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Peter Straub

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer

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 educationEdit

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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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

CareerEdit

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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He followed Julia with If You Could See Me Now (1977),<ref name=":4" /> 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After returning to America, he wrote Floating Dragon, which won the August Derleth Award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2005, Straub edited the Library of America volume H. P. Lovecraft: Tales.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Straub's final novel, A Dark Matter, was released in February 2010.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2013, Straub appeared on the Code Street podcast with fantasist John Crowley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2024 Penguin Random House launched the republication <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> of many of Straub's novels with new cover art and blurbs.

Reception and influenceEdit

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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> John C. Tibbetts wrote a book-length study, The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 deathEdit

In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In addition to jazz, he was "intensely interested in opera and other forms of classical music."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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/>

BibliographyEdit

NovelsEdit

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  • 1974: Under Venus<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1975: Julia<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Short story collectionsEdit

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  • 2000: Magic Terror<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2007: 5 Stories
  • 2010: The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2016: Interior Darkness<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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NovellasEdit

  • 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2011: The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1990/2012: The Buffalo Hunter: A Novella (originally collected in "Houses Without Doors" in 1990)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2015: Perdido<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2017: The Process (is a Process All its Own)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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PoemsEdit

  • 1971: My Life in Pictures<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1972: Ishmael<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 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-FictionEdit

  • 2006: Sides (collection of non-fiction essays)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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AnthologiesEdit

  • 2005: Peter Straub's Ghosts
  • 2008: Poe's Children (2008)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Omnibus editionsEdit

  • 1984: Wild Animals (collects the novels Julia, If You Could See Me Now, and Under Venus)<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Limited editionsEdit

  • 2010: The Skylark (an earlier, longer draft of A Dark Matter)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Further readingEdit

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AwardsEdit

Work Year & Award Category Result Ref.
1997 World Horror Convention Grand Master Award Template:Won
2006 Bram Stoker Award Lifetime Achievement Template:Won
Shadowland 1981 Balrog Awards Novel Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?8+1981 </ref>
1981 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards </ref>
1981 World Fantasy Award Novel Template:Nominated
1984 Kurd Laßwitz Award Foreign Work Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?64+1984 </ref>
The General's Wife 1982 Balrog Awards Short Fiction Template:Nominated
Floating Dragon 1983 British Fantasy Award August Derleth Award Template:Won
1984 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
The Talisman

(with Stephen King)

1985 World Fantasy Award Novel Template:Nominated
1985 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
2002 Audie Awards Fiction Template:Won
The Juniper Tree 1988 Bram Stoker Award Long Fiction Template:Nominated
Koko 1989 World Fantasy Award Novel Template:Won
1989 Locus Award Horror Novel Template:Nominated
Mystery 1990 Locus Award Horror Novel Template:Nominated
Houses Without Doors 1990 Bram Stoker Award Fiction Collection Template:Nominated
1991 World Fantasy Award Collection Template:Nominated
1991 Locus Award Collection Template:Nominated
Mrs. God 1992 Locus Award Horror/Dark Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
The Ghost Village 1993 World Fantasy Award Novella Template:Won
The Throat 1993 Bram Stoker Award Novel Template:Won
1994 World Fantasy Award Novel Template:Nominated
Fee 1995 World Fantasy Award Novella Template:Nominated
Peter Straub's Ghosts 1996 Locus Award Anthology Template:Nominated
The Hellfire Club 1996 Bram Stoker Award Novel Template:Nominated
1997 British Fantasy Award August Derleth Award Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.sfadb.com/British_Fantasy_Awards_1997 </ref>
Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff 1998 International Horror Guild Award Long Fiction Template:Won <ref> https://horroraward.org/prevrec.html </ref>
1998 Bram Stoker Award Long Fiction Template:Won
1999 World Fantasy Award Novella Template:Nominated
Mr. X 1999 International Horror Guild Award Novel Template:Nominated
1999 Bram Stoker Award Novel Template:Won
2000 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
2001 British Fantasy Award August Derleth Award Template:Nominated
2001 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire Foreign Novel Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?25+2001 </ref>
Magic Terror: Seven Tales 2000 International Horror Guild Award Collection Template:Nominated
2000 Bram Stoker Award Fiction Collection Template:Won
2001 Locus Award Collection Template:Nominated
2001 World Fantasy Award Collection Template:Nominated
2002 British Fantasy Award Collection Template:Nominated
Black House

(with Stephen King)

2001 International Horror Guild Award Novel Template:Nominated
2001 Bram Stoker Award Novel Template:Nominated
2002 Locus Award Novel Template:Nominated
The New Wave Fabulists 2002 Otherwise Award Honor
2003 World Fantasy Award Anthology Template:Nominated
2003 Locus Award Anthology Template:Nominated
Lost Boy, Lost Girl 2003 Bram Stoker Award Novel Template:Won
2003 International Horror Guild Award Novel Template:Won
2004 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
2004 British Fantasy Award August Derleth Award Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.sfadb.com/British_Fantasy_Awards_2004 </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
2005 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle 2005 Locus Award Novelette Template:Nominated
5 Stories 2007 Bram Stoker Award Fiction Collection Template:Nominated
Sides 2007 International Horror Guild Award Non-Fiction Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?26+2007 </ref>
2008 Locus Award Non-Fiction Template:Nominated
Poe's Children: The New Horror 2008 Black Quill Award Dark Genre Fiction Collection Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.librarything.com/work/5973356/t/Poes-Children-The-New-Horror-An-Anthology </ref>
2009 Locus Award Anthology Template:Nominated
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps/from the 1940s to Now 2010 Locus Award Anthology Template:Nominated
2010 World Fantasy Award Anthology Template:Won
A Dark Matter 2010 Bram Stoker Award Novel Template:Won
2010 Black Quill Award Dark Genre Novel of the Year (Editor's Choice) Template:Won <ref> https://www.librarything.com/award/1323.0.0.2010/Black-Quill-Award-2010 </ref>
2011 Shirley Jackson Award Novel Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.sfadb.com/Shirley_Jackson_Awards_2011 </ref>
2011 Locus Award Fantasy Novel Template:Nominated
Ghost Story & The Talisman 2010 World Fantasy Award Life Achievement Award Template:Won
A Special Place 2010 Locus Award Novella Template:Nominated
The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories 2011 Locus Award Collection Template:Nominated
The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine 2011 Bram Stoker Award Long Fiction Template:Won
2012 Shirley Jackson Award Novelette Template:Nominated <ref> https://www.sfadb.com/Shirley_Jackson_Awards_2012 </ref>
2012 Locus Award Novella Template:Nominated
Interior Darkness 2017 Locus Award Collection Template:Nominated
The Process Is a Process All Its Own 2018 Locus Award Novella Template:Nominated


AdaptationsEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Template:Peter Straub Template:Bram Stoker Award Best Novel Template:Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement Template:World Fantasy Award Best Novel Template:World Fantasy Award Best Novella Template:World Fantasy Award Best Anthology Template:World Fantasy Award Life Achievement Template:Authority control

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