In Memoriam: Peter Straub
Horror author Peter Straub died on Sunday, September 4, 2022, from complications after breaking a hip. He was 79 years old.
His daughter, author Emma Fusco-Straub, announced his passing on September 6 on Instagram, “Peter Francis Straub, the smartest and most fun person in every room he was ever in, 3/2/43 – 9/4/22. How lucky we were. There aren’t enough words in the world.”
Straub wrote horror and supernatural novels like Julia and Ghost Story, and collaborated with Stephen King on The Talisman.
Born March 2, 1943, in Milwaukee, WI, Straub was hit by a car as a child and the shock of the injuries and that brush with death shaped his perspective on horror. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965, then a master’s degree from Columbia a year later.
After his first two books, Marriages and Under Venus, he saw some success with 1975’s paranormal novel, Julia. Four years later he had a bigger hit with Ghost Story about four men who become haunted by something that happened when they were young.
In ’84, Straub and King collaborated on The Talisman a story about Jack Sawyer, a boy who learns that he can save his ailing mother by traversing a dangerous landscape of monsters to acquire a prize. The pair reunited in 2001 to pen the sequel, Black House, catching up with the now-grown Jack who became a homicide detective, forgot about his childhood journey, and is pulled into a gruesome case.
Straub’s other successful novels included If You Could See Me Now, Shadowland, Floating Dragon, Koko, Mystery, The Throat, The Hellfire Club, In the Night Room, and A Dark Matter. He wrote the short story collections Houses Without Doors, 5 Stories, and Interior Darkness, and the novellas, The General’s Wife, Mrs. God, The Ghost Village, Pork Pie Hat, The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine, Perdido, and The Process (is a Process All Its Own).
After his passing, King tweeted, “It’s a sad day because my good friend and amazingly talented colleague and collaborator, Peter Straub, has passed away. Working with him was one of the great joys of my creative life.”
Popular Topics
Overstreet Access Quick Links
In Memoriam: Peter Straub
Horror author Peter Straub died on Sunday, September 4, 2022, from complications after breaking a hip. He was 79 years old.
His daughter, author Emma Fusco-Straub, announced his passing on September 6 on Instagram, “Peter Francis Straub, the smartest and most fun person in every room he was ever in, 3/2/43 – 9/4/22. How lucky we were. There aren’t enough words in the world.”
Straub wrote horror and supernatural novels like Julia and Ghost Story, and collaborated with Stephen King on The Talisman.
Born March 2, 1943, in Milwaukee, WI, Straub was hit by a car as a child and the shock of the injuries and that brush with death shaped his perspective on horror. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965, then a master’s degree from Columbia a year later.
After his first two books, Marriages and Under Venus, he saw some success with 1975’s paranormal novel, Julia. Four years later he had a bigger hit with Ghost Story about four men who become haunted by something that happened when they were young.
In ’84, Straub and King collaborated on The Talisman a story about Jack Sawyer, a boy who learns that he can save his ailing mother by traversing a dangerous landscape of monsters to acquire a prize. The pair reunited in 2001 to pen the sequel, Black House, catching up with the now-grown Jack who became a homicide detective, forgot about his childhood journey, and is pulled into a gruesome case.
Straub’s other successful novels included If You Could See Me Now, Shadowland, Floating Dragon, Koko, Mystery, The Throat, The Hellfire Club, In the Night Room, and A Dark Matter. He wrote the short story collections Houses Without Doors, 5 Stories, and Interior Darkness, and the novellas, The General’s Wife, Mrs. God, The Ghost Village, Pork Pie Hat, The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine, Perdido, and The Process (is a Process All Its Own).
After his passing, King tweeted, “It’s a sad day because my good friend and amazingly talented colleague and collaborator, Peter Straub, has passed away. Working with him was one of the great joys of my creative life.”
Popular Topics
Overstreet Access Quick Links
