The Dune saga is set thousands of years in humanity's future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed, and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds. humanity has formed a feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, run by several Great Houses that oversee various planets. Of key interest is the planet Arrakis, known as "Dune". A desert planet with nearly no precipitation, it is the only planet where a special life-extending drug, melange or "the spice", can be found. Control of Arrakis, its spice production, and the impact on humanity's development become the centerpoints of a millennia-long conflict that develops through the series.