My Take
Joe Hill spent years writing under a pen name specifically so nobody could coast on the King family name — and when the secret finally got out, it barely mattered, because he'd already proven himself the hard way. Heart-Shaped Box is one of the most legitimately unsettling debut novels I've read in the horror genre, and Locke & Key showed he could translate that same dark imagination into comics without losing a beat. What I love about him is that he doesn't just do "horror-adjacent thriller" — he goes full weird, full emotional, and somehow makes you care deeply about characters stuck in genuinely nightmarish situations. NOS4A2 in particular felt like a love letter to a certain flavor of American dread that only someone raised in Maine could pull off. Multiple Bram Stoker and Locus Awards later, the man has earned every bit of his reputation completely independently.
Overview
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).
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Joe Hill
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョー・ヒル
- Reading
- じょー・ひる
- Born
- June 4, 1972 (age 53)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Rat
- Origin
- Hermon, Maine, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- writer / novelist / actor / screenwriter / executive producer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Vassar College
Awards & achievements
- 2008 Locus Award for Best First Novel
- 2006 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella
- 2006 British Fantasy Awards
- 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel
- 2017 Locus Award for Best Horror Novel
- 2017 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection
- 2005 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection
- 2011 Eisner Award for Best Writer
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | 20th Century Ghosts | — | |
| Notable work | Locke & Key | — | |
| Notable work | Heart-Shaped Box | — |
6. Links
- Official sitehttp://joehillfiction.com/
- Xhttps://x.com/joe_hill
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%92%E3%83%AB
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.