Peter Straub

Peter Francis Straub (Template:IPAc-en; March 2, 1943 – September 4, 2022)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was an American novelist and poet. He had success with several horror and supernatural fiction novels, among them Julia (1975), Ghost Story (1979) and The Talisman (1984), the latter co-written with Stephen King. He explored the mystery genre with the Blue Rose trilogy, consisting of Koko (1988), Mystery (1990) and The Throat (1993). He fused the supernatural with crime fiction in Lost Boy, Lost Girl (2003) and the related In the Night Room (2004). For the Library of America, he edited the volume H. P. Lovecraft: Tales and the anthology American Fantastic Tales. Straub received such literary honors as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award.

According to his New York Times obituary, Straub "brought a poet's sensibility to stories about ghosts, demons and other things that go bump in the night."<ref name=":15">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and education

Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub.<ref name="roberts">Roberts, James P. Famous Wisconsin Authors, Badger Books Inc., 2002, pp. 167–173. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="morgan">Morgan, John. "Stephen King scares up support for fallen friend" Template:Webarchive, USA Today, Health section, published February 1, 2002. Retrieved April 29, 2008.</ref>

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 a Lutheran minister.<ref name="Roberts, p. 168">Roberts, p. 168.</ref> He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.<ref name="Roberts, p. 168" /> In high school, he "discovered Thomas Wolfe and Jack 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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Straub attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he discovered "the various joys of Henry James, William Carlos Williams, and the Texas blues-rocker Steve Miller, a great & joyous character who lived across the street."Template:Sfn He earned an honors BA in English in 1965 and an MA at Columbia 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 named Lawrence, Forster, Brontë, Thackeray, etc., etc. On his off-hours, he fell in love with poetry, especially John Ashbery’s poetry, and wrote imitations of same. Three years later, fearing to turn into a spiritless & chalk-stained drudge, he went to Dublin, Ireland, to work on a Ph.D., secretly (a secret even to him) to start writing seriously."Template:Sfn

Career

After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s (Marriages and Under Venus), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with Julia (1975).<ref name=":3" /> 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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He followed Julia with If You Could See Me Now (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, Ghost Story (1979),<ref name=":5" /> which was a critical success and was later loosely adapted into a 1981 film starring Fred Astaire.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> In 1980, he published the fantasy Shadowland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After returning to America, he wrote Floating Dragon, which won the August Derleth Award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He said "I knew that this book would be an at least temporary farewell to the supernatural material that had been my daily fare."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He coauthored the horror-fantasy The Talisman with his longtime friend Stephen King.<ref name=":8" />

After a fallow period, Straub re-emerged in 1988 with Koko, a non-supernatural (though horrific) novel about the Vietnam war.<ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref> Koko was followed by Mystery (1990) and The Throat (1993). The three novels comprise the "Blue Rose Trilogy", which extended Straub's experiments with metafiction and unreliable narrators.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1990, Straub published Houses Without Doors, a collection of short fiction including the shorter version of the novella Mrs. God. In 1996, he published the mainstream thriller The Hellfire Club.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1999, Straub published Mr. X, a novel with a doppelgänger theme. The novel pays homage to H. P. Lovecraft, as the eponymous character writes in a similar style.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2001, Straub and King rejoined forces for Black House, a loose sequel to The Talisman which tied that book in with King's The Dark Tower series. 2003 saw the publication of Lost Boy, Lost Girl, followed a year later by the related In the Night Room. Both won the Bram Stoker Award.<ref name="WWE-2004">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2005, Straub edited the Library of America volume H. P. Lovecraft: Tales.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2009, Straub edited the Library of America anthology American Fantastic Tales.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Straub published several books of poetry.<ref name=":0" /> My Life in Pictures appeared in 1971 as part of a series of six poetry pamphlets Straub published with his friend Thomas Tessier under the Seafront Press imprint while living in Dublin.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":11" /> In 1972 the more substantial chapbook Ishmael was published by Turret Books in London.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="auto1" /> Straub's third book of poetry, Open Air, appeared later that same year from Irish University Press.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":12" /> The collection Leeson Park and Belsize Square: Poems 1970 – 1975 was published by Underwood-Miller in October 1983. It reprinted much of Ishmael along with previously uncollected poems, but none of the poems from Open Air.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":13" /> He also sat on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions, and he guest-edited Conjunctions #39, an issue on New Wave Fabulism.<ref>Conjunctions:39 – The New Wave Fabulists. Fall 2002, edited by Bradford Morrow and Peter Straub.</ref>

In 2007, Straub's personal papers were acquired by the Fales Library at New York University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Straub's final novel, A Dark Matter, was released in February 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2013, Straub appeared on the Code Street podcast with fantasist John Crowley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2016, co-author Stephen King said that he and Straub had plans to write a third Talisman 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 third Talisman with King.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024 Penguin Random House launched the republication <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of many of Straub's novels with new cover art and blurbs.

