Joe Hill is the literary pseudonym of Joseph King, who is the son of the famous "king of horrors." Joe Hill is an acclaimed American writer who has received numerous awards for his work. He writes both large novels and modest stories, which invariably find their readers and are popular among literary critics.
In the family of the famous Stephen King at the beginning of summer - on the 4th - in 1972, a replenishment happened: a boy was born, who was named Joseph Hillstrom King. He would later take on 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 named Naomi and a younger brother, Owen.
Biography of Joseph King (Joe Hill)
The boy was lucky to be born into a very creative family. His father is a popular and sought-after horror writer, whose works have been filmed many times. 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 eventually chose his path in literature as well.
Due to the atmosphere prevailing in the house, Joseph King gravitated towards literature from an early age. Even as a child, he had no doubt that in the future he would become a writer.
After graduating from high school, Joe Hill entered a local college without any problems, choosing the direction of English literature. As a result, while getting higher education, he learned to correctly, intelligibly and competently express his thoughts on paper. It was during his studies that Joseph begins to actively try himself in literary activity, creates his first small works.
It should be noted 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 eventually faded into the background, giving way to a craving for writing.
It is officially believed that Joseph King began his independent career in the field of literature in 1995. At the same time, he just chose a pseudonym for himself. Why did it happen that the young man did not like 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 with the help of his father's connections and surname. Therefore, he shortened his name to such a consonant and easy to remember pseudonym.
Writing career development
Despite the fact that the young author definitely had a natural talent for writing stories and novels, at first Joe Hill published only in small editions (literary collections, newspapers, magazines), writing short but memorable texts.
Due to the fact that Joe Hill's texts were written in the genres 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, wishing to remain anonymous and not reveal his relationship with Stephen King, received frequent refusals from leading American publishers to which he sent his texts.
The turning point in Joseph's creative life happened in 2005. He managed to negotiate cooperation with a large publishing house PS Publishing. The result of this agreement was an independent collection of Hill's stories, which was named "Ghosts of the XX 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 have been favorable.
Some time after the presentation of the collection, Joe Hill was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, which in the end the young writer received. This was public recognition. In addition, the compilation was awarded the Brit Fantasy Award and the International Horror Guild Award. A number of individual stories from this book have also received leading literary awards. The author received special recognition in 2006: he became the winner in the nomination "Best Emerging Science Fiction Writer", which was awarded to the William L. Crawford Award.
However, there was also one conditionally negative moment against the background of such a triumph. After the collection went on sale, Joe Hill could no longer hide his direct relationship with Stephen King. However, in the end, this did not negatively 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, Heart-Shaped Box. Even before the 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, a new voluminous work of the writer - "Horns" saw the light. In 2013, this work was filmed. But the film didn’t get much publicity in the end.
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 piece received an award from the Lord Ruthven Prize. A series based on the novel is scheduled for 2019.
A new collection of stories by the talented writer was released in 2015. A year later, fans of Joe Hill's creativity were delighted with another new book - "Firefighter". This work should soon become a film.
At the moment, it is known that Joe Hill is preparing two works for release at once. The first is a collection of short stories. The second is the novel Gunpowder. In both cases, no release dates have been announced yet.
Joe Hill managed to try himself as a comic book writer during his career. He has worked on projects such as Locke's Keys and Wrath: Welcome to the Land of Christmas. In addition, since 2010, the writer is to some extent passionate about poetry.
Family, personal life and relationships
It is known that in 1999 Joseph became the husband of a girl named Riley Dixon. In this marriage, a boy was born - Ethan King. But, unfortunately, in 2010, the relationship between Joe and Riley ended, the couple divorced.
At the moment, the writer lives in the United States, in the New England region. He does not have a new lover yet.
