He arkness
‘l FELT LIKE I WAS BEING BLOGGED TO DEATH'
He might be the King of Horror’s offspring, but Joe Hill tells Brian Donaldson that striking out on his own would prove to be his passport out of literary misery
ne of the biggest skeletons in literature
popped out of the cupboard earlier this year
when Joe Hill's true identity as Stephen King‘s son was unveiled. Having ploughed away secretly for over a decade as writer and editor of short stories (most notably 20th Century (i/msrsl. once he hit the publicity trail for his debut novel Heuri- Shaped Box. the mask began to slip. ‘I sound like Bruce Wayne or something.‘ he tells me from his New Hampshire home in an accent which wouldn't have sounded out of place on the set of Fargo. 'My publishers didn‘t know who I really was but when I started to do readings and signings. l felt like I was being blogged to death. People started to mutter on those message boards: “hey. who do you think he looks like?”
Joseph Hillstrom King kept his surname close to his chest for reasons both practical and honourable. ‘I needed to know that my stories could sell on their own merit and I think most writers need to make their mistakes in private: the pressures of being a famous guy's son would probably not have been helpful.‘ King Snr and Hill‘s wife are his tnost trusted critics. both having an uncanny knack of picking out the same things he should change or keep on any given page. A couple of years ago. they finished books in the satne week and swapped manuscripts. ‘llis got published a little earlier than tne because he‘s on a slightly faster publishing track than me.‘ Hill states with a hint of amused pride.
The beard and the voice are the biggest giveaways but once you start to peel the pages of Heart-Shaped
28 THE LIST 15—29 Mar 2007
But. the addictive nature of the writing that has made Stephen King among the most famous living writers in the world has clearly been handed down (Hill‘s brother ()wen King wrote a short story collection llr'e're All in This 'Iiigei/rer in 2005). In lleuri-S/mper/ Box an ageing grunge star. Judas (‘oyne. buys a ghost on eBay. but it soon transpires that the seller ensured (‘oyne‘s bid would be victorious. The spectre is (‘raddock McDermott. the stepfather of a wotnan who comtnitted suicide after breaking up with (‘oyne and who is now hell-bent on making his life a nightmare.
()riginally intended as a short story entitled ‘Private Collection. Hill quickly realised that there was flesh to he slapped onto the tales creepy bones. ‘I figured that Jude would order the ghost online as a stunt and that the ghost would eat him for breakfast. But what then happened is that Jude refused to lay down and die on schedule and I got more interested in how he wound up this angry. isolated person with all this money and no friends.‘ Soon though. as both characters are revealed. we realise that (‘raddock is less of the avenging angel that he initially seems.
‘As a writer. I believe in ghosts.‘ Hill states. ‘I think they are a tremendous metaphor for that idea about how the past stains the present. You can’t ever live free of the things that have gone before you. But in terms of real life. I think the evidence for them is shaky at best. Mind you. I wouldn‘t sleep in a graveyard.‘
Heart-Shaped Box is published by Gollancz on Thu 22 Mar
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THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS
* Steven Hall A cult legend in the making, The Raw Shark Texts somehow connects the missing link between The Matrix and Jaws with guile and panache. This is your chance to discover how the author managed it. Borders Books, Glasgow, Thu 75 Mar
>l< Hugh Macharmid Lecture As part of the International Poetry Day shebang, Douglas Dunn delivers a spoken thesis on the work of Edwin Muir, the important Orcadian poet, translator and novelist. Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh, Wed 21 Mar.
>i< Four Book Launch A quartet of poetry publications are released, namely a pair of Robert Burns and a duet of Edwin Morgans. Glasgow Uni‘s Alan Riach steers the launching. Borders Books, Glasgow, Wed 28 Mar.
* Joe Hill The supreme master of horror’s kid does more than his bit at keeping the hellish heritage going. See preview, left. Gollancz.
* Edwin Morgan The grand old chap of Scottish poetry brings us A Book of Lives in which he writes about the bloodshed of Bannockburn, the blue glow of the big bang and travels metaphorically to the Scottish Parliament and Palestine. See review, page 29. Carcanet.
>i< Rene Weis Just who exactly was William Shakespeare? In his revealing biography, Weis throws himself deep into the Bard‘s work for evidence. See review, page 29. John Murray.
>l< Frank Miller & Lynn Varley A thoroughly cinematic graphic novella, 300 is about the battle between a small band of Spartan warriors and a massive army of Persian invaders. The forthcoming movie will have to go some to equal the vivid brutality on show here. See review, page 80. Dark Horse.