Reception and influence

A critical essay on Straub's horror work can be found in S. T. Joshi's book The Modern Weird Tale (2001).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At the Foot of the Story Tree by Bill Sheehan discusses Straub's work before 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> John C. Tibbetts wrote a book-length study, The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In Andrew Shaffer's Secret Santa, a character refers to Stephen King, Anne Rice and Straub as "the unholy trinity" of horror.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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."<ref>Tibbetts, John C. The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers., 2016, pp. 167, 197. Template:ISBN</ref> King told The 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."<ref name=":15" />

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."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Songwriter Nick Cave alludes to Straub's work in "The Curse of Millhaven" and "Do You Love Me (Part 2)".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref name=":14" />

Personal life and death

In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had two children, Benjamin and novelist Emma 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.<ref name = Risen>Template:Cite news</ref>

When asked who his favorite writer was, Straub replied "I guess I have to say Henry James. At least that’s what I’d say today. On other days, I might choose Raymond Chandler, or Charles Dickens, or Wilkie Collins, or on other, other days, a real long shot, like Donald Harington. In some ways, John Ashbery will always be my favorite writer."<ref name=":14">Template:Cite web</ref>

Straub was a jazz aficionado, and saxophonist Lester Young features in his novella Pork Pie Hat. Per WBGO, "He discovered jazz as a boy growing up in Milwaukee in the late 1950s. He gravitated toward Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond, Clifford Brown, Bill Evans and Miles Davis."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to jazz, he was "intensely interested in opera and other forms of classical music."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip.<ref name = Risen/><ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref> At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn.<ref name = Risen/>

Bibliography

Novels

• 1973: Marriages<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1974: Under Venus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1975: Julia<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1977: If You Could See Me Now
• 1979: Ghost Story<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1980: Shadowland
• 1983: Floating Dragon
• 1984: The Talisman (with Stephen King)
• 1988: Koko
• 1990: Mystery<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1993: The Throat
• 1995: The Hellfire Club
• 1999: Mr. X
• 2001: Black House (with Stephen King)
• 2003: Lost Boy, Lost Girl
• 2004: In the Night Room
• 2010: A Dark Matter
• 2025: Wreckage (unfinished) <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Short story collections

• 1990: Houses Without Doors (includes "A Short Guide to the City" and a shorter version of Mrs. God)<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2000: Magic Terror<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2007: 5 Stories
• 2010: The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2016: Interior Darkness<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Novellas

• 1982: The General's Wife<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1990: Mrs. God (collected in "Houses Without Doors")<ref name=":1" />
• 1993: The Ghost Village (collected in Magic Terror)
• 1993 Bunny is Good Bread (collected in "Magic Terror")<ref name=":2" />
• 1997 Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff (collected in "Magic Terror")<ref name=":2" />
• 1999 Pork Pie Hat (collected in "Magic Terror")<ref name=":2" />
• 2010: A Special Place – The Heart of a Dark Matter (outtake from "A Dark Matter")<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2011: The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1990/2012: The Buffalo Hunter: A Novella (originally collected in "Houses Without Doors" in 1990)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1" />
• 2015: Perdido
• 2017: The Process (is a Process All its Own)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Poems

• 1971: My Life in Pictures<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":11">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1972: Ishmael<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0" />
• 1972: Open Air<ref name=":12">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0" />
• 1983: Leeson Park and Belsize Square: Poems 1970 – 1975 (Collection)<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":13">Template:Cite book</ref>

Non-Fiction

• 2006: Sides (collection of non-fiction essays)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Anthologies

• 2005: Peter Straub's Ghosts
• 2008: Poe's Children (2008)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2009: American Fantastic Tales (Two Volumes) for the Library of America<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Omnibus editions

• 1984: Wild Animals (collects the novels Julia, If You Could See Me Now, and Under Venus)<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Limited editions

• 2010: The Skylark (an earlier, longer draft of A Dark Matter)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="auto"/>

Further reading

• Hauntings: The Official Peter Straub Bibliography, Michael R. Collings<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Tibbetts, John C. The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub. Jefferson: McFarland Publishers, 2016<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Awards

