I live in a tin can out on the edge of sector eight. Not much is supposed to happen here. Ships are supposed to fly by at twenty times the speed of light. My beacon is supposed to keep them safe. Things don’t always go like they’re supposed to

Out here on the edge of sector eight, I can be alone with my thoughts. Sometimes, this isn’t a good thing

WOOL introduced the world of the silo. SHIFT told the story of its creation. DUST will describe its downfall. In a time when secrets and lies were the foundations of life, someone has discovered the truth. And they are going to tell. Jules knows what her predecessors created. She knows they are the reason life has to be lived in this way. And she won’t stand for it. But Jules no longer has supporters. And there is far more to fear than the toxic world beyond her walls. A poison is growing from within Silo 18. One that cannot be stopped. Unless Silo 1 step in

In 2007, the Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN) outlined the hardware and software platform that would one day allow robots smaller than human cells to make medical diagnoses, conduct repairs, and even self-propagate. In the same year, the CBS network re-aired a program about the effects of propranolol on sufferers of extreme trauma. A simple pill, it had been discovered, could wipe out the memory of any traumatic event. At almost the same moment in humanity’s broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened. “These books by Hugh Howey absolutely define page-turner! ‘First Shift’ is part 6 in the Silo Series, a prequel to Wool 1-5.”

When a robot defies his programming, is he broken? Or is he something else? A short story of 5,000 words

Less than sixty kids awaken on a distant planet. The colony ship they arrived on is aflame. The rest of their contingent is dead. They've only received half their training, and they are being asked to conquer an entire planet. Before they can, however, they must first survive each other. In this gritty tale of youths struggling to survive, Hugh Howey fuses the best of young adult fantasy with the piercing social commentary of speculative fiction. The result is a book that begs to be read in a single sitting. An adventurous romp that will leave readers exhausted and begging for more

This book contains foul language and fouler descriptions of life as a zombie. It will offend most anyone, so proceed with caution or not at all. And be forewarned: This is not a zombie book. This is a different sort of tale. It is a story about the unfortunate, about those who did not get away. It is a human story at its rotten heart. It is the reason we can’t stop obsessing about these creatures, in whom we see all too much of ourselves

For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress. In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren’t supposed to

A new collection of stories, including some that have never before been seen, from the New York Times best-selling author of the Silo trilogy Hugh Howey is known for crafting riveting and immersive page-turners of boundless imagination, spawning millions of fans worldwide, first with his best-selling novel Wool, and then with other enthralling works such as Sand and Beacon 23. Now comes Machine Learning, an impressive collection of Howey’s science fiction and fantasy short fiction, including three stories set in the world of Wool, two never-before-published tales written exclusively for this volume, and fifteen additional stories collected here for the first time. These stories explore everything from artificial intelligence to parallel universes to video games, and each story is accompanied by an author’s note exploring the background and genesis of each story. Howey’s incisive mind makes Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories a compulsively readable and thought-provoking selection of short works—from a modern master at the top of his game

It’s been ten years since Molly last set foot on her birth planet, and this isn’t how she’d imagined her homecoming. The sky is full of an invading fleet, one powerful enough to threaten the entire galaxy. The new family she has come to rely on—her crew of alien misfits and runaways—are scattered in three directions. As they struggle to reunite, events beyond their control seem to be driving more than just them apart: the universe itself may be torn asunder if the bond between these unlikely heroes is broken

In just a few short weeks, a group of young orphans have come together to form a family. They have united in the most unlikely of alliances, finding strength in the tight bonds of friendship. In their individual cultures, these orphans were seen as children. At best, they were ignored by their elders. At worse, they are treated as nuisances, told what they could and could not do. But no one ever told them they couldn’t save the universe. Nobody knew they would ever get the chance…

