Joe Hill

Joseph Hillstrom King (born 1972), better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. 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 rather than 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's first stories appeared in a variety of magazines. He was a recipient of the Ray Bradbury Fellowship (”20th Century Ghost”, 2002). He also received 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”.

Hill's first book, the collection 20th Century Ghosts published in 2005, 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”.

Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, was published on 2007. Same year the British Fantasy Society awarded Hill the Best Newcomer Award.