The Power of a Word

I was reading something work-related today and came across mélange. Instantly, that one word brought back the endless deserts, the giant man-eating sand worms that could be avoided by using an irregular gait, the people of Dune with their all-blue eyeballs from consuming mélange.

Just one word has the power to recreate an entire planet, an entire people—a bazillion years after I read the book. (I was twelve. Yep, that was a loooong time ago.)

Dune is going on my TBR-again list.

And as for the word choices I make while I write? No pressure, right? Um, yeah.

Thank you, mélange.