For population control reasons, pregnancy and birth is only allowed through a lottery system. Inside the Silo, life is tightly regulated and controlled-as it must be given their limited space and resources. One of the great unexplained mysteries is why every doomed individual takes the time to clean, even when they swear that they won’t before going outside. The ultimate punishment for any resident of the Silo is to be sent outside for “cleaning”: expelled from the Silo for crimes or even expressed wishes to get out, wearing protective suits which only seem to keep them alive long enough to clean those outdoor sensors. All they see of that world is what’s projected to them via dust-covered video sensors that show a toxic, ruined wasteland lacking any signs of life. Howey’s initial short story Wool introduces readers to the unique, post-apocalyptic world of the Silo: a large, underground bunker of 144 levels where several thousand people live, work, and wonder about the world “outside”.

Personally I feel the series would be better suited to television development, something akin to Lost or The Walking Dead, but I’m not sure any adaptation could really capture the wonders and creativity of these books. 20th Century Fox has even bought the film rights to Wool, although production remains unknown.

The storyline was then completed in two more titles, Shift and Dust, all set within the same timeline and universe. Its incredible popularity (it was a #1 bestseller on Amazon and won a Best Indie Book Award in 2012) then led Howey to continue the story in four more “books”, now combined into the Wool Omnibus. Wool began as a short stand-alone story, self-published using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing system. Available for free Kindle download.įor a little background, Howey had previously worked as a yacht captain, roofer and audio technician before beginning this series in 2011. Wool – the original short story by Hugh Howey.

Dust novel hugh howey