Joe Hill, Joseph Hillstrom King, is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman, Heart-Shaped Box, and Strange Weather. Much of his work has been adapted for film and television. His second novel, Horns, was made into a cult horror-comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe; his third novel, NOS4A2, was adapted for television by AMC, and featured Zachary Quinto; his short story The Black Phone was adapted for the big screen by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, and starred Ethan Hawke. In 2007, he co-created the long-running comic book Locke & Key, with artistic maestro Gabriel Rodriguez; in 2011 Hill won the Eisner Award (Best Writer) for his work on the series. The six books in the Locke & Key saga formed the basis for a hit TV series on Netflix. A seventh volume, published in 2022, married the world of Locke & Key to the epic Sandman universe.
Hill’s other works include the short fiction collection Full Throttle and several graphic novels: Basketful of Heads, Plunge, Sea Dogs, Dying is Easy, and Wraith (which continues the story of NOS4A2’s Charlie Manx).
His snapshots occasionally pop up over on Instagram. He has a largely inactive Twitter account. Probably the best way to keep up with news about past, present, and future projects and events is to follow his blog and subscribe to his newsletter. The blog, Hill’s House, can be found right here, and you can sign up for the newsletter, Escape Hatch, in the form conveniently located here:
At age 9, Hill appeared in the 1982 film Creepshow, directed by George A. Romero, which co-starred and was written by his father! Yes, Joe is the son of authors Stephen and Tabitha King. He was born in Hermon, Maine, and grew up in Bangor, Maine. Joe 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, one of the world’s best-selling and most-recognized living novelists. 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).