A Dystopian Trilogy Worth Your Time
[by J. Scott Shipman]
Friends, In 2013 I read Hugh Howey’s Wool after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal. Howey’s is a cinderella story; he wrote his novel in installments at his blog, and his story, Wool was picked up by a publisher. The response was so overwhelming, Howey wrote Shift, which is a very good prequel and Dust picks up the story to the conclusion.
I gave away my paper copy of Wool a couple years ago, but was pleased to see a graphic novel of the same title by Jimmy Palmiotti (Author), Justin Gray (Author), Hugh Howey (Author), Jimmy Broxton (Illustrator), Darwyn Cooke (Illustrator). The graphic novel filled in the gaps of my memory and helped visualize Howey’s imaginative and frightening new world below ground.
This trilogy is summer reading at its best. Story has duplicitous politicians, brave idealists and truly clever on-the-fly tactics—and a bit of not-too-syrupy true love. Howey is a gifted storyteller and weaves a credible yarn of a future where humanity is consigned to silos buried within the earth and surrounded by a poisonous atmosphere.
Strong recommendation!
July 15th, 2018 at 9:14 pm
Thanks, Scott:
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That’s fascinating, just from a media studies perspective — that a blog novel should become a book novel, should become a graphic novel and a book trilogy! Very encouraging for those of us still blogging away, whether on novels or, as here, non-fiction.
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July 16th, 2018 at 12:23 am
Hi Charles,
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Indeed! My memory is leaky on where I read about this book.I don’t normally read sci-fi, but when I read an excerpt I was hooked. Amazon CreateSpace allows self-publishing, but I’ve not seen any examples of anyone coming close to Howey in terms of following. It appears he his audience was built into his blog.
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Zen and I have corresponded on a sci-fi themed story for the last few years and perhaps before I’m too old I’ll have an outline! All the best to you, sir!