Every once in a while, when I least expect it, I will read a book that grabs me by the seat of the pants, pulls me out of my chair and throws me on my ass…
Figuratively speaking of course.
I’m talking about a story so original, so well written, so exceptionally executed that it makes you sit straight up in your chair and take notice. These are the stories that set fire to your imagination to such a degree that you almost can’t escape them. Thoughts of them creep into your mind in idle moments during the day and slip into your dreams at night. It's the last thing on your mind as you drift off to sleep and the first thing on your mind when you wake up the next morning. It's the book you can't put down, the novel whose pages you can't stop turning, the story you become so engrossed in to the point that your responsibilities in the real world, like working for a living, start to get in the way of your reading.
I'm talking about books like author Hugh Howey’s “Silo Saga”… “WOOL”, “SHIFT” and just released, “DUST”. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been this excited about a set of books in years and I hope I can do them justice here without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't yet read the saga.
By now most people familiar with the “WOOLiverse” also know the story of how Hugh Howey self-published the first part of the series as a 40+ page short story in July of 2011 using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing app. He charged next to nothing for it and did nothing to promote it. Readers found it, loved it, told their friends about it and begged for more. Hugh readily complied and that initial story led to 4 more parts, all now collected into the “WOOL Omnibus”. WOOL’s success led Hugh to write a set of 3 prequel stories now compiled into the “SHIFT Omnibus” and folks still couldn’t get enough. The icing on the cake was just released in the form of “DUST”, Hugh’s final installment in the saga and perhaps one of the most eagerly awaited eBooks in recent memory. It quickly rose to the top of just about every best seller list within 24 hours of its release.
I must admit however that I am arriving to this party a bit late. As a voracious reader, especially of Sci-Fi, I only found out about WOOL earlier this year through a modest Washington Post book review when the omnibus version was released in print. I don’t remember many of the details of the review although I remember it was quite favorable. I became intrigued by the interesting back story of how the saga took off on Kindle and the concept of an entire human community living deep underground in a buried silo in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future where just thinking about the world “outside” is taboo and actually going outside is a death sentence.
So I added WOOL to my “to read” section of Goodreads and thought little more about it for the next couple of months although it was never far from the back of my mind. Then just before I left on vacation in June, I cleared my reading list, downloaded the WOOL Omnibus to my Kindle and I have never been the same again. Let's just say that it was a good thing that I did this during vacation when I had plenty of time to get lost in this book. I couldn't put it down.
It's a rare gift to be able to write well and make a living at it. It is a rarer talent indeed when an author has the ability to capture a reader so thoroughly and manage to do it within the first few paragraphs of a book. That has only happened to me twice before in my lifetime and I have read a LOT of books in more than half a century. Post-apocalyptic fiction is also not my usual cup of tea but Hugh not only had me nibbling at the hook with his entire concept, he'd set the hook and had reeled me in before I was more than a half dozen pages into the first part, “Holston”, which comprises the entirety of that first story published in 2011. In hindsight I can imagine this story would have made a magnificent episode of “The Twilight Zone” with its surprising twist at the end and its “film noir” feel. In fact, based on the Silo Saga alone, I think that Mr. Howey could easily stand beside some of our greatest authors who also wrote for that TV series; Rod Serling, Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury to name a few.
By the time I had finished WOOL #2, “Perfect Gauge”, I began to see what all the excitement was about and had bought “SHIFT” in anticipation. Reading WOOL was like peeling an onion; it is full of little plot twists, surprise reveals and heart-stopping “oh my gawd” moments that blew my mind at every turn and kept me going, dying to find out what happened next. And in spite of its dystopian setting, WOOL is first and foremost a story about people, regular Joe Schmoes like the rest of us, but struggling daily through life in a rigid and stifling society, living and dying in an underground world they are only beginning to realize is not the way humanity was intended to live. The principle characters are well developed and there are plenty to both love and hate here, from the tender love story of Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes, to the “tough as nails” mechanic-come-sheriff, Juliette and the hateful leader of IT, Bernard, who particularly struck a nerve with me since I actually work in the IT field.
It took me a bit longer to read “SHIFT” but only because I was back to work at that point and couldn't put aside the time I wanted to devote to it. SHIFT is the prequel that tells the story of how humanity, or what's left of it, has ended up in this situation and it ends about the same point as WOOL does, merging the two stories and timelines together and setting the stage for “DUST”. Like WOOL before it, SHIFT is full of surprises as the story unfolds and I must admit I found it a trifle confusing at times but then the story is told through the eyes of Donald, the main character and the reader is basically discovering the truth and magnitude of what’s happened to the world along with him. Honestly, reading SHIFT was more than a bit frightening too and a little more difficult for me to read personally for the same reason. As a child of the Cold War era, with vivid memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis, air raid sirens and “duck and cover” drills, reading SHIFT chilled me to the bone with its underlying theme of political leaders in positions of power, harboring and acting on their twisted visions of destiny, legacy and purpose while the rest of us are either consciously turning a blind eye or completely clueless.
