READ MY FASCINATING INTERVIEW WITH HUGH HOWEY: CLICK HERE
A MASTER STORYTELLER STRIKES AGAIN
The beautiful
blue covered book that is SHIFT, prequel to Hugh Howey’s mega-hit WOOL, sat on
my bedside table for a week; not because I didn’t want to read it but I was
simply delaying gratification. I knew
once I started it, I would devour the 576 pages in a few days and then I would
be forced to leave the world of Howey’s Silo and would have to wait months
until the final book in the trilogy was released.
A MASTER STORYTELLER STRIKES AGAIN
The beautiful
blue covered book that is SHIFT, prequel to Hugh Howey’s mega-hit WOOL, sat on
my bedside table for a week; not because I didn’t want to read it but I was
simply delaying gratification. I knew
once I started it, I would devour the 576 pages in a few days and then I would
be forced to leave the world of Howey’s Silo and would have to wait months
until the final book in the trilogy was released.
It’s hard to
find eloquent words to describe my love for the genius of Hugh Howey. Reading his work reminds me of how I felt almost
forty years ago when I first read Stephen King’s CARRIE. For me, no author has ever measured against
Master King’s writing. There are many great writers who have penned wonderful books
but Howey and King have one thing in common. They are storytellers before they
are writers.
Even more
exciting is that Howey is one of the new breed of Indie Hybrid authors,
self-publishing his e-books and licensing the paper-book distribution rights to major publishers. So, he can write and deliver great reads quickly; no more
waiting for the publishing world’s limit of one release a year.
SHIFT takes us
back to the beginning before Wool; before the world was laid waste and toxic by
something that happened sixty years ago, forcing the few thousand remaining
human beings to live in two hundred storey silos. The silos are layered with not only physical levels
but political and social stratas and are governed under strict rule. None of the Silo inhabitants remember what
happened before.
Whilst reading
Wool, (which I recommend reading before Shift) there were what you could
presume were plot-holes (as it turns out they were purposely there). These are resolved in Shift as we travel from the
destruction of Earth to the monotonous existence of the inhabitants of Silo One
who are cryogenically frozen and awakened for their shifts of varying lengths.
This new world
and its progression through several hundred years is told through the stories
of various characters: the engineer who unwittingly designed the silos, a shift
worker who remembers fragments of another life, a courier who becomes embroiled
in an uprising, a child trapped for years in a computer safe room.
It is science
fiction work but it crosses genres ingeniously and the reason for Howey’s
huge success is the human stories he tells. Through his wonderful and
rich characters Howey challenges us to contemplate hope and humanity. Just like King’s millions of loyal fans who
read every book he releases, there will be few initiates to the Howey style who
will not continue to follow him wherever he chooses to write. And that’s the
kind of passion a good story-teller evokes.
Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013
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My review copy of Shift thanks
to the hardworking people at RANDOM HOUSE Australia.
For more information please visit http://www.randomhouse.com.auRelease Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013
To purchase: click here
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hugh Howey is the author of Wool, a bestselling novel that has appeared in the top 5 of science fiction on Amazon. He is also the author of the award-winning Molly Fyde Saga. He lives in Boone, N.C. with his wife Amber and their dog Bella.
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