Joseph Hillström King (born June 4, 1972), better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American writer. His work includes the novels Heart-Shaped Box (2007), Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), The Fireman (2016) and King Sorrow (2025); the short story collections 20th Century Ghosts (2005) and Strange Weather (2017); and the comic book series Locke & Key (2008–2013). Hill has won numerous awards including Bram Stoker Awards, British Fantasy Awards, and an Eisner Award.
Early life Joe Hill was born in 1972 to authors Tabitha King (née Spruce) and Stephen King. He was born and grew up in Bangor, Maine. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer, and his older sibling Naomi King is a Unitarian minister.
At age nine, he appeared in the 1982 film Creepshow, directed by George A. Romero, which co-starred and was written by his father.
Career Hill chose to use an abbreviated form of his middle name for his professional surname in 1997, out of a desire to succeed based solely on his own merits rather than as the son of 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, the year his first novel came out, after an article the previous year in Variety reported his identity."Secret of Horror Writer's Lineage Broken" , Associated Press March 17, 2007
Hill is a recipient of the Ray Bradbury Fellowship. He has also received the William L. Crawford award for best new fantasy writer in 2006,Excerpts from interview in July 2006 "Locus" the A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize in 1999 for "Better Than Home", and the 2006 World Fantasy Award—Novella for "Voluntary Committal". His stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, such as Subterranean Magazine, Postscripts and The High Plains Literary Review, and in many anthologies, including The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror (ed. Stephen Jones) and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant).
Hill's first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts (published in 2005 by PS Publishing), 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". In October 2007, Hill's mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.
Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in February, 2007 and by Victor Gollancz Ltd in UK the following month. The novel reached number eight on the New York Times bestseller list on April 1, 2007.NYT Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list (registration only) In September, 2007, at the thirty-first Fantasycon, the British Fantasy Society awarded Hill the first ever Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award. In 2008, Hill's comic book series Locke & Key was released. The first issue, released on February 20, 2008, sold out its initial publication run in one day.Fantasy-Horror Comic Locke & Key Sold Out in One Day (press release), Comics Bulletin, February 21, 2008 A collection of the series in limited form from Subterranean Press sold out within 24 hours of being announced.Limited and Lettered LOCKE & KEY by Joe Hill Sold Out , November 24, 2007
Hill's second novel, Horns, was published in February 2010. A film based on the novel was released in 2014, directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple. NOS4A2, his third novel, was published in April 2013. The novel peaked at number five on the New York Times Best Seller list. Hill's fourth novel, The Fireman, was released in May 2016. It entered the New York Times Best Seller list at number one, making it his highest-ranked novel.
In 2019, In the Tall Grass, co-written with his father Stephen King, was released as a Netflix Original film. Filming for the Locke & Key TV series, also by Netflix, began in the middle of January 2019 and the first season aired in February 2020. AMC began broadcasting a TV series of NOS4A2 in July 2019. The first season of Creepshow, released in September 2019, featured an adaptation of Hill's short story "By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain".
Following DC Comics's announcement in June 2019 that it would suspend publication of its Vertigo Comics imprint, they announced that Hill would oversee and share the writing for a new horror line, Hill House Comics. which Hill had begun discussing with editor Mark Doyle in 2017. The line was originally to be titled Vertigo Fall, then Joe Hill's Vertigo Fall, before being given its eventual name.
Among Hill's unpublished works is one partly completed story with his father ("But Only Darkness Loves Me"), which is held with the Stephen King papers at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond H Fogler Library at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.Rocky Wood, et al.: "Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished", Abingdon, Maryland: Cemetery Dance Publications, 2006, p. 110
Personal life
In 1999, Joe Hill married Leanora Legrand, whom he met at Vassar College. They have three children. The couple divorced in 2010.
In 2018, he married British publisher Gillian Redfearn. Their twins were born in 2022.
Awards + Awards for Joe Hill Work Year & AwardCategory Result Ref.Better Than Home2000 A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize My Father's Mask2005 International Horror Guild AwardIntermediate FormVoluntary Committal2005 International Horror Guild AwardLong Fiction2006 Locus AwardNovella2006 British Fantasy AwardNovella2006 World Fantasy AwardNovella20th Century Ghosts2005 International Horror Guild AwardCollection2005 Bram Stoker AwardFiction Collection2006 Locus AwardCollection2006 British Fantasy AwardCollection2006 Crawford AwardNew Fantasy Writer2006 World Fantasy AwardCollection2008 Audie AwardsShort Stories or Collections2010 Tähtifantasia AwardBest New Horror2005 Bram Stoker AwardLong Fiction2006 Locus AwardShort Story2006 British Fantasy AwardShort Story2006 World Fantasy AwardShort FictionThe Black Phone2005 British Fantasy AwardShort FictionYou Will Hear the Locust Sing2005 British Fantasy AwardShort