Hugh Howey
Bestselling author of Wool and other books. Currently sailing around the world.
Here are two chapters from the in-progress audiobook. As you’ll hear, the disparate voices used in the writing of the first two books are reflected in the reading. Let me know what you think about the direction we’re taking this.
Wool 1, Chapter 2:
Wool 2, Chapter 1:
Great choice Hugh! I really like the reading style in the first selection. I prefer the neutral voice when no dialog is present. Both though are fantastic. Can’t wait for these to come out.
On a separate note, I just saw the new image pictured on your website’s changing title bar. I really dig the aged sensor tower with the worn and destroyed world portrayed in Tabor’s book cover art. Very nice!
Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Tim. Appreciate the feedback.
And yeah, that new banner image was a gift from the talented Mike Tabor. Glad you noticed it pop up there. :)
Clean recordings and talented narrators. Great work!
Perfect… Really. I was a little worried about the first book but now… Not so much…
I just knew she’d do a good job with multiple voices.
I guess I’m the lone dissenter. I did not care for her reading of Holston – it feels forced and affected to me. :-( I would not be able to lose myself in the story, as I would be too aware of the narration. I like her southern accent for Jahns, and that reading has more life to it. Would love to hear how Jules sounds.
It took just a few moments to settle in with each of the voices. Excellent work.
Oh, and Marnes. She sounds great on that voice, too, and the interplay of Jahns and Marnes really works.
I liked everything for the most part! I do have to agree with Jill in regards to Holston (so Jill, you aren’t the lone dissenter). Jahns sounded just how I heard her in my head though I’m not entirely sure why she ended up southern, haha.
Love them! I don’t usually do audio books (my focus needs more focus) but the reader does a great job giving the book that depressing feeling that I felt reading. I also love the southern drawl Jahns has. I imagine her looking like the old woman in Benjamin Button. Can’t wait to hear Jules.
But…why would ANY of them have different accents if they were born in the silo? Wouldn’t everyone talk the same way?
Jill: People born in the same city don’t always talk the same, and there are wild generational differences. It depends on how much you commingle, and in the silos . . . they generally don’t.
Also, I love the new banner! Great Job Mike!
Jillconn: its totally plausible that wherever the silo is located, it is comprised of primarily southern states. Maybe they all have accents.
Completely off-topic (sorry), I have a question about a WOOL character name. My family and I frequently vacation at Smith Mountain Lake in Southern Virginia. Looking for other options, I started looking in NC and Tennessee. I saw your town Boone NC, and near it a lake called South Holston Lake. Is there any connection between these names, or do I have “Blue Car Syndrome” where I am now noticing everything that could possibly connect to WOOL?? If the latter, how do I make it stop?!
No connection that I know of. There’s always the chance I heard something in passing, but I suspect I chose a name that sounded like “holster” for the sheriff. Pretty lame, eh?
Love the narrator. I agree with others that I’d MUCH rather have a normal reading voice for most of the story (love the kind of downcast slower (but not too slow) pace) and then only accent the specific characters voices. I thought that the deputy voice was good – I pictured him southern. But I did not picture the mayor as southern and I was getting VERY distracted by the whole read having a southern accent. I’d prefer ALL of the books have the same narrator voice – close to the natural voice/just slightly slightly masculine voice I’ve heard the reader use – and ONLY give different voices when reading character’s thoughts or speech. I prefer narration to acting when listening to an audio book. If it becomes too affected, I get turned off and can’t focus on the story. I also think it is hard to carry an accent consistently through a story so just using it for the character’s dialogue makes more sense to me. Just my two cents.
Mr. Howey? Hi…
Let me just begin by thanking you…thank you thank you thank you so very much for heeding the call of the wild…to venture into that brain of your, ramble around and pull out these fantastically amazing stories. Thank you for sharing your imagination with us. I must say, it is a very tickling imagination.
Now…*ahem*.. the audios…where are you with this? Seriously?…I’m on Wool 5 and I can get NOTHING done for having my nose stuck in my Kindle all day…Help me not to burn dinner and get some laundry done, huh sir?
Thank you
A fanatical fan.
PS- if these are already in audio form, please be so kind as to point me in the right direction.
:D
Thanks, Antionette!
Oh yeah, I like the reader in the first sample. I was going to lovingly suggest Julia Whelan.
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20 replies to “Audiobook Samples!”