From the author of “Dune”, one of his maybe lesser known novels, it’s a long read and I’m thinking he was inspired by the discovery of AIDS in the 80s.
It’s about a scienties whose family is killed in an IRA bombing and who designs a biological agent that kills off all females to take revenge on Ireland.
I think Herbert was inspired more by performing social commentary around what was happening in Ireland and the increase in Terrorism that was happening. A lot of what Herbert wrote can be considered Allegory around his observation of certain aspects of society. Take a look at the Dune series and ask yourself “what part of the world could he be commenting on?” Consider that Dune, for the most part, was written during the rise of communism, the start of the Cold War, distrust of religion, etc. Very complex time and the books reflected this.