Monroe native becomes sci-fi publishing phenom with ‘Wool’

When Publishers Weekly finally reviewed the dystopian sci-fi thriller “Wool” last month, its assessment was lukewarm. The reviewer called Monroe native Hugh Howey’s characters bland and his writing immature. But it didn’t much matter. By the time the review came out, Howey already had sold more than half a million copies of his “Wool” stories, the saga of a post-apocalyptic civilization that lives in a giant underground silo. He even missed the review, because he was busy meeting fans on a book tour in Australia and New Zealand. Howey’s self-published sci-fi hit, which took off as an e-book, demonstrates how digital technology continues to...