Peter Straub
Straub in 2009
Born	Peter Francis Straub (1943-03-02)March 2, 1943 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	September 4, 2022(2022-09-04) (aged 79) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist, poet
Education	University of Wisconsin–Madison (BA) Columbia University (MA)
Genre	Horror
Notable works	Ghost Story (1979),The Talisman (1984),Koko (1988)
Notable awards	World Fantasy Award—Life Achievement,Bram Stoker Award,World Fantasy Award, andInternational Horror Guild Award
Spouse	Susan Bitker Straub ​ (m. 1966)​
Children	Benjamin Straub,[1]Emma Straub
Website
www.peterstraub.net

Peter Francis Straub (/straʊb/; March 2, 1943 – September 4, 2022)^[2] was an American novelist and poet. He had success with several horror andsupernatural fiction novels, among themJulia (1975),Ghost Story (1979) andThe Talisman (1984), the latter co-written withStephen King. He explored the mystery genre with the Blue Rose trilogy, consisting ofKoko (1988),Mystery (1990) andThe Throat (1993). He fused the supernatural with crime fiction inLost Boy, Lost Girl (2003) and the relatedIn the Night Room (2004). For theLibrary of America, he edited the volumeH. P. Lovecraft: Tales and the anthologyAmerican Fantastic Tales. Straub received such literary honors as theBram Stoker Award,World Fantasy Award, andInternational Horror Guild Award.

According to hisNew York Times obituary, Straub "brought a poet's sensibility to stories about ghosts, demons and other things that go bump in the night."^[3]

Straub was born inMilwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub.^[4][5] At the age of seven, Straub was struck by a car, sustaining serious injuries. He was hospitalized for several months and used a wheelchair until he had re-learned how to walk. Straub has said that the accident made him prematurely aware of his own mortality.^[6]

Straub read voraciously from an early age, although his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, and his mother wanted him to be aLutheran minister.^[7] He attendedMilwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.^[7] In high school, he "discoveredThomas Wolfe andJack Kerouac, patron saints of wounded and self-conscious adolescence and also, blessedly, jazz music, which spoke in utterance of beyond any constraint: passion and liberation in the form of speech on the far side of the verbal border."^[8]

Straub attended theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison where he discovered "the various joys ofHenry James,William Carlos Williams, and the Texas blues-rockerSteve Miller, a great & joyous character who lived across the street."^[9] He earned an honors BA in English in 1965 and an MA atColumbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, where he "enjoyed a minor but temporary success as Mr. Chips-cum-jalapenos, largely due to the absolute freedom given him by the administration and his affection for his students, who faithfully followed him as he struck matches and led them into caves namedLawrence,Forster,Brontë,Thackeray, etc., etc. On his off-hours, he fell in love with poetry, especiallyJohn Ashbery’s poetry, and wrote imitations of same. Three years later, fearing to turn into a spiritless & chalk-stained drudge, he went toDublin, Ireland, to work on a Ph.D., secretly (a secret even to him) to start writing seriously."^[9]

After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s (Marriages andUnder Venus), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time withJulia (1975).^[10] He recalls that "The reason I chose to write scary books was because, at the time, there were three horror novels that had been enormously successful: The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and The Other. But there were only three of them, so it looked to me as though there was plenty of room for newcomers. And if I wrote in the horror genre, I knew I could do anything. I could experiment."^[11] He followedJulia withIf You Could See Me Now (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel,Ghost Story (1979),^[12] which was a critical success and was later loosely adapted intoa 1981 film starringFred Astaire.^[13][14] In 1980, he published the fantasyShadowland.^[15] After returning to America, he wroteFloating Dragon, which won theAugust Derleth Award.^[16] He said "I knew that this book would be an at least temporary farewell to the supernatural material that had been my daily fare."^[17] He coauthored the horror-fantasyThe Talisman with his longtime friendStephen King.^[18]

After a fallow period, Straub re-emerged in 1988 withKoko, a non-supernatural (though horrific) novel about the Vietnam war.^[19]Koko was followed byMystery (1990) andThe Throat (1993). The three novels comprise the "Blue Rose Trilogy", which extended Straub's experiments withmetafiction andunreliable narrators.^[20][21]

