Joe Hill
Personal Information
Description
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). 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, the A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize in 1999 for "Better Than Home" 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. 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 Among unpublished works is one partly completed with his father, "But Only Darkness Loves Me", which is held with the Stephen King papers at the Special Collections Unit of the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. 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. A forthcoming collection of the series in limited form from Subterranean Press sold out within 24 hours of being announced. 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.
Books
Locke & Key, Vol. 1
Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them. Home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all...
Smoke and mirrors
The letters of Joe Hill
This book consists of an introduction about the life of Joe Hill, written by the editor, Philip S. Foner; letters by Joe Hill written between September 15, 1914, and November 18, 1915; the Last Will of Joe Hill; 12 songs by Joe Hill; and a bibliography. The letters by Joe Hill are written to the following persons: Sam Murray; Katie Phar; Dear Gus, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Ed Rowan and F.W.S., O.N.Hilton, William D. Haywood, Editor the Salt Lake Telegram, Oscar W.Larson, Ben Williams, W.A.F. Ekengren, Utah Board of Pardons, O.N. Hilton, James Rohn, Frisco Local
Locke & Key, Vol. 5
Tyler and Kinsey Locke have no idea that their now-deceased nemesis—Lucas "Dodge" Caravaggio—has taken over the body of their younger brother, Bode. With unrestricted access to Keyhouse, Dodge's ruthless quest to find the Omega Key and open the Black Door is almost complete. But Tyler and Kinsey have a dangerous key of their own—one that can unlock all the secrets of Keyhouse by opening a gateway to the past. The time has come for the Lockes to face both their own legacy and the darkness waiting behind the Black Door. Because if they don't learn from their family history, they may be doomed to repeat it, and time is running out...
Door Number Four
Donald S. Crowley was a CPA by day; a bean counter; a number cruncher and a certified bore. By night he was as stimulating as the hero in his latest read with all the social skills of a brick and to make matters worse he was in love with a door. Not just any door, number four was special. Her alluring smile had caught Donald's eye when he was just a boy and she called him by name. Despite years of therapy and medications she still called to him. Now he would risk his life to see her again and to finally know what lay behind Door Number IIII.
Stories
Briefly discusses different types of stories and encourages the reader to complete and compose stories.
Basketful of Heads (Hill House Comics)
June Branch visits her boyfriend, Liam, on Brody Island for a relaxing last weekend of summer. After an escaped group of criminals breaks into the house that June and Liam are watching, Liam is taken by them. June grabs a strange Viking axe and flees from the intruders. When one of the attackers finds her, she swings the axe and takes off his head, which rolls away and begins to babble in terror. For June to uncover the truth, she'll need to hear the facts straight from the mouths of her attackers, with... or without their bodies attached.
NOS4R2
Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.” Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.
Flight or Fright
Cargo / E. Michael Lewis -- Horror of the heights / Arthur Conan Doyle -- Nightmare at 20,000 feet / Richard Matheson -- Flying machine / Ambrose Bierce -- Lucifer! / E.C. Tubb -- Fifth category / Tom Bissell -- Two minutes forty-five seconds / Dan Simmons -- Diablitos / Cody Goodfellow, Cody -- Air raid / John Varley -- You are released / Joe Hill -- Warbirds / David J. Schow -- The flying machine / Ray Bradbury -- Zombies on a plane / Bev Vincent -- [They shall not grow old]( / Roald Dahl -- Murder in the air / Peter Tremayne -- The turbulance expert / Stephen King -- Falling / James Dickey -- Afterword: an important message from the flight deck / Bev Vincent.