Joe Hill is the literary pseudonym of Joseph King, who is the son of the famous "king of horrors." Joe Hill is a recognized American writer who has received numerous awards for his work. He writes both great novels and modest-sized stories that invariably find their readers and are popular among literary critics.
In the family of the famous Stephen King at the beginning of summer - the 4th day - in 1972 a replenishment took place: a boy was born, who was named Joseph Hillstrom King. Later, he will take for himself a literary pseudonym - Joe Hill. The child was born in the town of Bangor, located in Maine, USA. Joseph became the middle child in this family. Joe has an older sister, whose name is Naomi, as well as a younger brother, Owen.
Joseph King (Joe Hill) Biography
The boy was lucky to be born in a very creative family. His father is a popular and sought-after horror writer whose works have been repeatedly filmed. Even the old works of Stephen King are still in great demand. Joe's mother is Tabitha King. She devoted her life to writing. By the way, Owen King in the end, too, chose his own path in literature.
Thanks to the atmosphere prevailing in the house, Joseph King gravitated towards literature from an early age. As a child, he had no doubt that in the future he would become a writer.
After graduating from high school, Joe Hill entered the local college without any problems, choosing the direction of English literature. As a result, getting higher education, he learned to correctly, intelligibly and competently express his thoughts on paper. It was during training that Joseph began to actively try himself in literary activity, creating his first small works.
It is worth noting that not only literary creativity was limited to Joe Hill's craving for art. So, for example, when the boy was about 12 years old, he played one of the background roles in the film "Kaleidoscope of Horrors". The script for this film production was developed and written by his father, Stephen King. However, the boy’s acting talents nevertheless faded into the background, giving way to a craving for writing.
It is officially believed that Joseph King began his independent work in the field of literature in 1995. At the same time, he just chose a pseudonym for himself. Why did it happen that it did not suit the young man in his name? Everything is extremely simple: Joseph wanted to achieve recognition in creative circles and popularity among the public solely on his own, and not through the connections and surname of his father. Therefore, he reduced his name to such a consonant and easily remembered pseudonym.
Writing career development
Despite the fact that the young author clearly had a natural talent for writing stories and novels, at first Joe Hill was published only in small publications (literary collections, newspapers, magazines), writing short but memorable texts.
Due to the fact that the texts of Joe Hill were written in the genre of mysticism, science fiction and horror, his stories were also able to get into some collections and anthologies on relevant topics.
At various times, the author’s works were published in:
- Postscripts
- The High Plains Literary Review;
- The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror.
It is worth noting that at the dawn of his career, Joe Hill, wanting to maintain anonymity and not disclose his relationship with Stephen King, received frequent rejections from leading American publishers, in which he sent his texts.
A turning point in Joseph's creative fate happened in 2005. He managed to agree with a major publisher PS Publishing on cooperation. The result of such an agreement was an independent collection of Hill's stories, which was called "Ghosts of the 20th Century." This book included as many as 14 works by a young talented author. Despite the fact that the collection was released for sale in a rather small circulation, for Joe Hill it was a breakthrough and personal success. In addition, reviews from readers and critics of his work were favorable.
Some time after the presentation of the collection, Joe Hill was nominated for the Bram Stocker Prize, which the young writer eventually received. This was a public recognition. In addition, the collection was awarded by the Brit Fantasy Award and the International Horror Guild Award. A number of separate stories from this book were also awarded leading literary prizes. The author received a separate recognition in 2006: he won the nomination "Best Beginning Science Fiction Author", which was awarded the William L. Crawford Award.
However, there was one conditionally negative moment against the backdrop of such a triumph. After the collection went on sale, Joe Hill could no longer hide his immediate relationship with Stephen King. However, in the end, this did not affect the beginner, but already recognized writer. After this, Joe began to actively maintain public relations with his father. Together, they even wrote a series of frightening stories that were enthusiastically received by literary critics and the public.
In early 2007, Joe Hill released his first voluminous novel, The Heart-shaped Box. Even before this work fell into the hands of critics and fans, one of the leading American studios bought the rights to it, planning to make a television movie.
Three years later, the light saw a new voluminous work of the writer - "Horns". In 2013, this work was filmed. But the film as a result did not receive wide publicity.
In 2010, Joe Hill wrote a new novel, NOS4A2 (Nosferatu). It should be noted that in Russian publishers the name was translated as "Country of Christmas". Four years later, this work received an award from the Lord Rutven Prize. For 2019, the release of the series is planned based on the novel.
A new collection of stories by a talented writer was released in 2015. And a year later, fans of Joe Hill's work rejoiced in yet another new book - The Fireman. This work should soon become a film.
At the moment, it is known that Joe Hill is preparing to release two works at once. The first is a collection of short stories. The second is the novel "Gunpowder." In both cases, release dates have not yet been announced.
Joe Hill during his career managed to try himself as a comic book writer. He has worked on projects such as Lockey Keys and Anger: Welcome to the Country of Christmas. In addition, the writer since 2010 is somewhat passionate about poetry.