In 1990, Straub publishedHouses Without Doors, a collection of short fiction including the shorter version of the novellaMrs. God. In 1996, he published the mainstream thrillerThe Hellfire Club.^[22] In 1999, Straub publishedMr. X, a novel with adoppelgänger theme. The novel pays homage toH. P. Lovecraft, as the eponymous character writes in a similar style.^[23][24] In 2001, Straub and King rejoined forces forBlack House, a loose sequel toThe Talisman which tied that book in with King'sThe Dark Tower series. 2003 saw the publication ofLost Boy, Lost Girl, followed a year later by the relatedIn the Night Room. Both won theBram Stoker Award.^[25]

In 2005, Straub edited theLibrary of America volumeH. P. Lovecraft: Tales.^[26] In 2009, Straub edited the Library of America anthologyAmerican Fantastic Tales.^[27]

Straub published several books of poetry.^[28]My Life in Pictures appeared in 1971 as part of a series of six poetry pamphlets Straub published with his friendThomas Tessier under the Seafront Press imprint while living in Dublin.^[28][29] In 1972 the more substantial chapbookIshmael was published by Turret Books in London.^[28][30] Straub's third book of poetry,Open Air, appeared later that same year from Irish University Press.^[28][31] The collectionLeeson Park and Belsize Square: Poems 1970 – 1975 was published by Underwood-Miller in October 1983. It reprinted much ofIshmael along with previously uncollected poems, but none of the poems fromOpen Air.^[28][32] He also sat on the contributing editorial board of the literary journalConjunctions, and he guest-editedConjunctions #39, an issue onNew Wave Fabulism.^[33]

In 2007, Straub's personal papers were acquired by theFales Library atNew York University.^[34]

Straub's final novel,A Dark Matter, was released in February 2010.^[35]

In 2013, Straub appeared on the Code Street podcast with fantasistJohn Crowley.^[36]

In 2016, co-author Stephen King said that he and Straub had plans to write athirdTalisman book in the future. King says that the collaboration for the series was "natural," and that the two were excited to work together. In a 2021 appearance on the Dead Headspace podcast, Straub said that due to his health, it was unlikely that he would co-write a thirdTalisman with King.^[37]

In 2024 Penguin Random House launched the republication^[38] of many of Straub's novels with new cover art and blurbs.

A critical essay on Straub's horror work can be found inS. T. Joshi's bookThe Modern Weird Tale (2001).^[39]At the Foot of the Story Tree by Bill Sheehan discusses Straub's work before 2000.^[40]John C. Tibbetts wrote a book-length study,The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub.^[41]

InAndrew Shaffer'sSecret Santa, a character refers toStephen King,Anne Rice and Straub as "the unholy trinity" of horror.^[42]

Of Straub's contribution to horror King says, "he brought a poet's sensibility to the field, creating a synthesis of horror and beauty" and "he writes a beautiful prose line that features narrative clarity, sterling characterization, and surprising bursts of humor."^[43] King toldThe New York Times that "He was not only a literary writer with a poetic sensibility, but he was readable. And that was a fantastic thing. He was a modern writer who was the equal of, say,Philip Roth, though he wrote about fantastic things." King added that "he was a better and more literary author than I was."^[3]

Neil Gaiman paid homage to Straub, writing “One of the best writers I’ve read, one of the best friends I’ve known. Always kind, funny, irascible, brilliant."^[44]

SongwriterNick Cave alludes to Straub's work in "The Curse of Millhaven" and "Do You Love Me (Part 2)".^[45] Straub said "Naturally, this pleased me enormously. It is a great honor to have your work alluded to in that way by another artist. I love the whole idea. Nick Cave is a talented, compelling performer and I could see that some of my work would fall very neatly within the territory that interests him. Eventually we wound up e-mailing each other, and he sent me a very nicely signed copy of one of his CDs. It would be nice to meet him one day."^[46]

In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.^[47][48] They had two children, Benjamin and novelistEmma Straub. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards.^[49]

When asked who his favorite writer was, Straub replied "I guess I have to sayHenry James. At least that’s what I’d say today. On other days, I might chooseRaymond Chandler, orCharles Dickens, orWilkie Collins, or on other, other days, a real long shot, likeDonald Harington. In some ways,John Ashbery will always be my favorite writer."^[46]

Straub was ajazz aficionado, and saxophonistLester Young features in his novellaPork Pie Hat. Per WBGO, "He discovered jazz as a boy growing up in Milwaukee in the late 1950s. He gravitated towardDave Brubeck &Paul Desmond,Clifford Brown,Bill Evans andMiles Davis."^[50] In addition to jazz, he was "intensely interested in opera and other forms of classical music."^[51][52]

Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of abroken hip.^[49][18] At the time of his death, he and his wife lived inBrooklyn.^[49]

• 1973:Marriages^[53]
• 1974:Under Venus^[54]
• 1975:Julia^[10]
• 1977:If You Could See Me Now
• 1979:Ghost Story^[12]
• 1980:Shadowland
• 1983:Floating Dragon
• 1984:The Talisman (withStephen King)
• 1988:Koko
• 1990:Mystery^[55][56]
• 1993:The Throat
• 1995:The Hellfire Club
• 1999:Mr. X
• 2001:Black House (withStephen King)
• 2003:Lost Boy, Lost Girl
• 2004:In the Night Room
• 2010:A Dark Matter
• 2025:Wreckage (unfinished)^[57]

• 1990:Houses Without Doors (includes "A Short Guide to the City" and a shorter version ofMrs. God)^[58]
• 2000:Magic Terror^[59]
• 2007:5 Stories
• 2010:The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories^[60][61]
• 2016:Interior Darkness^[62][63]

• 1982:The General's Wife^[64]
• 1990:Mrs. God (collected in "Houses Without Doors")^[58]
• 1993:The Ghost Village (collected inMagic Terror)
• 1993Bunny is Good Bread (collected in "Magic Terror")^[59]
• 1997Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff (collected in "Magic Terror")^[59]
• 1999Pork Pie Hat (collected in "Magic Terror")^[59]
• 2010:A Special Place – The Heart of a Dark Matter (outtake from "A Dark Matter")^[65]
• 2011:The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine^[66]
• 1990/2012:The Buffalo Hunter: A Novella (originally collected in "Houses Without Doors" in 1990)^[67][58]
• 2015:Perdido
• 2017:The Process (is a Process All its Own)^[68]

• 1971:My Life in Pictures^[69][29][28]
• 1972:Ishmael^[30][28]
• 1972:Open Air^[31][28]
• 1983:Leeson Park and Belsize Square: Poems 1970 – 1975 (Collection)^[28][32]

• 2006:Sides (collection of non-fiction essays)^[70]

• 2005:Peter Straub's Ghosts
• 2008:Poe's Children (2008)^[71]
• 2009:American Fantastic Tales (Two Volumes) for the Library of America^[72][73]

• 1984:Wild Animals (collects the novelsJulia,If You Could See Me Now, andUnder Venus)^[74][75]

• 2010:The Skylark (an earlier, longer draft ofA Dark Matter)^[76][74]

• Hauntings: The Official Peter Straub Bibliography,Michael R. Collings^[77]
• Tibbetts, John C.The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub. Jefferson: McFarland Publishers, 2016^[78][79]

• Full Circle (1977), based onJulia (1975)^[101][102]
• Ghost Story (1981), based onGhost Story (1979)^{[14][13][103]}
• The Talisman (2008 short), based onThe Talisman^[104]
• The Talisman (TBA), an upcoming miniseries based onThe Talisman^[105]

• Official website
• Peter Straub at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• BookBanter interviews Peter Straub (March, 2010)
• Database containing descriptive bibliography, publishing history, reviews, and literary criticism of King and Straub's The Talisman
• Genealogy of Peter Francis Straub
• NYU Press Release about Straub's papers
• Peter Straub Penguin Random House author page
• Peter Straub Papers, Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University

• 1943 births
• 2022 deaths
• 20th-century American essayists
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American novelists
• 20th-century American poets
• 20th-century American short story writers
• 21st-century American essayists
• 21st-century American male writers
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American novelists
• 21st-century American poets
• 21st-century American short story writers
• Accidental deaths in New York (state)
• American crime writers
• American expatriates in England
• American expatriates in the Republic of Ireland
• American fantasy writers
• American horror writers
• American male essayists
• American male non-fiction writers
• American male novelists
• American male poets
• American male short story writers
• American mystery writers
• American thriller writers
• American anthologists
• Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
• American ghost story writers
• Novelists from Wisconsin
• American psychological fiction writers
• American surrealist writers
• University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
• American weird fiction writers
• World Fantasy Award–winning writers
• Writers from Brooklyn
• Novelists from New York City
• Writers from Milwaukee
• Writers of Gothic fiction

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2013