Work	Year & Award	Category	Result	Ref.
	1997 World Horror Convention Grand Master Award		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2005 Bram Stoker Award	Lifetime Achievement	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2010 World Fantasy Award	Lifetime Achievement	Template:Won	<ref name="wfa">Template:Cite web</ref>
Shadowland	1981 Balrog Awards	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	1981 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus">Template:Cite web</ref>
	1981 World Fantasy Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees">Template:Cite web</ref>
	1984 Kurd Laßwitz Award	Foreign Work	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The General's Wife	1982 Balrog Awards	Short Fiction	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Floating Dragon	1983 British Fantasy Award	August Derleth Award	Template:Won	<ref name="bfa">Template:Cite web</ref>
	1984 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
The Talisman (with Stephen King)	1985 World Fantasy Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
	1985 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
	2002 Audie Awards	Fiction	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Juniper Tree	1988 Bram Stoker Award	Long Fiction	Template:Nominated	<ref name="stoker">Template:Cite web</ref>
Koko	1989 World Fantasy Award	Novel	Template:Won	<ref name="wfa" />
	1989 Locus Award	Horror Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
Mystery	1990 Locus Award	Horror Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
Houses Without Doors	1990 Bram Stoker Award	Fiction Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="stoker" />
	1991 World Fantasy Award	Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
	1991 Locus Award	Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
Mrs. God	1992 Locus Award	Horror/Dark Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
The Ghost Village	1993 World Fantasy Award	Novella	Template:Won	<ref name="wfa" />
The Throat	1993 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	1994 World Fantasy Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
Fee	1995 World Fantasy Award	Novella	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
Peter Straub's Ghosts	1996 Locus Award	Anthology	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
The Hellfire Club	1996 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="stoker" />
	1997 British Fantasy Award	August Derleth Award	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff	1998 International Horror Guild Award	Long Fiction	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	1998 Bram Stoker Award	Long Fiction	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	1999 World Fantasy Award	Novella	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
Mr. X	1999 International Horror Guild Award	Novel	Template:Nominated
	1999 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	2000 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
	2001 British Fantasy Award	August Derleth Award	Template:Nominated	<ref name="bfa" />
	2001 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire	Foreign Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Magic Terror: Seven Tales	2000 International Horror Guild Award	Collection	Template:Nominated
	2000 Bram Stoker Award	Fiction Collection	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	2001 Locus Award	Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
	2001 World Fantasy Award	Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
	2002 British Fantasy Award	Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="bfa" />
Black House (with Stephen King)	2001 International Horror Guild Award	Novel	Template:Nominated
	2001 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="stoker" />
	2002 Locus Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
The New Wave Fabulists	2002 Otherwise Award		Template:Sho
	2003 World Fantasy Award	Anthology	Template:Nominated	<ref name="wfa nominees" />
	2003 Locus Award	Anthology	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
lost boy, lost girl	2003 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	2003 International Horror Guild Award	Novel	Template:Won
	2004 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
	2004 British Fantasy Award	August Derleth Award	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Little Red's Tango	2003 Locus Award	Novelette	Template:Nominated
In the Night Room	2004 International Horror Guild Award	Novel	Template:Nominated
	2004 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	2005 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle	2005 Locus Award	Novelette	Template:Nominated
5 Stories	2007 Bram Stoker Award	Fiction Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="stoker" />
Sides	2007 International Horror Guild Award	Non-Fiction	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2008 Locus Award	Non-Fiction	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
Poe's Children: The New Horror	2008 Black Quill Award	Dark Genre Fiction Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
	2009 Locus Award	Anthology	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps/from the 1940s to Now	2009 Foreword INDIES Awards	Anthologies	Template:Sho	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2010 Locus Award	Anthology	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
	2010 World Fantasy Award	Anthology	Template:Won	<ref name="wfa" />
A Dark Matter	2010 Bram Stoker Award	Novel	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	2010 Black Quill Award	Dark Genre Novel of the Year (Editor's Choice)	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2011 Shirley Jackson Award	Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2011 Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
A Special Place	2010 Locus Award	Novella	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories	2011 Locus Award	Collection	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine	2011 Bram Stoker Award	Long Fiction	Template:Won	<ref name="stoker" />
	2012 Shirley Jackson Award	Novelette	Template:Nominated	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	2012 Locus Award	Novella	Template:Nominated	<ref name="locus" />
Interior Darkness	2017 Locus Award	Collection	Template:Nominated
The Process Is a Process All Its Own	2018 Locus Award	Novella	Template:Nominated

Adaptations

• Full Circle (1977), based on Julia (1975)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• Ghost Story (1981), based on Ghost Story (1979)<ref name=":7">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Talisman (2008 short), based on The Talisman<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Talisman (TBA), an upcoming miniseries based on The Talisman<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Isfdb name
• 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