'He makes one up for his wife, and for 'the little angel,' he calls it, which is his child, and he makes one up for Jasper, his dog. so he remembers some of the constellations - Orion and the Big Dipper, and the Chariot - but a lot of them he doesn't, so he makes them up, and they're usually animals. They huddle up and sleep out under the stars, and every night, Hig names the constellations. I think that's why I named the book The Dog Stars, because Hig sleeps out every night with his dog, Jasper. 'Hig's challenge is to find a reason to stay alive and to stay connected with the things he loves. On his protagonist Hig, who must find reasons to live, post-apocalypse Peter Heller is also the author of Hell or High Water, The Whale Warriors and Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave.

He is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Hell or High Water, about kayaking Tibet's Tsangpo River The Whale Warriors, about illegal whaling near Antarctica and Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave. Heller is a contributing editor at O utside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure and Men's Journal. when you get into the kayak and you stretch the spray skirt over the cockpit, you don't know if that's the last time you'll ever be doing it,' he says. It's a feeling that Heller understands from his often-dangerous adventures around the world. 'He's sort of living on the edge, and he never knows when he's going to meet that adversary or situation that might write his ending.' 'Our hero, Hig, is very vulnerable every day,' Heller tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies.

The Dog Stars follows a man named Hig who survives a superflu that kills most of humanity - including his wife and unborn child. But as the novel took a post-apocalyptic turn, he found himself relying on his real-life scrapes and survival skills. With his debut novel, The Dog Stars, Heller returned to fiction - his first love. As an expedition kayaker, Heller was already the author of many works of travel and outdoor-adventure writing. When Peter Heller sat down to work on his first novel, all he knew was that he wanted to have the experience of writing without knowing the ending. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Dog Stars Author Peter Heller

The dog stars peter heller review