Like Father ...

I don’t know how I missed the fact that Stoker-winning horror writer Joe Hill is the son of power novelist Stephen King. (Yes, that Stephen King.) Hill has been writing short stories for the last decade but his well-kept secret leaked last year: just in time to pitch the writer’s debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box, onto a wave of buzz. But the novel, which will be published next week, is braving all scrutiny. “His subtle and skillful treatment of horrors that could easily have exploded over the top and out of control helps make this a truly memorable debut,” says Publishers Weekly. “In a book much too smart to sound like the work of a neophyte, he builds character invitingly and plants an otherworldly surprise around every corner,” raves The New York Times. (Yes, that New York Times.)

Hill’s mother, Tabitha King, is also a writer. She is the author of one work of non-fiction and seven novels. The most recent of these was published in 2006: Candles Burning (Berkley), which was a collaboration with the late Michael McDowell.

(Hat tip to the Campaign for the American Reader.)