Monday Oct. 29 

They don't say this in the PR material, but "20th Century Ghosts" was written by Stephen King's son, who writes under the name Joe Hill - a name taken to honor the martyred early 20th century labor activist. The younger King's full name is Joseph Hillstrom King, and Stephen and Tabitha intended the name to honor Hill. They've got to be happy their son chose that abbreviation to write under. Hill made his debut with "Heart-Shaped Box" (named after the Nirvana sign), about an aging death metal rocker who "buys" a ghost on eBay. We're reading it now and it's quite a trip. Bloody, suspenseful, full of pop cultural/musical references. Still, not sure how it's going to turn out but we've already come to one twist we did not expect. Big time. Hill is back this year with a short story collection, "20th Century Ghosts." Actually, Hill published a limited-edition version "Ghosts" in 2005 and it won a Bram Stoker Award in the US and a horror fiction award in the UK. This, however, would seem to be the big bang, wide distribution and all. It's gotten rave reviews everywhere, and while people can see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Hill has proved himself quite capable of being master of the genre in his own right. (We've read threee of the short stories. Creep factor: High.) Could this be a literary case of Barry Bonds and Barry Bonds Jr.? Well, young Hill is way too early in his career for anyone to make those kind of statements, but it's always nice to see a famous person's offspring follow in his footsteps while charting his own path. Hill reads at Brookline Booksmith Monday Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. Free.

(279 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-566-6660 www.brooklinebooksmith.com