DUST, the latest installment just released in August, is the crowning conclusion of Hugh's portion of the saga and it certainly doesn’t disappoint as so many sequels so often do. A masterpiece in itself, DUST is a very satisfying and fitting end to the series. It is every bit as engaging and riveting as WOOL and SHIFT and it ends on a very hopeful note but unfortunately not without a few heart-rending losses along the way. It was also every bit a roller coaster ride as its predecessors and every bit as enjoyable. And although it took me only a few days to read it completely, I went back and reread a few sections again because frankly I didn’t want it to end.
But in many ways, the saga isn’t ending at all. In a rare move on the part of an author, at least in my experience, Hugh has freely and generously opened his creation to his fans and is encouraging and wholeheartedly championing fan fiction based on his work. By partnering with one of Amazon’s latest endeavors, Kindle Worlds, he’s allowing these budding authors to actually get paid for their stories set in his universe, inspiring them to self-publish their work in the very same fashion he did with that first WOOL story. Hugh has not just invited others to play in his sandbox and welcomed them with open arms, he’s also handed them the pail and shovel, then stepped out of the sandbox altogether [for now at least].
And by all accounts, his generous spirit has borne much fruit. At last count there were at least a dozen or more Silo stories/books/novellas out there on Kindle Worlds, most of them doing well and climbing the eBook genre best seller lists. Hugh advertises and posts links to many of them on his own web site and is equally generous with his advice and praise. And along the way, he’s also developed a fiercely loyal fan base [and I now count myself among them]. Imagine my surprise when I went searching on Facebook for what I expected to be the author’s fan page and found instead, Hugh’s personal FB page and that he was accepting Friend Requests from complete strangers. He accepted my request in a matter of a couple hours and I had the pleasure of sharing the Release Day excitement for DUST along with the author and about 4,500 [and counting] of his closest fans/friends. And as he visits various conventions and book events, he frequently arranges “meet ups” for his fans in attendance so they can hang out for a few hours and get to know him and each other. I sincerely hope to have that opportunity someday.
In closing I can only hope my enthusiasm for Hugh Howey’s work will encourage others to give it a try. For any lover of truly exceptional science fiction, these books are not to be missed. Based on my love of WOOL, SHIFT and DUST, I am eager to read some of Hugh’s earlier books and have already bought several of them. I am also looking forward to returning to the WOOLiverse by reading all of the fan fiction I can get my hands on. And I can definitely see myself revisiting the entire Silo saga, again and again. Although I have now bought all 3 Silo books in paperback [one treasured copy of DUST signed by Hugh himself] it’s a good thing I bought them first as eBooks because like so many of my other favorite novels, I can easily see myself reading and rereading the paper copies until they fall apart!
Figuratively speaking of course.
I’m talking about a story so original, so well written, so exceptionally executed that it makes you sit straight up in your chair and take notice. These are the stories that set fire to your imagination to such a degree that you almost can’t escape them. Thoughts of them creep into your mind in idle moments during the day and slip into your dreams at night. It's the last thing on your mind as you drift off to sleep and the first thing on your mind when you wake up the next morning. It's the book you can't put down, the novel whose pages you can't stop turning, the story you become so engrossed in to the point that your responsibilities in the real world, like working for a living, start to get in the way of your reading.
I'm talking about books like author Hugh Howey’s “Silo Saga”… “WOOL”, “SHIFT” and just released, “DUST”. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been this excited about a set of books in years and I hope I can do them justice here without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't yet read the saga.
By now most people familiar with the “WOOLiverse” also know the story of how Hugh Howey self-published the first part of the series as a 40+ page short story in July of 2011 using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing app. He charged next to nothing for it and did nothing to promote it. Readers found it, loved it, told their friends about it and begged for more. Hugh readily complied and that initial story led to 4 more parts, all now collected into the “WOOL Omnibus”. WOOL’s success led Hugh to write a set of 3 prequel stories now compiled into the “SHIFT Omnibus” and folks still couldn’t get enough. The icing on the cake was just released in the form of “DUST”, Hugh’s final installment in the saga and perhaps one of the most eagerly awaited eBooks in recent memory. It quickly rose to the top of just about every best seller list within 24 hours of its release.
I must admit however that I am arriving to this party a bit late. As a voracious reader, especially of Sci-Fi, I only found out about WOOL earlier this year through a modest Washington Post book review when the omnibus version was released in print. I don’t remember many of the details of the review although I remember it was quite favorable. I became intrigued by the interesting back story of how the saga took off on Kindle and the concept of an entire human community living deep underground in a buried silo in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future where just thinking about the world “outside” is taboo and actually going outside is a death sentence.
So I added WOOL to my “to read” section of Goodreads and thought little more about it for the next couple of months although it was never far from the back of my mind. Then just before I left on vacation in June, I cleared my reading list, downloaded the WOOL Omnibus to my Kindle and I have never been the same again. Let's just say that it was a good thing that I did this during vacation when I had plenty of time to get lost in this book. I couldn't put it down.
