Hugh Howey often read many books about sailing, and being free on the ocean, and when he moved to Charleston, he made a lot of friends who lived on small sailboats, and that’s what he ended up doing. Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz books, in his long history of jobs before writing brought any success. That was getting there, certainly, but still not quite what he’d been hoping for. He was also a computer repair person, which didn’t quite fit the criteria for his happiness, and then, a bookstore clerk. He used to be a yacht captain, which was kind of part of his dream to be on the sea, but, he decided, not really for him. As a self-proclaimed ‘bum’, he flittered from job to job, writing a couple of things in between them, like short stories, and novellas.

Here’s just a bit about how Hugh Howey’s career kicked off. Many of his influences include that of Robin Knox Johnston, and Bernard Moitessier, as well as a book called Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi, which is one of his greatest influences, because it essentially emulates his own dream to become a permanent resident on the big, wide seas. Each summer, he would spend a week at the family beach house in North Carolina, and that’s where his passion for the sea emerged, with the wind in his hair, the sound of the waves crashing, and the salty sea air. Naturally, as Howey grew up, he had dreams of being a writer, and of course, a dream to sail across the whole world. He’d always had a love for ships, and for reading. Hugh Howey was born 1975 and raised in Monroe, North Carolina.

Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey