Hugh Howey's Blog, page 68
March 23, 2013
Charleston, SC & Miami, FL
Only two stops left on this wild book tour, and I’m really looking forward to both. In Charleston, I’ll see my mother, sister, and dear friends. I’ll also be visiting the B&N I used to work in while attending college and speaking at the B&N my mother used to run in West Ashley.
Miami will wrap up the tour at the main Books & Books location. Get this: Dogs are allowed! Which means Bella will be in attendance (My wife, too). And then a couple weeks at home to ship out signed copies of books and do some writing!
Come see me on Monday, the 25th at the West Ashley B&N at 7:00.
On Tuesday, the 26th, I’ll be at Books & Books in Coral Gables at 8:00.
March 22, 2013
Charlottesville, VA (with Kim Harrison)
I’m on a panel tonight at the Virginia Festival of the Book. On the panel with me will be Kim Harrison, which means there should be a few people in attendance. Very excited. If you’re in the area, come and see us! It’s at 6:00 at the Central JMRL Library, 201 E Market Street.
Silo Hits #25 in Germany
It was pure and awesome coincidence that the US release of WOOL coincided with the German release of SILO. Both hit store shelves on March 12th. The day after hearing that WOOL made the NYT lists, I hear from my German publisher that Silo will debut at #25 on their hardback bestseller list. Very happy for a publisher who took a chance on my work and went all-out with the release.
March 21, 2013
New York Times Bestseller. Again.
Absolutely amazing. You crazy cats have made WOOL a New York Times Bestseller once again. The book hit four of the lists:
#8 on NYT Paperback Fiction list
#32 on NYT Hardcover Fiction list
#16 on NYT Hardcover + Paperback combined
#27 on ebook list
This is despite Barnes & Noble choosing not to support the book (a book written by a former employee). The hardback list is also surprising considering most places aren’t giving readers the choice between the two. Which means your demand and support made this happen, not booksellers, not publishers, and not me. That’s damn amazing.
March 20, 2013
San Fran Represents!
A full house at Books Inc. last night. Thanks so much to everyone for coming out!
Tonight from 7-9 I’ll be at Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle (on 11th Ave.) And then it’s back to the East Coast!
March 19, 2013
I love it when a plan comes together!
So, last summer, I received a message on Goodreads from the wife of a fan. It was an unusual request. She was hoping I could send her a signed photograph or some kind of momento for her husband. In the body of her message, she said that she hadn’t seen her husband such a huge fan of someone since he discovered Neil Degrasse Tyson.
What a coincidence! I had just met Neil at a function Gizmodo put together in New York. I had a picture of the two of us. Why don’t I sign that pic and send it along?
But then — as is my wont — my thoughts got nuttier. What if I could get Neil to sign the photograph as well?
I went to CVS and had a few copies of the photo printed out. They looked great in black and white (heh. No pun intended). In fact, the photo looked so awesome, I couldn’t believe I was going to send it off for Neil’s signature and someone else was going to end up with it! To make it more likely to go through, I put an envelope within an envelope, paid for the shipping on both, wrote a note to Neil and his secretary, and included some cardboard for protection. I crossed my fingers and sent off this fan grenade. And then I waited.
And I waited.
Days went by. Weeks. Months.
I pinged Neil’s secretary a few times, and she apologized for how busy Neil was. For a long while, I thought it wouldn’t happen. I started to feel bad that I’d promised a signed photo, and now the wife of this reader would get nothing. She would think I’d forgotten.
Last week, I got the news: The photo had arrived! With both signatures! And of course, one of us being far more famous than the other, the husband wondered why in the world someone was standing beside Neil in the photo. Then he heard the story, realized who I was, and I got a thank you note in my Goodreads inbox that nearly brought me to tears.
I love that his grin mirrors the one I had while standing beside one of my idols.
Wired and off to San Fran!
Sitting at LAX waiting for my San Francisco bound plane to board. Tonight I’ll be at Berkeley’s Books Inc. at 7:00. Come and see me; I think we’re going to have a nice little crowd tonight.
Also, the timing is pretty cool. One of my favorite dudes in all of publishing, Barry Eisler, lives in the San Fran area. Just this morning, he and I were mentioned in the same Wired magazine article! Wired is without a doubt my favorite rag in the mulitverse, so this was something special for me. My wife is gonna get pissed when all the things I’m framing start to encroach on the living room and kitchen…
SCORE!
As in the musical kind. Check out what forum user tzilla put together for the film score:
This takes fan art to an entirely new level. Tzilla (real name unknown) is a TV and film composer. Pretty badass, eh? Ridley, can we get this man a job?
March 18, 2013
Tonight at Redondo Beach!
I’ll be at Mysterious Galaxy from 7:30 – 9:30. I’m going to get there a little early. Come hang out!
Tomorrow night, I’ll be at Books Inc. in Berkeley. If you’re in the San Fran area, I hope to see you there!
Jasper Schreurs is in the Kitchen…
…cooking up something scrumptious. A sneak peek at the “sketch” he sent me for the Fight for Peace cover. My first time “seeing” Edison got me quite emotional. Looking forward to returning to this universe after DUST is complete. 
