From my Writer's Almanac daily email:
It's the birthday of horror writer Joe Hill, born Joseph Hillstrom King in Hermon, Maine (1972). He's the author of three novels - Heart-Shaped Box(2007), Horns (2010), and NOS4A2 (2013) - and a collection of short stories,20th Century Ghosts (2005). Hill also writes comics, including the series Locke and Key (2008).
Hill was named after labor organizer Joe Hill. He's also the son of novelist Stephen King. He used a pen name because he wanted to see if he could make it as a writer on his own merit. "I had a powerful weapon on my side, and that weapon was failure," he said. "It was really easy to stay anonymous when I could barely get published." But an article in Variety revealed his true parentage in 2007. His younger brother, Owen, is also a writer.
NOS4A2 (pronounced "Nosferatu") (2013) is full of nods to his famous dad. "I thought, maybe I'd like to have fun with it," says Hill. "Instead of shying away from it and avoiding it like a dangerous infection, maybe it would be fun to goof on Stephen King a bit." He wrote a large portion of the book over the Christmas season, and had to listen to a lot of Christmas music while he wrote it, something that really annoyed him. He said, "I'm sure if you were going down to Hell in an elevator, the music playing would be the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album and it would speed up the farther you plunged." The novel features a vampire, but Hill says he's confused by vampires' recent popularity. "I don't understand the romance of vampires. They're bloated leeches that live in dirt. That doesn't strike me as the height of eroticism."
Hill's fourth novel, The Firemen, is due out next year.
Happy Birthday, Joe!
It's the birthday of horror writer Joe Hill, born Joseph Hillstrom King in Hermon, Maine (1972). He's the author of three novels - Heart-Shaped Box(2007), Horns (2010), and NOS4A2 (2013) - and a collection of short stories,20th Century Ghosts (2005). Hill also writes comics, including the series Locke and Key (2008).
Hill was named after labor organizer Joe Hill. He's also the son of novelist Stephen King. He used a pen name because he wanted to see if he could make it as a writer on his own merit. "I had a powerful weapon on my side, and that weapon was failure," he said. "It was really easy to stay anonymous when I could barely get published." But an article in Variety revealed his true parentage in 2007. His younger brother, Owen, is also a writer.
NOS4A2 (pronounced "Nosferatu") (2013) is full of nods to his famous dad. "I thought, maybe I'd like to have fun with it," says Hill. "Instead of shying away from it and avoiding it like a dangerous infection, maybe it would be fun to goof on Stephen King a bit." He wrote a large portion of the book over the Christmas season, and had to listen to a lot of Christmas music while he wrote it, something that really annoyed him. He said, "I'm sure if you were going down to Hell in an elevator, the music playing would be the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album and it would speed up the farther you plunged." The novel features a vampire, but Hill says he's confused by vampires' recent popularity. "I don't understand the romance of vampires. They're bloated leeches that live in dirt. That doesn't strike me as the height of eroticism."
Hill's fourth novel, The Firemen, is due out next year.
Happy Birthday, Joe!
