Joe Hill (Joseph Hillstrom King) born June 4, 1972, is an American writer who debuted with the book 20th Century Ghost in 2005.
His connection to Stephen King is that he is King’s oldest son. Father and son has collaborated on two stories, In The Tall Grass and Throttle.
BOOKS
20th Century Ghosts (2005) Heart-Shaped Box (2007) Horns (2010) NOS4A2 (2013) The Fireman (2016) Strange Weather (2017) Full Throttle (2019) King Sorrow (2025)
MOVIES Horns (2013) film In the Tall Grass (2019) film NOS4R2 (2019–2020) TV series Locke & Key (2020–2022) TV series Netflix (unaired pilot for Fox (2011), unaired(?!?!) pilot for Hulu (2017)) The Black Phone (2021) film Abraham’s Boys (2025) film
Here is my inteview with Joe Hill. In it we talk about his new book King Sorrow, his upcoming book Hunger and Stephen King among other things.
Yeah, so Hunger is in one sense the kind of story I feel very comfortable writing. It’s a ghost story and it’s very much a horror novel. In some way the last third of the book is THE most horror novel I have ever written, you know the most, goes the deepest into the sort of horror genre. In another sense though it’s way outside my comfort zone.
The day I met Joe Hill was in late October this year, 2025, in London. Joe was there to promote his book King Sorrow, and I was there to interview him and hopefully get a copy signed and a photo taken with him. I was traveling light and figured I’d get a copy of the book to bring with me to our meeting once I got to London. I would be there two days before I was scheduled to meet him, so I thought that would be an easy fix.
On Thursday (I was scheduled to meet him on Friday at 4:30 PM), I set out to get my copy, and I thought that Forbidden Planet, where I would meet up with him the day after, would be a great place to get a copy of the book. I would also get a chance to check out the place so I’d know where I was going and what it looked like the next day. Well, that was what I thought. Once I got there, I couldn’t find the book in the store anywhere, and I thought it must be me looking in the wrong place. The man is scheduled to be there the next day to sign his book. He can’t do that if they don’t have the book, right? Well, I asked a gentleman who worked there if they had it, and he went to look for it. When he came back, he said, “Sorry, but I can’t sell you the book. There is a signing tomorrow between 5 PM and 7 PM, and then after that we will sell any leftovers that we have, so you can come back then.”
Well, OK, I thought. I can understand that they want to have books in stock for everyone that had bought a ticket for the signing, which I hadn’t. But I didn’t sweat it. London is huge and filled with bookstores. I was sure I’d find one that had the book.
During the rest of that day I didn’t run into a single bookstore that had the book, and I started to get stressed out. I couldn’t miss the chance to get a book signed in person when I was meeting Joe Hill. So that evening I went online, and at Waterstones on Piccadilly I found one. I ordered it for Click & Collect, and a couple of hours later I got an email that the book was ready for me to pick up.
During Friday I did a bit of sightseeing and happened to run into another Waterstones bookstore. I decided to see if the book was available there, and if so, I could buy it there, cancel my other one, and save me the extra trip to collect it. They had one copy in the back that they got for me after almost five minutes of searching for it. Only problem with that was that it was already signed. Good thing I noticed. It would have been strange to arrive with a book already signed by Joe, asking him to sign it. So, on my way to Forbidden Planet, I stopped by Waterstones at Piccadilly, and thank God they had the book. It wasn’t already signed, and they allowed me to buy it. With the book in hand, I headed for Forbidden Planet and my meeting with Joe. Of course, it started to rain the second I stepped outside the bookstore. But I was prepared. I had my umbrella, and I had my plastic bag to put the book in, and both I and the book arrived safely.
