When Joe Hill decided to dive into writing as a career, he made an interesting choice -- he decided not to tell potential publishers -- or readers -- that he was Stephen King's son. Instead he let the process of rejection refine his writing, so that when publication did come, it was on his own merits, not because he was piggybacking off his famous pa.
Hill has certainly carved his own niche -- kinda. Of course, his work does dabble in the same territory as his father.
It seems that with Hill's latest novel, NOS4A2, he has decided to take some of his dads characters for a joy ride. Mark Daniell at jam.canoe notes, "His villain, Charlie Manx, bears similarities to King's recurring Randall Flagg (The Stand), and drives a murderous Rolls Royce, with a vanity plate, NOS4A2, that has shades of dad's Christine."
Should we add Charlie Manx to the many faces and names of Randall Flagg?
Daniell quotes Hill, "Now that I've had time to get comfortable with my own voice, I thought it might be fun to confront some of the Stephen King stuff instead of trying to evade it."
In April, 2012, King said that Joe could finish Joyland if something happened to him, because their writing styles are “almost indistinguishable.” (talkstephenking.blogspot.com)
What would be really cool is if Hill stuck his foot in The Dark Tower.
Actually, I think Manx is his own inspired character, and deserves to stand on his own.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do believe Nos4a2 can qualify as belonging to the same fictional universe as King's.
This is something me and Bryant discussed over at his blog. He's got a good review of up:
http://thetruthinsidethelie.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-review-of-nos4a2-by-joe-hill.html
One idea Hill uses that Bryant points out is a concept borrowed from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins I you'd find interesting, Reverend.
ChrisC
It is discussed in the novel that at one point in time Manx was human, so no; he's not Flagg.
DeleteThere are abundant Stephen King Easter-eggs in the novel, and that element of the book is a lot of fun. He has spoken in interviews, though, about how he did it as a lark, and without any grander intent.