| Author | Message | ||
     Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.3 |
Is really author Joe Hill, as I read somewhere, the son of Stephen King, in the family sense, not merely metaphorical? | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Yes. he also appears aged 13 in the film Creepshow in the linking segments as the boy reading the comic | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
He is indeed. Believe me, in person he couldn't pass for anyone else. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Yes, it was when I saw his author photo I realised - doodle a pair of glasses on it and he's a dead ringer for his dad! I think his full name is Joseph Hillstrom King - hence he shortened it to Hill so people wouldn't accuse him of using his name to get published. And someone once pointed out to me that if he was called Joe King no-one would take him seriously!  (joking - get it?) Personally, I reckon he's a better writer than his dad. His mother is a writer too of course, so there's a lot of writing pedigree there. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.230 |
>>Personally, I reckon he's a better writer than his dad. Bit soon to say that, innit? | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.230 |
I met Joe Hill at FCon 07 and recall saying to Gary Mc that he's a dead ringer for King. We both laughed it off, thinking that it was just too ridiculous to be true. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
And let's not forget Joe's brother Owen: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Were-All-This-Together-Novella/dp/0571227252/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247568960&sr=1-1 | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.230 |
My mate James Cooper reckons Owen's superb. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
What do Rice Miller and Joe Hillstrom King have in common? Answer: they have both taken on the name of a murdered man – in the first case, musician Sonny Boy Williamson. The Phil Ochs song 'Joe Hill' is a classic, echoing Steinbeck and Guthrie in its use of a ghost to identify a political tradition. The living Joe Hill's story 'Thumbprint', among others, reflects his radical conscience. This is arguably as significant a connection for the reader as his connection to Stephen King. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.163.6.13 |
I just got the final comic issue of the second arc of Lock and Key. I liked the first arc a little more, but enjoyed it none the less. Still think that 20th Century Ghosts was a wonderful collection- especially stories like Pop Art and Best New Horror. The BBC were streaming the Pop Art short film adaptation recently on their website. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.163.6.13 |
Anyone here read their collaboration, a novella called Throttle?-I think- Was that a Matheson tribute?- any good - anyone? | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>Personally, I reckon he's a better writer than his dad. Bit soon to say that, innit?<< Well, that's just based on what I've read so far of Hill's work and comparing it with recent King's. I do enjoy some Stephen King books, but I reckon he's lost it a bit in recent years. Hill seemed fresh and new. I didn't realise there was another son writing too!  | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
I get you, Caroline. But I would say that on the strength of The Shining, Misery and Apt Pupil (to mention but three), the boy's got some way to go put daddy to shame. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
I'm getting all King nostalgic at the moment: rereading stuff I first read nearly 20 years ago. Interesting experience. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Much as I loved Heart Shaped Box, I'd be hard pushed to choose which was best between that and Salems Lot or The Shining or most of King's early stuff. His later stuff - yes - HSB does beat a lot of that. But on top form, King is the ... erm... King | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
I love King, but Hill just bores me, I'm afraid. In 20th Century Ghosts, the title story and "Best New Horror" were overlong but good, imo, and the rest was just tedious, particularly that interminable story about the inflatable boy. I haven't tried Heart Shaped Box, though, so maybe I'm missing his good stuff. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.198 |
I wasn't as overwhelmed by 20th Centruy Ghosts as many have been, either. But I did love 'Pop Art'. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.163.6.13 |
If I remember correctly at the time that Pet Sematery came out, King had the top five spots on the NY times bestseller lists- I don't think anyone has ever done that- I don't think Rowling or Meyer have managed that either. BTW I agree with King that Rowling can write, Meyer can't. I think people sometimes don't realize what a wonderful imagination King has- his ideas might be sort of basic/primal- killer car- etc, but still a vast body of imaginative work with living breathing characters- 50 novels now, so not really fair to compare with the sons' work- and bless Hill for doing it his own way, without the King name, atleast at first- I think he announced his next novel- Horns. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.71 |
Owen King's novella is very, very good. I preferred it to Joe Hill's novel. But that's a matter of taste. Both pieces still had their father's DNA in them: Owen's the mainstream Different Seasons kind of drawl, Joe Hill's the Bachman-esque horror, I thought. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.210.209.176 |
Throttle (their collaboration from HE IS LEGEND) is pure Stephen King. I couldn't see any Joe Hill in there. It's straightforward enough, although I'd be surprised if it'd been written just because of the invitation from Chris Conlon to contribute. | ||
| Steveduffy (Steveduffy) Username: Steveduffy Registered: 05-2009 Posted From: 86.159.105.54 |
I was really impressed with 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS, and particularly with "Pop Art". That boy bears watching. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.118.211 |
I definately enjoyed 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS. Voluntary committal was my favourite. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.220.106 |
I particularly loved 'Twentieth-Century Ghost', 'The Black Phone' and 'Voluntary Committal'. I was also stunned by 'Thumbprint'. Let's drop the father-son comparisions and just groove behind Joe Hill. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.180.83 |
I need to read some more Joe Hill. All I've read so far is 'Twentieth Century Ghost' and an 11-page Spider-Man strip he wrote before his secret got out. |