Hugh Howey is being touted as
the SciFi version of 50 Shades of Grey’s EL James (but this guy can
actually write as the Guardian in London points out). And I have to agree although the likeness is because of the way
he’s been skyrocketed to bestseller status not the subject matter! His book, WOOL, started life self-published online and went on to sell over 250,000 copies
just by word-of-mouth. Originally just a novelette, the demand from
Amazon reviewers sent him scurrying to write more tales, people read it and
loved it.
From Hugh, ‘Originally just a
novelette, the demand from Amazon reviewers sent me scurrying to write more
tales in this subterranean world… All I could think of was that I had thirty or
forty Amazon reviewers clamoring for more to read. I was getting emails from
people demanding more from this world. On November 1st, I started writing the
second Wool story.’
‘Three months later, I had to
quit my day job. The demands on my time were too much. I was selling in a day
what I had gone gaga over selling in all of October. In January of this year, I
wrote Wool 5, which is the length of a novel at 63,000 words.’
Raewyn continues: Then picked up by Random House
and released as one novel, Wool was released in NZ in December, the new
book (a prequel to Wool) Shift is being released in April
2013.
Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade
Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, Numbers, The Good Wife and the list goes on) has now
snapped up the right to Wool for a movie.
But the other thing his previous
life is fascinating as well. After he left college he left his hometown
on a boat and sailed South. He hopped around the islands for a while, went
through two hurricanes, then headed back to the States and began a career
as a yacht captain for the rich and famous. He travelled all over the East
coast and Caribbean, from Barbados to Chicago, worked on boats in New York, the
Bahamas, even Canada.
And again from Hugh “Working
in New York had me surrounded by stars. Bill Clinton, the Rockettes, the cast
of Sex and the City. But those days hardly seem glamorous looking back. My time
in NY was ended on 9/11. The boat I was living on had a permanent dock at the
base of the World Trade Center. All of that horror took place directly
overhead, and I spent the day ferrying people off Manhattan and bringing rescue
workers over from New Jersey.’
It was while working on a yacht
that I met my wife of 11 years. We had an amazing trip together from Antigua to
Florida. For two weeks, we had a 74' yacht to ourselves. We swam with whales,
jumped off waterfalls, and fell madly in love with one another.
And back to the book, the wraps
just keep on coming:
Rave reviews in Guardian,
Independent on Sunday, Sunday Express, SFX magazine, Irish Timespicked by many majors as a hot for 2013, Sunday Express, Live magazine, GQ UK, Seven magazine
and he is already a NYTimes bestseller and Amazon top five author.
Footnote:
The Bookman is not a sci-fi reader at all but in view of Raewyn's huge enthusiasm for WOOL I am going to give in and read this one ! Who knows, I may become a convert.
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