RIP Peter Straub

Peter Straub has died. He's been one of my very favorite writers ever since Ghost Story first came out in paperback. I love most of his work and kind of like to think of him as the Lester Young of horror. We've covered him in a DEEP ONES discussion or two, which is only fitting since he was a high-profile defender of Lovecraft (following in the footsteps of Joyce Carol Oates), and edited Grandpa's 2005 Library of America volume, Lovecraft: Tales, which caused a delightful "there goes the neighborhood!" mini-furor. His later editing duties for the 2-vol LOA set American Fantastic Tales produced one of the finest horror anthologies in my collection.

ETA: I removed the link to the NT Times obit. It wasn't blocked by their paywall last night, but now it is. There are lots of others out there, though. Take your pick.

Sad news. I really enjoy Straub's writing, despite having only read a handful of shorts and The Hellfire Club. I have copies of both Ghost Story (the first edition, I think, before the changes provoked by an accidental bit of defamation) and Houses Without Doors. Mortality is a crummy way to prioritize one's reading, but the news may motivate me.

>2 paradoxosalpha:

I've re-read Shadowland the most out of all of the novels.

>3 semdetenebre:

Wishlisted!

My small Straub collection is behind me as I type, on the highest shelf of a bookcase, between John Crowley and Evangeline Adams (the latter items ghostwritten by Aleister Crowley).

This might be the best obit for Straub that I've seen. Hope the link stays working.

https://tinyurl.com/2hrnkewk

>6 semdetenebre:

I like that he added murders to his summaries of One Life to Live.

Where should I begin with Straub?

Would you prefer a novel or stories? I've read a couple of stories out of Houses Without Doors, and our Deep Ones are likely to discuss one from it during the fall quarter. If you'd prefer a novel, I think both Ghost Story and Shadowland mentioned in this thread come highly recommended as points of entry, although I haven't yet read either of them.

I would also recommend reading his editorial apparatus for American Fantastic Tales if you're interested in an essayistic approach to the history of the genre. Those are books that should be available at a local public library. You might even recommend them for acquisition if they aren't!

>8 TheSundayNews:, >9 paradoxosalpha:

Magic Terror is an excellent collection of short stories that is something of a companion volume to Houses Without Doors. I read Julia for the first time a couple of years back when the Centipede edition (with fantastic Marcela Bolivar cover art) came out. I'd put it right up there with Ghost Story, but the latter might be a better entry point.

As many times as I've read Shadowland, I should also point out that the "Blue Rose" series of novels and short stories contains some of his finest and most disturbing writing. It's all only very loosely connected, but each work provides clues to a horrifying, if somewhat undefinable, mystery that overarches all. ISFDB conveniently lists them: https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1031 and they certainly don't need to be read in any particular order. I've encountered them all over the course of several decades, but I think it might be an interesting reading project to tackle them again as a unified work.

Basically, it's all good BUT I would avoid the Stephen King collaborations as a starting point- Straub said that they left him and his pal feeling “pretty fed up with each other” and it shows, monster bestseller status notwithstanding. Same with Floating Dragon, which found Straub uncomfortably attempting to adhere to 1980's mass market horror standards. Not to say that these books should be discarded - just save them for a rainy day.

Straub was at Readercon a number of times. Lovely man, good on panels.

I finished my read of Ghost Story and posted my review.

>12 paradoxosalpha:

Excellent review. I did not know that bit about the O.T.O. and I appreciate that Straub did the right thing. The name Alma Mobley still brings a chill. I've always associated her with Machen's Helen Vaughan, although I've never heard that Straub had that specifically in mind.

>13 semdetenebre: Helen Vaughan

I should have made that connection! But I was distracted by the notion that the older fictional sister of A.M. was April Bell of Darker Than You Think.

After having made the Stranger Things comparison independently, I notice that there has been press about the Duffer Brothers being attached to a Netflix series of The Talisman (not yet in pre-production).

I just snagged a true first edition of Shadowland for $3 from the Friends of the Library used book sale.

>16 paradoxosalpha:

Nice find! I'm steadily going through Straub's American Fantastic Tales to see how far I can get by Halloween. Also just finished his novel A Dark Matter, which subtly falls into a Lovecraftian mode.