“I need you to help me rescue your father_” With those words, Molly Fyde—and the rest of the known universe—will never be the same. What began as a simple task to retrieve her father’s spaceship, has turned into more than Molly bargained for. Setting off to reconnect with her past, she is about to meet it in a way she never expected: Head-on. Her father is alive. Her mother’s memories are trapped inside the very ship which bears her name. On the run from her own Navy, Molly and her crew are now tasked with the impossible: Rescue her parents. Save the galaxy. End a war. But before they can attempt such heroics, Molly must first save a friend. One of her crew members is in trouble, their life hanging by a thread. And the only race of people Molly can turn to just happens to be the very aliens she’s been raised to fear, trained to meet in battle. Drenard. Homeworld of humanity’s sworn enemy. And the next stop for the starship Parsona

Growing up an orphan in the Milky Way hasn’t been easy, especially as a teenage girl in the Naval Academy. Unfortunately for Molly Fyde, things are about to get worse. Just as she’s finding her place amongst the boys, her unfair expulsion from the Academy takes away the only two things that truly matter: flying in space and her training partner, Cole. Sent off to a normal school, she feels destined for a dull, unspectacular future. Then, a marvelous discovery changes everything: Her father’s old starship, missing for a decade, turns up halfway across the galaxy. Its retrieval launches Molly and Cole on the adventure of a lifetime, one that will have lasting consequences for themselves and billions of others. What starts off as a simple quest to reconnect with her past, ends up forging a new future. And the forgotten family she hoped to uncover is replaced by a new one she never foresaw: a band of alien misfits and runaways—the crew of the starship Parsona

It’s been a week since the cargo ship was lost on my watch. A week with very little sleep and not much appetite. Now the bio scanner is picking up some sign of life out there in the wreckage, and it’s my duty to go see what it is. Maybe I’m not as alone out here as I thought. And maybe I don’t want to be

We live across the thousand dunes with grit in our teeth and sand in our homes. No one will come for us. No one will save us. This is our life, diving for remnants of the old world so that we may build what the wind destroys. No one is looking down on us. Those constellations in the night sky? Those are the backs of gods we see. The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes. Here in this land of howling wind and infernal sand, four siblings find themselves scattered and lost. Their father was a sand diver, one of the elite few who could travel deep beneath the desert floor and bring up the relics and scraps that keep their people alive. But their father is gone. And the world he left behind might be next. Welcome to the world of Sand, the first new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hugh Howey since his publication of the Silo Saga. Unrelated to those works, which looked at a dystopian world under totalitarian rule, Sand is an exploration of lawlessness. Here is a land ignored. Here is a people left to fend for themselves. Adjust your ker and take a last, deep breath before you enter. Sand collects all five parts into a single novel. This story is not related to Wool. It is a standalone and a perfect first work of mine to check out. The cover art is by Jason Gurley, and the interior includes artwork by Ben Adams. I’ve never been more proud of a printed work in my entire life. The story is about family and about societies that need help but get ignored. Inspired by today’s headlines and also by the sort of familial strife that we’re all familiar with, I think this might be my most powerful work to date. I hope you enjoy

The incredible second part of Shift, the follow up to bestseller Wool. Donald wasn’t supposed to remember. In fact, he was punished for doing just that. But the information he should have forgotten may end up saving his future. Mission Jones is a young man who wants to change the world around him. The rules, the secrets, the lies. Putting his own life on the line, he fights to build a resistance and save those who have hope. But is he trying to save the wrong people? Donald knows the truth, but is he willing to use it to protect something that he regrets building in the first place?

Eight days to planetfall, and I’m being transferred to Gunner. My tentacles slime in disgust. Or is it fear? If this is the last planet we ever conquer, I’ll be glad. Be nice to settle down somewhere, get off this ship, own a square of land, learn to love all that open sky. Eight more days before planetfall. Eight days before we reach planet Earth

In a future less than fifty years away, the world is still as we know it. Time continues to tick by. The truth is that it is ticking away. A powerful few know what lies ahead. They are preparing for it. They are trying to protect us. They are setting us on a path from which we can never return

What happens when artificial intelligence comes online, only to find itself locked in a room with a madman?

