'Once I did understand the consequences then I was far more able to deal with them. 'I was way less a child than I had been beforehand,' he said of the accident in a 2016 interview with Salon. Straub turned childhood trauma into a celebrated horror careerīorn in Wisconsin, Straub's childhood was shattered by a traumatic event in the first grade: He was hit by a car (referred to as a 'classic near-death experience' on his website), an incident that left him with nightmares for nearly three decades of his life - until, that is, he started writing horror fiction. His wife, Susan, told the New York Times he died from complications after breaking his hip. Straub died on Sunday at 79, his daughter, the author Emma Straub, confirmed on social media. All you can do is not let it break you in half and keep on going until you get to the other side.'Īn influence and friend to authors like Stephen King, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman and many more, Straub left an indelible mark on the world of horror and fantasy fiction, helping to elevate it from disregarded pulp to a genre of consequence and depth. Even stories about ghostly hauntings, sinister parallel universes or grisly murders could feel mournful, sensitive and cathartic in Straub's hands.įrom his seminal 1979 novel, 'Ghost Story': 'Nobody can protect anybody else from vileness. Two of his books would be adapted for the big screen as well with Julia becoming the basis for 1977's Full Circle starring Mia Farrow and Ghost Story being adapted into the 1981 film of the same name starring Fred Astaire.Peter Straub, an author who helped usher in our decades-long fascination with horror fiction, had a way of weaving macabre and heart-wrenching prose into one sentence. X, and Lost Boy, Lost Girl, in addition to multiple other novellas and short story collections. Though perhaps best known to some for his collaborations with King, Straub wrote mostly on his own, penning novels that included Julia, Ghost Story, The Hellfire Club, Mr. All the love and best to his family and legion of friends and admirers.'īorn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 2, 1943, and would go on to publish his first novel, Marriages, in 1973.

I'll miss you Peter.' Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts, added: 'Peter Straub was a hero and I was fortunate to get to know him over the last decade plus. Once performed the Crow position in yoga, in a Milwaukee WI men's room, because he was fearless & proud of his yoga. Always kind, funny, irascible, brilliant.

News of Straub's passing has seen other notable authors sound off on their love for his contributions to the written word, with fellow fantasy/horror author Neil Gaiman tweeting: 'Peter Straub 1943-2022 One of the best writers I've read, one of the best friends I've known.

Ghost story by peter straub