Hugh C. Howey (born 1975,[1]Charlotte, North Carolina) is an American writer, known best for the science fiction series Silo, part of which he published independently through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system;[2][3] he later signed distribution deals, with large publishing houses in different countries, but maintains the publishing rights and all e-book publishing.
Personal life
Howey was born in 1975 in Charlotte, North Carolina and was raised in Monroe, North Carolina. Before publishing his books, he worked as a book store clerk, yacht captain, roofer, and audio technician.[4]
In mid-2015, Howey gave up his home in Florida[clarify] and moved to St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa. He commissioned the construction of a sailingcatamaran, on which he sailed from Cape Town to Australia.[5][6] In November of 2022, Howey married pilot and former model Shay Londre. They live in New York City.
Wool
He began the series in 2011, initially writing Wool as a standalone short story.[7] His first book was initially published with a small press.[8] After that, he decided to publish through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system because of the freedom of self-publishing. After the series grew in popularity, he began to write more entries for it.[9] Howey began soliciting international rights in 2012, including signing a deal for Brazil.[10] Film rights to the series were sold to 20th Century Fox; Lionsgate also expressed interest.[11]
In 2012, Howey signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to distribute Wool to book retailers across the US and Canada. The deal allowed Howey to continue to sell the book online exclusively. He notably turned down seven figure offers in favor of a mid-six figure sum, in return for maintaining e-book rights.[12]
He has also signed publishing contracts with Random House Century UK for UK distribution of both his Wool and Sand series, published as novels of the same names.[13]
Howey became closely tied to both Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing and self-publishing as a leader of the new paradigm of publishing. He opened up his Silo Saga to other authors, formalizing that effort when he signed with Kindle Worlds. Though authors like Fredric Shernoff (Atlantic Island), Jason Gurley (Eleanor), and Michael Bunker (Pennsylvania) all experienced some degree of success that can be attributed to Howey, Wool, and the Kindle Worlds project,[14] nobody was able to replicate Wool's success either through tie-in books or those authors' original stories.
"The Belt of the Buried Gods", "Out of No Man's Land", "Return to Danvar", "Thunder Due East", "A Rap Upon Heaven's Gate"
Across the Sand (2022)
Stand-alones:
I, Zombie (2012)
The Shell Collector (2014)
Beacon 23 (2015), fix-up novel of five short stories:
"Beacon 23: Part One: Little Noises", "Beacon 23: Part Two: Pet Rocks", "Beacon 23: Part Three: Bounty", "Beacon 23: Part Four: Company", "Beacon 23: Part Five: Visitor"
Young adult novels
Bern Saga:
Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue (2009)
Molly Fyde and the Land of Light (2010)
Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions (2010)
Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace (2010)
Molly Fyde and the Darkness Deep (TBA)
Stand-alones:
Half Way Home (2010)
The Hurricane (2011)
Short stories
Collections:
Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories (2017), collection of 16 short stories and five novelettes/novellas:
"The Walk Up Nameless Ridge", "Second Suicide" (novelette), "Nothing Goes to Waste", "Deep Blood Kettle", "Machine Learning", "Executable", "The Box", "Glitch" (novelette), "In the Air" (Silo series), "In the Mountains" (Silo series), "In the Woods" (novelette, Silo series), "Hell from the East", "The Black Beast", "The Good God", "The Automated Ones", "Mouth Breathers", "WHILE (u > i) i--;", "The Plagiarist" (novella), "Select Character", "Promises of London", "Peace in Amber" (novelette)
Silo series:
"In the Air" (2014)
"In the Mountains" (2014)
"In the Woods" (2015), novelette
Uncollected short stories:
"Gloria" (2015)
"Full Unemployment" (2017)
"The Blast" (2018)
"No Algorithms in the World" (2019)
"Bones of Gossamer" (2019)
Children's books
Misty: The Proud Cloud (2014), picture book illustrated by Nidhi Chanani[15]
Production on the serialization of Wool was announced in 2012. After development was begun by AMC, the project was moved to Apple TV+ in May of 2021, and the ten-episode first season began streaming in May 2023.
In 2018 it was announced that the Beacon 23 series was going to be adapted into a television series. Filming began in 2022, and the series premiered on MGM+ in November 2023.
