From out of the blue, a writer with the rather generic name of Joe Hill began catching my attention. I had heard raves about his fiction, and have had a bit of contact with the man, I can earnestly attest that he is good a human being as he is a writer.
Joe’s novella, Voluntary Committal, has been released as a signed and limited chapbook from Subterranean Press. It’s also available as the final story in his PS Publishing collection, 20TH Century Ghosts. I just finished reading Voluntary Committal and it is the most astonishing piece of fiction I’ve read in a long time. A long, long time.
Voluntary Committal brings to my mind the short story called “…and he Built a Crooked House”, by Robert A. Heinlein. Yet, Mr. Hill’s story is on an emotional level that Heinlein (as much as I love him) never did. In it, a borderline sociopath youth has a younger brother that is either deeply autistic or schizophrenic, if not both. Or possibly something more. Something darker. The boy compulsively spends his time devising elaborate forts out of boxes in the family basement. The creations seem oddly eccentric, yet also intimidating to the older brother, Nolan, who narrates the story. The setting is a comfortable 1970’s suburban neighborhood, in which the older Nolan befriends an even more troubled and troublesome schoolmate. Their increasingly devious behavior erupts into a heinous act that bonds them together in an unhappy dependency that makes Nolan feel trapped. How can he escape the guilt and also the oppressive “friend”? The younger brother quietly listens and schemes as he continues to build his bizarre forts.
Every once in a while, a writer’s voice comes along and takes the wind out of me. Not often. Joe Hill is such a writer. The prose is smooth and clear as a brisk autumn day, with a whisper of icy dread around the edges. This writer seemed to pop up out of nowhere, with talent to spare at his disposal. If you haven’t read Joe Hill yet, you will. This guy is here to stay and he’s going to be one of the Big Ones.
In fact, I’m here to help one of you to get to know Joe Hill. I have an extra copy of the Voluntary Committal chapbook to give away. Just email me with the subject heading, Give Me Joe Hill! and I’ll give the amount of requests to Joe and have him choose a number between one and the total. The chosen number gets the chapbook. Free. I suppose that it would be hopelessly naïve to ask that only those that have not read Joe’s fiction enter, but I’d like that to be the case.
Oh yeah, one more thing: A lot of writers do their share of self promotion. That’s cool, but I would like it to be known that this thing was my idea alone. Joe knew nothing of it and I’m doing it out of sheer admiration for his craft. I’m just letting him pick the number to have a hand in it.
Email me here noclublonewolf@verizon.net. Entries must be in by March 1st.
Joe’s novella, Voluntary Committal, has been released as a signed and limited chapbook from Subterranean Press. It’s also available as the final story in his PS Publishing collection, 20TH Century Ghosts. I just finished reading Voluntary Committal and it is the most astonishing piece of fiction I’ve read in a long time. A long, long time.
Voluntary Committal brings to my mind the short story called “…and he Built a Crooked House”, by Robert A. Heinlein. Yet, Mr. Hill’s story is on an emotional level that Heinlein (as much as I love him) never did. In it, a borderline sociopath youth has a younger brother that is either deeply autistic or schizophrenic, if not both. Or possibly something more. Something darker. The boy compulsively spends his time devising elaborate forts out of boxes in the family basement. The creations seem oddly eccentric, yet also intimidating to the older brother, Nolan, who narrates the story. The setting is a comfortable 1970’s suburban neighborhood, in which the older Nolan befriends an even more troubled and troublesome schoolmate. Their increasingly devious behavior erupts into a heinous act that bonds them together in an unhappy dependency that makes Nolan feel trapped. How can he escape the guilt and also the oppressive “friend”? The younger brother quietly listens and schemes as he continues to build his bizarre forts.
Every once in a while, a writer’s voice comes along and takes the wind out of me. Not often. Joe Hill is such a writer. The prose is smooth and clear as a brisk autumn day, with a whisper of icy dread around the edges. This writer seemed to pop up out of nowhere, with talent to spare at his disposal. If you haven’t read Joe Hill yet, you will. This guy is here to stay and he’s going to be one of the Big Ones.
In fact, I’m here to help one of you to get to know Joe Hill. I have an extra copy of the Voluntary Committal chapbook to give away. Just email me with the subject heading, Give Me Joe Hill! and I’ll give the amount of requests to Joe and have him choose a number between one and the total. The chosen number gets the chapbook. Free. I suppose that it would be hopelessly naïve to ask that only those that have not read Joe’s fiction enter, but I’d like that to be the case.
Oh yeah, one more thing: A lot of writers do their share of self promotion. That’s cool, but I would like it to be known that this thing was my idea alone. Joe knew nothing of it and I’m doing it out of sheer admiration for his craft. I’m just letting him pick the number to have a hand in it.
Email me here noclublonewolf@verizon.net. Entries must be in by March 1st.
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