I had gotten instructions from Caitlin from Joe’s publisher to wait by the main entrance at 4:15, and she would come and get me. I was there by 4:13 and waited. By 4:20 I was still waiting and got a bit nervous that I had gotten it wrong and was supposed to wait somewhere else. I texted her, and she said Joe hadn’t arrived yet, but that she would come and get me as soon as he had. Puh, I was at the right place, I was at the right spot, and at the right time. So, I waited. After a while I heard a familiar voice. “Should I just go down there? OK.” When I looked up, it was Joe himself entering the store like any shopper would, checking where he was supposed to be with the clerk, and then went past me and down one floor. It felt so unreal that I didn’t even react. I just looked at him as he passed. And in fact, no one else seemed to realize that Joe Hill had just passed them. Very strange. I waited some more, but now I wasn’t nervous that I was in the wrong place — now I started to get a bit nervous that there wouldn’t be time for me to interview him before he was due upstairs to sign books for everyone that was lining up.
While I waited, I met some people I knew and some I didn’t know before but got to know then, and then it was time. Caitlin fetched me, and we went downstairs and into a backroom where I was told to wait — Joe was on his way.
When he arrived, there were also a few of the staff with him carrying books. Those were the staff’s books that Joe was asked to sign, and he did. I quickly understood that Joe is one of those authors that really takes the time to sign a book — he doesn’t just scribble his name and be done with it. I didn’t see what he wrote, but I did see that he took the time to sign and dedicate each and every one of the books. Just like we fans want it. Then it was my turn. My turn to interview Joe Hill face to face.
The interview went great, and Joe answered all my questions, and not once, even though there were a lot of fans waiting to get their books signed one floor up, did Joe feel stressed or make me feel like I had to hurry up with my questions. He took the time to answer everything, and he was a joy to interview.
Once I was done, I asked if he had time to sign my copy of King Sorrow, which he did. As with all the other copies I saw him sign, he didn’t just sign his name but also wrote a great inscription and he drew a dragon. After that we took a picture, I thanked him for everything, and he went upstairs to sign books and chat with his fans for two hours. I can only hope that all of you had the same good experience as I did.
Big thanks to Joe and Caitlin for making this happen. I really appreciate it.
Joe Hill just did a great interview with The Loser’s Club and quite a lot of news and interesting info was revealed.
Joe revealed that the first story his dad wrote for him was called something like Joe and Naomi in the Fart Cookies of Death. My guess is that it was The King Family and the Wicked Witch that involves a witch that begins farting so explosively that she blows herself to the moon. The first real Stephen King book he read was IT and that he read it in manuscript form that was about 200 pages longer than the finished book.
As for Joe’s upcoming publication there are a lot to look forward to. Besides King Sorrow who was called both Coil and Serpentine in early stages Joe revealed that a limited edition of the book will be out in 2 volumes from PS Publishing in the future and in that edition, he hopes to be able to include a major subplot with Donovan McBride that he cut from the original version of the book.
He also confirmed that his next book will be called Hunger and revealed that it will be out in October 2026 if everything goes as planned. b>Hunger is a historical ghost novel taking place in the 18th century and he’s been doing research for it for the last 7 years.
And as if that isn’t enough, he has two more books that he is working on as well as a finished novella that probably will be released as an illustrated stand-alone book. Joe has also written a screenplay based on that same novella.
And, to make things even better Joe reveals that the plan for the next 10 years is to release 1 book and 1 screenplay a year for the next 10 years. This means we will have a lot more to read from Joe up until 2035, at least.
Ari Fliakos will be the primary narrator of King Sorrow but there will also be some ensemble bits that are more like an audio play. Ian Shaw will do the voice of King Sorrow.
Here are my thoughs about King Sorrow by Joe Hill out on October 21st.
Having finished the book, I realize how much I’ve missed Hill’s books. I know he has released a few collections and short stories over the years, but a full novel is something else entirely.
The Contest is over and we have a winner. But before we come to that, let’s check on the question.
The question was: Joe Hill has written two short stories with his father Stephen King. Name the title of one of them.
The answer is:
Throttle, published in He Is Legend in 2009. In the Tall Grass, published in Esquire in 2012.
Both stories can also be found in Joe’s collection Full Throttle from 2019 so if you haven’t read them, order the book here and do that now. In the Tall Grass can also be found as a feature film on Netflix.