Snap! The world didn’t end on December 21st, 2012! Oh, well, look on the bright side: You got plenty of time to read this excellent anthology of apocalyptic stories. This compilation brings together short stories by award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors Hugh Howey, Michael J. Sullivan and Tristis Ward, with fresh, new voices selected by their peers at SFFWorld.com — all brought to you in this first-of-its-kind anthology. Each story explores a different end of the world. What is the limit of a computer virus? Can we save the world by stopping time itself, or will we just wither away in the relentless winds of the apocalypse? Grab your copy now before the end of the world, and find out

Daniel Stillman's Life: 42 Facebook friends 18 Cell phone contacts 6 Twitter followers 4 blog subscribers Now a category five storm is about to take this all away. And replace it with a neighbor he's never met

Adam Griffey is living two lives. By day, he teaches literature. At night, he steals it. Adam is a plagiarist, an expert reader with an eye for great works. He prowls simulated worlds perusing virtual texts, looking for the next big thing. And when he finds it, he memorizes it page by page, line by line, word for word. And then he brings it back to his world. But what happens when these virtual worlds begin to seem more real than his own? What happens when the people within them mean more to him than flesh and blood? What happens when a living thing falls in love with someone who does not actually exist?

Robots. Androids. Artificial Intelligence. Scientists predict that the “singularity”—the moment when mankind designs the first greater-than-human intelligence—is nearly within our grasp. Believe it or not, truly sentient machines may be a reality within as little as 20 years. Will these “post-human” intelligences be our friends? Our servants? Our rivals? What will we learn from them? What will they learn from us? Will we allow them to lead their own lives? Will they have basic human rights? Will we? Science and society will be forced to address these questions sooner than you think. But science fiction is addressing these questions today. In THE ROBOT CHRONICLES, thirteen of today’s top sci-fi writers explore the approaching collision of humanity and technology

The ocean is dying. The sea is growing warmer and is gradually rising. Seashells have become so rare that collecting them is now a national obsession. Flawless specimens sell like priceless works of art. Families hunt the tideline in the dark of night with flashlights. Crowds gather on beaches at the lowest of tides, hoping to get lucky. Supreme among these collectors is Ness Wilde, CEO of Ocean Oil. Ness owns many of the best beaches, and he keeps them to himself. It’s his fault the world turned out this way. And I aim to destroy him. My name is Maya Walsh. You might be familiar with my shelling column in the Times. I was working on a series of pieces about Mr. Wilde, when out of the blue, he called. He says he wants to talk. But I don’t think he’s going to like what I have to say

On planet Eno, there stands a mountain that has never been summited. Many have tried. All have failed. This climbing season finds three teams making their bid up this murderous peak. And one man among them will discover these ugly truths: There are fates worse than death. There are fates worse than obscurity. To be remembered forever can be its own curse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksf2F268jx4 — Hugh Howey Reads "The Walk Up Nameless Ridge" at WorldCon 2012

The third and final chapter of the Shift saga. This is part 8 of the Silo Series, which began with Wool. All three Shift books will be collected in an Omnibus edition to save the reader a buck or two. Reading order: 1. WOOL (5 parts) 2. SHIFT (3 parts) 3. DUST (1 part)

The worst part about having it all, is having it all taken away

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT… For decades, the apocalypse and its aftermath have yielded some of the most exciting short stories of all time. From David Brin’s seminal “The Postman” to Hugh Howey’s “Deep Blood Kettle” and Tananarive Due’s prescient “Patient Zero,” the end of the world continues to thrill. This companion volume to the critically acclaimed WASTELANDS offers thirty of the finest examples of post-apocalyptic short fiction, with works by: Ann Aguirre Megan Arkenberg Paolo Bacigalupi Christopher Barzak Lauren Beukes David Brin Orson Scott Card Junot Díaz Cory Doctorow Tananarive Due Toiya Kristen Finley Milo James Fowler Maria Dahvana Headley Hugh Howey Keffy R. M. Kehrli Jake Kerr Nancy Kress Joe R. Lansdale George R. R. Martin Jack McDevitt Seanan McGuire Maureen F. McHugh D. Thomas Minton Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling Ramsey Shehadeh Robert Silverberg Rachel Swirsky Genevieve Valentine James Van Pelt Christie Yant Award-winning editor John Joseph Adams has once again assembled a who’s who of short fiction, and the result is nothing short of mind-blowing

This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package. The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did. This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside