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Julia (Anchor Books, 1975) by Peter Straub
Ghost Story (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1979) by Peter Straub
Shadowland (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1980) by Peter Straub
The Talisman (Viking, 1984) with Stephen King  by Peter Straub
Koko (Dutton, 1988) by Peter Straub

On September 6, 2022, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures (Riverhead Books) author, Emma Straub, announced that her father, horror author Peter Straub, had passed away. In her Instagram post, Emma wrote, “Peter Francis Straub, the smartest and most fun person in every room he was ever in. 03/02/1943 – 09/04/2022. How lucky we were. There aren’t enough words in the world.”

Horror author Stephen King saw the news of Straub’s passing and offered a heartfelt response in his own tweet, “It’s a happy day for me because Fairy Tale (Scribner) is published. It’s a sad day for me 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.”

Though not as prolific as King, Peter Straub was the author of more than a dozen bestselling horror and dark fantasy novels, winning the hearts of readers who admire Stephen King, John Saul, Joe Hill and more.

Hauntingly, Emma later shared that she and her father had regular talks about their craft, and Peter was all at once her greatest critic and strongest supporter. Her latest book, This Time Tomorrow (Penguin Random House), is about a young woman who risks everything to spend her dying father’s final days with him. When he first heard the premise of the book, Peter not only encouraged her to finish the book, but he inquired, “What page do I die on?”

The dark comment was in keeping with Peter Straub’s dark and inquisitive sense of humor, which was at once endearingly thoughtful and entertaining — as a person, as a writer and as a creative theorist.

A horror legend, Straub was fascinated with darkness and how it’s a universal experience. He once shared with NPR, “Scary stories can do more than give people the shivers. In America, we don’t like darkness, really, but there is an immense quantity to be learned there, and we all experience it in our lives.”

To celebrate Peter Straub, his life of work and his admiration of “the darkness,” here are five of the top titles by one of the masters of horror and dark fantasy.

 


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Julia (Anchor Books, 1975) by Peter Straub

Julia (Anchor Books, 1975) by Peter Straub

Crushed by the death of her young daughter and the oncoming divorce from her husband, Julia finds herself wanting to put the past behind her in every way she can — which begins with purchasing a house in a remote area, far from the past tragedies of her life.

While she immediately feels an affinity for the home, the neighborhood and a mysterious little girl she keeps seeing, who appears to be about the same age and blonde as her late daughter, Julia soon has the unsettling feeling that the past may not be so easily put behind her.

Instead, Julia begins to fear that the connection she feels with her new home, and the little girl wandering the neighborhood, are both evil and ready to draw her into a darkness much greater than the one she was trying to leave behind.

 


Ghost Story (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1979) by Peter Straub

Ghost Story (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1979) by Peter Straub

 

Horror fiction has a way of drawing dark secrets out of the woodwork, and Ghost Story is no different, centered around a life-long group of friends… with a lifetime of secrets.

Gathered together around a fire, the men tell each other the scariest stories they can think of — some true and some imagined — but there is one story none of them wanted to hear again: the truth behind the dark secret all of them were fighting to keep buried.

Immediately adapted into a major feature film, including four of the five protagonists, the book and film cemented Peter Straub’s place among the greatest horror writers and led the way for him to write more than a dozen bestselling novels that were sure to keep his readers up at night and questioning the skeletons in their own closets.

 


Shadowland (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1980) by Peter Straub

Shadowland (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1980) by Peter Straub

A horror-fantasy mashup, Shadowland was one of Straub’s first attempts at dark fantasy with whimsical horror elements, this time tracking two friends who were attending a private school together. Wandering in search of something fun to do, the two boys went into the deep, dark Vermont woods to check out a house that was rumored to be haunted or evil.

But what they find instead sets them on a new path; instead of attending private school, they’ll be expected to learn from a Master Magician, and in their dark season of horror, the two boys will learn there are evils in the world that are greater than death itself, but more importantly, they’ll learn that there are some secrets that are best kept buried.

 


The Talisman (Viking, 1984) with Stephen King  by Peter Straub

The Talisman (Viking, 1984) with Stephen King  by Peter Straub

Coauthored with fellow horror writer, Stephen King, The Talisman offers a brilliant and dark fantasy world that engages with the concepts of grief and the acceptance of dying. Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer leaves his dying mother’s home not only to cross the United States but to trek across the unknown world of the Territories, where the fantastical land is brighter, sweeter, and more dangerous — and somewhere on the other side is a magical talisman that could save his mother’s life.

Like Straub’s other work, the book challenges the concepts of escaping one’s fate, avoiding death and of a person truly putting their past behind them; and with Stephen King at his side, he was able to create a world that was beautiful, tragic and terrifying, all at once.

 


Koko (Dutton, 1988) by Peter Straub

Koko (Dutton, 1988) by Peter Straub

Four friends and Vietnam veterans — now with glaringly different day jobs — find themselves reunited one hideous evening with the message of “Koko.” Now they have no choice but to address the dark past they have all tried to suppress, including a violent person who means to be at large again and take the lives of as many people as he can, in the same way that the four had tried so hard to forget.

The four old friends find themselves searching through graveyards and hitting the pavement in New York City in search of signs of the man who will stop at nothing to continue his “work.”

All at once a suspense thriller and a horror novel, this story is fast-paced, gritty and enthralling for any reader who enjoys characters who must put a stop to evil — and true to Straub, characters who must face the past that they tried so hard to leave behind.

 


Mckenzie Tozan

McKenzie is a poet, novelist, essayist and avid reader. She received her B.A. in English and B.S. in Education from Indiana University, followed by her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University. Since 2010, she’s worked in the publishing industry, primarily with small presses and literary magazines. Originally from the Midwest, McKenzie now calls coastal Croatia home, alongside her husband, their three children and their cat. When she isn’t writing or reading, she’s probably creating art, playing piano, swimming, hiking, or baking Halloween treats. You can find more about her on her website.

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