Joe Hill (writer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joe Hill
Born	Joseph Hillstrom King 1972 (age 35–36) Maine, United States
Pen name	Joe Hill
Occupation	freelance writer
Nationality	United States
Writing period	2000-present
Genres	horror
Children	3
Relative(s)	Stephen King (father) Tabitha King (mother) Owen King (brother)
Influences Bernard Malamud
Signature
Official website http://www.joehillfiction.com

Joseph Hillstrom King (born June 1972, Hermon, Maine) is an American writer of fiction, writing under the pen name of Joe Hill.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Awards 3 Bibliography 3.1 Short stories 3.2 Anthology appearances 3.3 Miscellaneous credits 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Hill is the second child of authors Stephen and Tabitha King. He grew up in Bangor, Maine. His younger brother Owen is also a writer. Hill has three sons.

Hill chose to use an abbreviated form of his given name (a reference to executed labor leader Joe Hill, for whom he was named) in 1997, out of a desire to succeed based solely on his own merits instead of as the son of Stephen King. After achieving a degree of independent success, Hill publicly confirmed his identity in 2007 after an article the previous year in Variety broke his cover (although online speculation about Hill's family background had been appearing since 2005).^[1]

Joe Hill is a past recipient of the Ray Bradbury Fellowship. He has also received the William L. Crawford award for best new fantasy writer in 2006,^[2] the A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize in 1999 for "Better Than Home"^[3] and the 2006 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella for "Voluntary Committal". His stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, such as Subterranean Magazine, Postscripts and The High Plains Literary Review, and in many anthologies, including The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror (ed. Stephen Jones) and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant).

Hill's first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts published in 2005 by PS Publishing), showcases fourteen of his short stories and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, together with the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for "Best New Horror". In October 2007, Hill's mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.

Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins on February 13, 2007 and by Victor Gollancz Ltd in UK in March 2007. Simultaneous to these two editions, a limited edition of Heart-Shaped Box was also released by Subterranean Press; it sold out several months prior to publication. The novel reached number 8 on the New York Times bestseller list on April 1, 2007.^[4]

On September 23, 2007, at the thirty-first Fantasycon, the British Fantasy Society awarded Hill the first ever Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award. Hill's first professional sale was in 1997.

Among unpublished works is one partly completed with his father, "But Only Darkness Loves Me", which is held with the Stephen King papers at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond H Fogler Library at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.^[5]

Hill is also the author of Locke & Key, a new comic book series published by IDW Publishing. The first issue, released on February 20, 2008, sold out of its initial publication run in one day.^[6] A forthcoming collection of the series in limited form from Subterranean Press sold out within 24 hours of being announced.^[7]

His only screen appearance so far was aged 10 in the film Creepshow (1982) (dir. George Romero), which co-starred and was co-written by his father.

[edit] Awards

• "Better Than Home" (A.E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize)
• "Voluntary Committal" (World Fantasy Award for Best Novella)
• "20th Century Ghost" (Bradbury Fellowship)
• 20th Century Ghosts (Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection)
• 20th Century Ghosts (British Fantasy Award for Best Collection)
• 20th Century Ghosts (International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection)
• "Best New Horror" (British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story)
• "Best New Horror" (Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Story)
• Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award - 2007
• Heart-Shaped Box (Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel)

[edit] Bibliography

• 20th Century Ghosts (2005, collection)
• Heart-Shaped Box (2007)
• Pop Art (2007)
• Locke & Key (2008)—comic book series with artwork by Gabriel Rodriguez

[edit] Short stories

Dates by original magazine or anthology publication.

• "The Lady Rests" (1997), Palace Corbie 7
• "The Collaborators" (1998), Implosion 8
• "Better Than Home" (1999), A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize Series, stand-alone chapbook
• "The Saved" (2001), The Clackamas Literary Review spring/summer issue
• "Pop Art" (2001), With Signs & Wonders, anthology; 2007 Subterranean Press chapbook
• "20th Century Ghost" (2002), The High Plains Literary Review, journal's final issue
• "The Widow's Breakfast" (2002), The Clackamas Literary Review spring/summer issue
• "You Will Hear the Locust Sing" (2004), The Third Alternative 37
• "Abraham's Boys" (2004), The Many Faces of Van Helsing, anthology
• "The Black Phone" (2004), The Third Alternative 39
• "Dead-Wood" (2005), Subterranean Press February online newsletter
• "Last Breath" (2005), Subterranean Magazine 2
• "Best New Horror" (2005), Postscripts 3
• "Voluntary Committal" (2005), Subterranean Press stand-alone chapbook
• "In the Rundown" (2005), Crimewave 8
• "Scheherazade's Typewriter" (2005), 20th Century Ghosts, within the book's acknowledgments section
• "The Cape" (2005), 20th Century Ghosts, original to collection
• "My Father's Mask" (2005), 20th Century Ghosts, original to collection
• "Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead" (2005), Postscripts 5
• "Thumbprint" (2007), Postscripts 10
• "Jude Confronts Global Warming" (2007), Subterranean Press online magazine, spring issue
• "Throttle" (2009) written in collaboration with Stephen King, He Is Legend: Celebrating Richard Matheson forthcoming from Gauntlet Press in February 2009.
• "The Devil on the Staircase" (2009) forthcoming in February 2009 in the anthology STORIES edited by Al Sarrantonio and Neil Gaiman.

[edit] Anthology appearances

Below is a list of Hill's short fiction which has been reprinted.

• "20th Century Ghost": The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Volume Fourteen (2003), ed. Stephen Jones
• "My Father's Mask": The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 19th Annual Collection (2006), ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant
• "Best New Horror": The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Volume Seventeen (2006), ed. Stephen Jones
• "The Cape": Horror: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition (2006), ed. John Gregory Betancourt and Sean Wallace
• "Thumbprint": The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Volume Nineteen (2008), ed. Stephen Jones

[edit] Miscellaneous credits

• "Pop Art" was reprinted in 2007 by Subterranean Press as a chapbook featuring illustrations by Gahan Wilson. As well, 52 lettered (A-ZZ) hard covers and 150 numbered soft covered chapbooks were signed by Hill.^[8]
• "Fanboyz", a comic script, was written for Spider-Man Unlimited 8 (2005). The story was illustrated by Seth Fisher.
• "The Saved", first published in The Clackamas Review in 2001 and also as part of the bonus material included in the 2005 deluxe slipcased edition of 20th Century Ghosts, was reprinted in December 2007 as part of PS Publishing's annual Holiday Chapbook series, available, free of charge, to subcribers of the quarterly magazine Postscripts.
• "Thumbprint", first published in Postscripts #10 in 2007, will be reprinted as a chapbook to accompanying the anthology Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy to be published by Subterranean Press in summer 2008.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Personal website
• Review of 20th Century Ghosts by Gary Couzens
• Interview by John Joseph Adams - Part One and Part Two
• Joe Hill comments on the origins of the stories in 20th Century Ghosts
• February 2007 blog at Powells, featuring previously unpublished poetry and prose
• Read Heart-Shaped Box excerpt online