FictionHeart-Shaped Box2007 Bram Stoker AwardFirst Novel2007 Bram Stoker AwardNovel2007 Black Quill AwardDark Genre Novel (Reader's Choice)2008 Macavity AwardsFirst Mystery Novel2008 Locus AwardFirst Novel2008 British Fantasy AwardAugust Derleth Award2008 Audie AwardsThriller or Suspense2008 International Thriller Writers AwardFirst NovelThumbprint2007 Shirley Jackson AwardNovelette2008 British Fantasy AwardShort FictionLocke & Key (with Gabriel Rodriguez)2008 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror AwardBest Horror Comic Book2009 Eisner AwardsBest Writer2009 British Fantasy AwardComic/Graphic Novel2011 Eisner AwardsBest Writer2012 British Fantasy AwardComic/Graphic Novel2015 Mythopoeic AwardsAdult Literature2016 Audie AwardsOriginal WorkGunpowder2009 British Fantasy AwardNovellaBobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead2010 Tähtifantasia AwardHorns2010 Bram Stoker AwardNovel2011 RUSA CODES Reading ListHorror2011 Locus AwardFantasy NovelThe Cape2011 Eisner AwardSingle Issue/One-ShotLocke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom #1: Sparrow2011 Eisner AwardsSingle Issue/One-ShotLocke and Key, Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom (with Gabriel Rodriguez)2011 Goodreads Choice AwardsGraphic Novels & Comics2011 Bram Stoker AwardGraphic Novel2012 Hugo AwardGraphic Story2012 British Fantasy AwardComic/Graphic NovelLocke & Key: Guide to the Known Keys2012 Eisner AwardsSingle Issue/One-ShotLocke and Key, Vol. 5: Clockworks (with Gabriel Rodriguez)2012 Goodreads Choice AwardsGraphic Novels & Comics2013 Hugo AwardGraphic StoryNOS4A22013 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorror2013 Bram Stoker AwardNovel2014 British Fantasy AwardAugust Derleth Award2014 Locus AwardFantasy Novel2014 Lord Ruthven AwardFictionThe Devil on the Staircase2013 FantLab's Book of the Year AwardTranslated Novella or Short StoryLocke & Key Vol. 6: Alpha and Omega (with Gabriel Rodriguez)2014 Bram Stoker AwardGraphic Novel2014 Goodreads Choice AwardsGraphic Novels & ComicsThe Fireman2016 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorror2017 Locus AwardHorror Novel2017 RUSA CODES Reading ListHorror2018 Premio IgnotusForeign NovelStrange Weather2017 Bram Stoker AwardFiction Collection2017 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorror2018 Locus AwardCollection2018 British Fantasy AwardCollectionYou Are Released2018 Bram Stoker AwardLong FictionFull Throttle2019 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorror2020 Audie AwardsShort Stories or Collections2020 Locus AwardCollectionBasketful of Heads2020 Goodreads Choice AwardsGraphic Novels & ComicsBasketful of Heads #12020 British Fantasy AwardComic/Graphic NovelLate Returns2020 Locus AwardNovelette2020 Shirley Jackson AwardNovellaRain2023 Eisner AwardsAdaptation from Another MediumThe Pram2024 Shirley Jackson AwardNoveletteKing Sorrow2025 Bram Stoker AwardBest Novel2026 Dragon AwardsHorror Novel 2007 British Fantasy AwardSydney J. Bounds Award Best Newcomer
Bibliography
Novels Heart-Shaped Box (2007) Horns (2010) NOS4A2 (2013) (published as NOS4R2 in the United Kingdom) The Fireman (2016) King Sorrow (2025) Hunger (2027)
Short stories All short stories All short stories (dates by original magazine or anthology publication): "The Lady Rests" (1997), Palace Corbie 7 "The Collaborators" (1998), Implosion 8 "Better Than Home" (1999), A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize Series, stand-alone chapbook "The Saved" (2001), The Clackamas Literary Review spring/summer issue "Pop Art" (2001), With Signs & Wonders, Invisible Cities Press anthology "20th Century Ghost" (2002), The High Plains Literary Review, journal's final issue "The Widow's Breakfast" (2002), The Clackamas Literary Review spring/summer issue "You Will Hear the Locust Sing" (2004), The Third Alternative 37 "Abraham's Boys" (2004), The Many Faces of Van Helsing, anthology "The Black Phone" (2004), The Third Alternative 39 "Dead-Wood" (2005), Subterranean Press February online newsletter "Last Breath" (2005), Subterranean Magazine 2 "Best New Horror" (2005), Postscripts 3 "Voluntary Committal" (2005), Subterranean Press stand-alone chapbook "In the Rundown" (2005), Crimewave 8 "Scheherazade's Typewriter" (2005), 20th Century Ghosts, within the book's acknowledgments section "The Cape" (2005), 20th Century Ghosts, original to collection "My Father's Mask" (2005), 20th Century Ghosts, original to collection "Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead" (2005), Postscripts 5 "Thumbprint" (2007), Postscripts 10 "Jude Confronts Global Warming" (2007), Subterranean Press online magazine, spring issue "Gunpowder" (2008), PS Publishing stand-alone novella "Throttle" (2009, written in collaboration with Stephen King), He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson (also included in the audiobook Road Rage) "Twittering from the Circus of the Dead" (2010), The New Dead, edited by Christopher Golden "The Devil on the Staircase" (2010), Stories: All-New Tales, edited by Al Sarrantonio and Neil Gaiman "Wolverton Station" (2011), Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2, edited by William Schafer "In the Tall Grass" (2012, written in collaboration with Stephen King), Esquire, June/July and August issues "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain" (2012), Shadow Show: All New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, edited by Mort Castle and Sam Weller "Snapshot, 1988" (2016); or "Snapshot" (2017), Strange Weather 1 "Loaded" (2017), Strange Weather 2 "Aloft" (2017), Strange Weather 3 "Rain" (2017), Strange Weather 4 "All I Care About Is You" (2017), The Weight of Words, edited by Dave McKean and William Schafer "Dark Carousel" (2018), vinyl-first audiobook (Collected in Full Throttle) "You Are Released" (2018), Flight or Fright, edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent "Faun" (2019), At Home in the Dark, edited by Lawrence Block "Late Returns", collected in Full Throttle