Any fan of dystopian fiction needs to read Wool, the start of a fantastic science fiction series by Hugh Howey. Wool was originally self-published as a series of 5 eNovellas in 2011. The setting depicted in the novel is familiar to many readers; it resembles our current society, though because the environment has become uninhabitable and the air toxic, humans live in a silo, built hundreds of feet into the ground. Everything to sustain life takes place in the silo, from hydroponic farms, to the IT center. One day, the silo’s sheriff, Holston, expresses the one sentiment that is punishable by ‘cleaning’—he wishes to go outside. ‘Cleaners’ are sent out of the silo, in a suit constructed as best as IT can configure to withstand the noxious environment as long as possible (which isn’t very long), to clean the sensors on the outside of the silo, and then make their way into the unknown. Holston’s replacement as sheriff is an unlikely candidate, Juliette, from ‘down deep.’ Juliette has no interest in being sheriff, but she does wonder what would cause Holston, a seemingly sane man, to want out of the silo. Juliette’s investigation results in sinister realizations about the silo, its history, and the uninhabitable outside. I can see why this series did so well that it was able to make the leap from self-e-publishing to print. Though dystopian fiction is a flooded genre at this point, this series is fresh and intriguing with many well-developed characters. Wool is followed by two more books, Shift and Dust, and is available through SWAN.