The US horror author Peter Straub is dead “New York Times‘, which Straub called a ‘literary master of the supernatural’. According to his wife Susan Straub, he died at the age of 79 from complications following a hip fracture.
Straub’s daughter, the author Emma Fusco-Straub, reminded her father on Instagram“Peter Francis Straub, the smartest and funniest person in any room he’s ever been in,” she wrote. “How lucky we were. There are not enough words in the world.”
In Germany, Straub, who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1943, is best known as the co-author of horror master Stephen King, with whom he wrote two novels. “Der Talisman” was published in 1984, followed 20 years later by the sequel “Das Schwarze Haus” (2001) – the book was on the “Spiegel” bestseller list in Germany for weeks.
But Straub also established himself as a first-class fantastic writer in the 1970s with his own novels such as “Julia” (1975) or “Geisterstunden” (1979). Both were filmed: “Julia” in 1976 as “Julia’s uncanny return” with Mia Farrow, “Witching Hour” in 1981 as “Fear Remains” with Fred Astaire.
“He was a unique writer in many ways,” King told the New York Times. “Not only was he a literary author with a sensibility for poetry, he was also readable.” As a modern author, Straub is on par with someone like Philip Roth, even if he wrote about the fantastic.