It's a rare gift to be able to write well and make a living at it. It is a rarer talent indeed when an author has the ability to capture a reader so thoroughly and manage to do it within the first few paragraphs of a book. That has only happened to me twice before in my lifetime and I have read a LOT of books in more than half a century. Post-apocalyptic fiction is also not my usual cup of tea but Hugh not only had me nibbling at the hook with his entire concept, he'd set the hook and had reeled me in before I was more than a half dozen pages into the first part, “Holston”, which comprises the entirety of that first story published in 2011. In hindsight I can imagine this story would have made a magnificent episode of “The Twilight Zone” with its surprising twist at the end and its “film noir” feel. In fact, based on the Silo Saga alone, I think that Mr. Howey could easily stand beside some of our greatest authors who also wrote for that TV series; Rod Serling, Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury to name a few.
By the time I had finished WOOL #2, “Perfect Gauge”, I began to see what all the excitement was about and had bought “SHIFT” in anticipation. Reading WOOL was like peeling an onion; it is full of little plot twists, surprise reveals and heart-stopping “oh my gawd” moments that blew my mind at every turn and kept me going, dying to find out what happened next. And in spite of its dystopian setting, WOOL is first and foremost a story about people, regular Joe Schmoes like the rest of us, but struggling daily through life in a rigid and stifling society, living and dying in an underground world they are only beginning to realize is not the way humanity was intended to live. The principle characters are well developed and there are plenty to both love and hate here, from the tender love story of Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes, to the “tough as nails” mechanic-come-sheriff, Juliette and the hateful leader of IT, Bernard, who particularly struck a nerve with me since I actually work in the IT field.
It took me a bit longer to read “SHIFT” but only because I was back to work at that point and couldn't put aside the time I wanted to devote to it. SHIFT is the prequel that tells the story of how humanity, or what's left of it, has ended up in this situation and it ends about the same point as WOOL does, merging the two stories and timelines together and setting the stage for “DUST”. Like WOOL before it, SHIFT is full of surprises as the story unfolds and I must admit I found it a trifle confusing at times but then the story is told through the eyes of Donald, the main character and the reader is basically discovering the truth and magnitude of what’s happened to the world along with him. Honestly, reading SHIFT was more than a bit frightening too and a little more difficult for me to read personally for the same reason. As a child of the Cold War era, with vivid memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis, air raid sirens and “duck and cover” drills, reading SHIFT chilled me to the bone with its underlying theme of political leaders in positions of power, harboring and acting on their twisted visions of destiny, legacy and purpose while the rest of us are either consciously turning a blind eye or completely clueless.
DUST, the latest installment just released in August, is the crowning conclusion of Hugh's portion of the saga and it certainly doesn’t disappoint as so many sequels so often do. A masterpiece in itself, DUST is a very satisfying and fitting end to the series. It is every bit as engaging and riveting as WOOL and SHIFT and it ends on a very hopeful note but unfortunately not without a few heart-rending losses along the way. It was also every bit a roller coaster ride as its predecessors and every bit as enjoyable. And although it took me only a few days to read it completely, I went back and reread a few sections again because frankly I didn’t want it to end.
But in many ways, the saga isn’t ending at all. In a rare move on the part of an author, at least in my experience, Hugh has freely and generously opened his creation to his fans and is encouraging and wholeheartedly championing fan fiction based on his work. By partnering with one of Amazon’s latest endeavors, Kindle Worlds, he’s allowing these budding authors to actually get paid for their stories set in his universe, inspiring them to self-publish their work in the very same fashion he did with that first WOOL story. Hugh has not just invited others to play in his sandbox and welcomed them with open arms, he’s also handed them the pail and shovel, then stepped out of the sandbox altogether [for now at least].
And by all accounts, his generous spirit has borne much fruit. At last count there were at least a dozen or more Silo stories/books/novellas out there on Kindle Worlds, most of them doing well and climbing the eBook genre best seller lists. Hugh advertises and posts links to many of them on his own web site and is equally generous with his advice and praise. And along the way, he’s also developed a fiercely loyal fan base [and I now count myself among them]. Imagine my surprise when I went searching on Facebook for what I expected to be the author’s fan page and found instead, Hugh’s personal FB page and that he was accepting Friend Requests from complete strangers. He accepted my request in a matter of a couple hours and I had the pleasure of sharing the Release Day excitement for DUST along with the author and about 4,500 [and counting] of his closest fans/friends. And as he visits various conventions and book events, he frequently arranges “meet ups” for his fans in attendance so they can hang out for a few hours and get to know him and each other. I sincerely hope to have that opportunity someday.
In closing I can only hope my enthusiasm for Hugh Howey’s work will encourage others to give it a try. For any lover of truly exceptional science fiction, these books are not to be missed. Based on my love of WOOL, SHIFT and DUST, I am eager to read some of Hugh’s earlier books and have already bought several of them. I am also looking forward to returning to the WOOLiverse by reading all of the fan fiction I can get my hands on. And I can definitely see myself revisiting the entire Silo saga, again and again. Although I have now bought all 3 Silo books in paperback [one treasured copy of DUST signed by Hugh himself] it’s a good thing I bought them first as eBooks because like so many of my other favorite novels, I can easily see myself reading and rereading the paper copies until they fall apart!
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