AST hid from readers in the Russian Federation that the son of the author of Dune was gay

10 fragments were cut out from the writer’s biography published in Russia

Publishing house AST has removed references to the homosexuality of his youngest son, Bruce Herbert, from the biography of Dune author Frank Herbert. Messages about censorship of the book appeared in literary telegram channels, Vorstka drew attention.

The biographical novel “Seeing Dune,” in which the writer’s eldest son Brian Herbert talks about the fate of his father, was published by a Russian publishing house in September 2025. “Layout” compared this version of the book with the English original and counted at least 10 fragments of text that were missing from the translation.

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Excerpts explaining the reasons for the conflict between the writer and his son were censored

A part that was significant for the narrative, explaining the reasons for the conflict between the writer and his youngest son, was cut out. Thus, in the original chapter 17, Brian Herbert says: “My younger brother, believing that his father did not love him, experimented with drugs and homosexuality.” The ACT version only mentions drugs.

From chapter 24 of the Russian edition, the moment with Bruce’s coming out was cut out: “That year, my sister Penny and brother Bruce came to us for Thanksgiving and stayed in Port Townsend. During this visit, Bruce openly told me for the first time that he was gay, and explained that one of the reasons he followed this path was the terrible example of his own father. “After seeing how Dad treated his kids, I decided I didn’t want to have my own,” Bruce said.”

In chapter 41, instead of the words “My brother [Bruce] and his gay lover,” the Russian version only mentions a certain “partner” of Bruce.

In addition to references to Bruce’s sexual orientation, a piece about how he lived in a drug den and “threw” pills there also disappeared from Chapter 19.

The fact that the book was censored is not mentioned either on the AST website or on Litres , where the novel is sold.

Dune is an epic science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, first published in 1965. The work formed the basis for several film adaptations, including David Lynch's 1984 film and Denis Villeneuve's films starring Timothée Chalamet.

Let us recall that earlier “Layout” reported that more than half of the books from the list of works with “LGBT propaganda” , which included the novel “It”, were not available in large bookstores in Russian. We also wrote that in the re-released autobiography of Ozzy Osbourne, nine fragments about drugs and firecrackers were removed.

Photo: Dune author Frank Herbert

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