Author's boyhood fear fuels grown-up thriller

Novelist Joe Hill's three bestsellers featured a malevolent ghost, a demon and a car burning human souls as fuel. When he decided his next book should be more science-based, he turned to a childhood obsession.

"When I was about 12 years old, I read about a case of spontaneous combustion," Hill said. "And immediately became fixated on the idea, and came to believe that was probably how I was going to die."

He didn't, or at least he hasn't so far. And he got over it — to a point.

"When you are just a kid, you don't know what to be afraid of," he said. "But those irrational fears are worth holding onto, at least if you work in the creative arts, because you might be able to put them to good use someday in a story."

While cases of spontaneous combustion — people just bursting into flames — have been reported for centuries, no scientific basis has been found for the stories. But they still make for a good yarn. Joe Hill will read from his 750-page novel, "The Fireman," on Saturday night at the Uptown Church in Minneapolis. The book opens with Harper, a school nurse, who one day sees a man stumbling across the playground:

"His head was down and he staggered, couldn't seem to hold to a straight line. Harper's initial thought was that he was drunk. Then she saw the smoke coming out of his sleeves. Fine white smoke poured out of the jacket around his hands and up from under his collar into his long brown hair."

The man is infected with Dragonscale. Hill says it's a fungal-borne pathogen that creates intricate patterns on a victim's skin.

"It's actually looks very beautiful," he said. "It's this black tattoo-like tracery with gold flecks in it. But when you begin to feel stress, it starts to smoke, and if you can't control your anxiety, if you can't control your terror, you burst into flames."

And let's face it — if you think you're about to combust, it's hard to remain calm.

In "The Fireman," the infection has spread around the world, killing millions and burning many cities to the ground. The story follows Harper as she discovers she is both infected and pregnant. She tries to escape from vigilantes known as Cremation Squads roaming the now-lawless towns. It is then she meets The Fireman, a mysterious figure known as a protector of the afflicted — and an avenger.

"He is not quite the Human Torch," said Hill. "But he can definitely manipulate fire, and seems to have converted his infection into a kind of weapon."

The Fireman takes Harper to a secret community where others are also learning to control their Dragonscale, but things take a new twist as the sanctuary begins morphing into a cult.

Hill invented Dragonscale, but he did base some of its attributes on real mycological phenomena. He pointed out that anyone who has experienced a fungal infection knows about burning sensations.

"When I initially started writing the book," he said, "I actually described the Dragonscale as 'weaponized athlete's foot.'"

While that line didn't end up in the final draft, there is an underlying humor to "The Fireman." Hill actually sees the book as displaying the positive side of humanity.

"I did want to show over the course of the story that a sense of humor, empathy, emotional connection, optimism: Those aren't luxuries. That's part of who we are. That's wired into human behavior. And it's a good thing, too," Hill said.

That seemed like a good time to bring up what was once Joe Hill's secret: His full name is actually Joseph Hillstrom King.

"Yeah, so my dad is Stephen King, and years ago I made the decision to write as Joe Hill to see if I could get published and build up my confidence without the pressure of being the son of a famous guy," he said.

Speaking with Stephen King's son presented an opportunity. The elder King has declined repeated requests for comment on the recent Minnesota Opera adaptation of his classic book "The Shining." So what had Joe Hill heard?

"Oh really?" he asked. "It's an opera now?"

Hill said he loved the idea of "The Shining" as an opera, and he wants to see it. Sometime.