And now to the winner. From over 1,000 entries I have drawn one winner. This person gave the correct answer and followed me on social media as required and will now receive an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of Joe Hill’s upcoming book King Sorrow, signed by Joe.
The winner is Will Steven from the US. Now, I know this is a fairly common name so before you get all excited let me tell you that I have been in touch with the right Will and if I haven’t been in touch with you even though your name is Will Steven you are not the winner.
With that said, congratulations to Will and a HUGE thanks to Headline, Joe Hill and all of you that entered the contest.
Joe Hill just posted his newsletter Escape Hatch: Issue 68 and in it he reveals a very interesting thing. He is writing his books on typewriters. How about that. Here is what he writes. It’s no secret to regular readers of Escape Hatch that I’m in some kind of managed retreat from the 21st Century. I try to keep the median temperature in my office set to about 1976. I mostly skip streaming my music and opt for vinyl. I don’t bring the cell phone in the office, if I can help it. And I wrote all of The Fireman longhand in a bunch of massive ledgers.
But I don’t know if I can work that way and get a novel done every year. So, just in the last couple months, I’ve shifted over to writing my first drafts on the typewriter instead of the computer. It’s the happy spot halfway between scrawling a story on parchment with a raven’s feather and using some bloated piece of word processing software.
If you even want to call working on the typewriter “writing” at all. In the time since I’ve shifted over, I’ve hardly felt like I was writing at all. It’s more like driving nails—or squeezing the trigger on a nail-gun. The steel keys on my Olivetti go chomp-chomp-chomp and eat up the page and a while later I’ve got another 1600 words. No going back to fix things. No second thoughts.
I’ve got a whole stack of functioning typewriters, and I thought I’d rotate them between pieces, see how it goes. I’ve got a frail Selectric III (with a fancy-pants innovation: Correct-Tape!), a robust olive-colored Selectric II, and the one I’m using currently, my blood-red Olivetti, a 60-year-old manual. So far it seems like there might still be some good words left in this antique. Whether I refer here to the machine or the man sitting behind it, I leave you to decide.
USA TODAY has the first exclusive excerpt from Joe Hill’s King Sorrow (out Oct. 21), which takes places over 25 years beginning in 1989 and follows six friends who strike a deal with a dragon to protect them, though that deal pays a bloody toll over time.
Here are my thoughts of Abraham's Boys based on Joe Hill's story with the same name. Abraham’s Boys offers a very different take on vampires and the legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing—but a good one. However, if you’re expecting a lot of neck biting and blood pouring all over the screen, you’ll be disappointed. This is not that kind of movie.
Teaser for Joe Hill’s The Black Phone 2. Link posted by Joe himself on Threads and since the movies title isn’t shown a few people asked if this was a fan made teaser and it’s not according to Joe.
Joe Hill is on fire right now. Not only is King Sorrow (his first book in 9 years) coming in October. On April 15 his story Jackknife is released for Kindle. Pre-order here.
Joe Hill's UK edition of King Sorrow is now available to order signed from Waterstones and I must say that the cover looks great.
I'm reading the book as we speak and trust me, you don't want to miss this one.
In his recent newsletter Joe also mentions that he's almost finished with yet another book and that he aims for one new book / year for a few years to come.
I’m in the home stretch on a new novel and have (possibly unfounded) hopes of finishing by the end of the month. It always takes longer than I think it’s going to. Still: I remain optimistic that I might be able to stay on track for a book a year for the next few years. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Joe Hill’s short story Abraham’s Boys from the collection 20th Century Ghosts has been turned into a feature film staring Titus Welliver (Bosch). In April it will premier on the Overlook Film Festival. Hill will be there and for a wide-ranging career conversation to discuss the methods behind the madness which animate his exquisite body of work.
Here is my inteview with Joe Hill. In it we talk about his new book King Sorrow, his upcoming book Hunger and Stephen King among other things.
