Ghost Story
September 10, 2022 11:32 AM Subscribe
Peter Straub, 1943 - 2022. A leading American horror writer, Straub was well known for his 1979 novel Ghost Story, which was turned into a 1981 movie. He published 17 novels and numerous short stories.
Reflections from Neil Gaiman and collaborator Stephen King.
Obituaries from The Guardian, The New York Times, Bloody Disgusting, NPR.
Previously.
Reflections from Neil Gaiman and collaborator Stephen King.
Obituaries from The Guardian, The New York Times, Bloody Disgusting, NPR.
Previously.
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posted by GenjiandProust at 11:33 AM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:33 AM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ghost Story (the book) scared the crap out of me. I loved it. RIP.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:42 AM on September 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:42 AM on September 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
@emmastraub posted a great thread on Twitter: "Ok this is going to be long and rambling but here goes. My father, Peter Straub, died on Sunday night. He was the fucking best, and here's why, with photos"
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posted by Wobbuffet at 11:46 AM on September 10, 2022 [20 favorites]
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posted by Wobbuffet at 11:46 AM on September 10, 2022 [20 favorites]
3. He was a fucking hilarious pen pal. Sometimes he sent emails as fictional characters. When I was at summer camp, he would send me letters telling me everything that happened on All My Children. He added a lot of murders.
That is so great.
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posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:51 AM on September 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
That is so great.
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posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:51 AM on September 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
I've enjoyed everything of his I've read, but now I see that he also sounded like just a great guy to know.
posted by theatro at 12:29 PM on September 10, 2022
posted by theatro at 12:29 PM on September 10, 2022
I think I might have been too young for Ghost Story when I read it, and it might have screwed me up a little, but the body-hopping spirit totally primed me to be horrified by The Thing on the Doorstep and Fallen, among others.
I’m currently rereading Shadowland for the ?th time.
The Talisman was practically my religion for a while.
I have a few other books of his to go back to, and it seems to turn out he may have been my favorite author, but in a way I somehow didn’t realize it.
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posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:37 PM on September 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I’m currently rereading Shadowland for the ?th time.
The Talisman was practically my religion for a while.
I have a few other books of his to go back to, and it seems to turn out he may have been my favorite author, but in a way I somehow didn’t realize it.
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posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:37 PM on September 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
"The Juniper Tree" is one of the most harrowing stories I've ever read; when I picked it back up a couple of months ago, I found it had lost none of its power.
Straub understood something about horror--and maybe this applies more to fiction, instead of movies, maybe it's why his works weren't really picked up for filming--he saw that while a lot of horror focuses on monsters, there's room instead to focus on what experiencing monstrosity feels like. I don't want to say 'cerebral' because that gives the wrong impression--there was nothing aloof about his work, there was plenty of physicality--but he let his people have minds, have souls. He wanted to situate you inside the head of someone who is about to be a victim, or who is picking up the pieces long afterward. Not always, sure, and when he wants to write a monster, he certainly writes a monster--Dick Dart from The Hellfire Club is a masterpiece of creepy villainy, and Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff give a glimpse of cheerful, otherworldly weirdness. But Straub is concerned with setting a tone, with the emotions of the thing, and his thoughtfulness about how it all feels, makes his work feel so deep, so unpleasantly touching. (To talk about his blue rose series, and all its many layers and unreliabilities and ways of making the same elements tell different stories, would take a whole essay, a whole book.)
There aren't many writers who have been more important to me, than Straub. I always hoped for one more book. Just one. It wasn't to be, and so I had to get used to the idea that what was out there was all there would ever be--thus picking back up his collected stories recently to go back through him, to listen to that voice of his, so confident and probing and unfailingly humane even as it showed you terror after terror.
posted by mittens at 12:52 PM on September 10, 2022 [9 favorites]
Straub understood something about horror--and maybe this applies more to fiction, instead of movies, maybe it's why his works weren't really picked up for filming--he saw that while a lot of horror focuses on monsters, there's room instead to focus on what experiencing monstrosity feels like. I don't want to say 'cerebral' because that gives the wrong impression--there was nothing aloof about his work, there was plenty of physicality--but he let his people have minds, have souls. He wanted to situate you inside the head of someone who is about to be a victim, or who is picking up the pieces long afterward. Not always, sure, and when he wants to write a monster, he certainly writes a monster--Dick Dart from The Hellfire Club is a masterpiece of creepy villainy, and Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff give a glimpse of cheerful, otherworldly weirdness. But Straub is concerned with setting a tone, with the emotions of the thing, and his thoughtfulness about how it all feels, makes his work feel so deep, so unpleasantly touching. (To talk about his blue rose series, and all its many layers and unreliabilities and ways of making the same elements tell different stories, would take a whole essay, a whole book.)
There aren't many writers who have been more important to me, than Straub. I always hoped for one more book. Just one. It wasn't to be, and so I had to get used to the idea that what was out there was all there would ever be--thus picking back up his collected stories recently to go back through him, to listen to that voice of his, so confident and probing and unfailingly humane even as it showed you terror after terror.
posted by mittens at 12:52 PM on September 10, 2022 [9 favorites]
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posted by Token Meme at 1:52 PM on September 10, 2022
posted by Token Meme at 1:52 PM on September 10, 2022
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posted by dannyboybell at 2:03 PM on September 10, 2022
posted by dannyboybell at 2:03 PM on September 10, 2022
I remember reading The Talisman and Ghost Story when I was in high school…back when I was able to read scary stories. I thoroughly enjoyed scaring the crap out of myself with them.
That tribute thread by his daughter is wonderful.
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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:12 PM on September 10, 2022
That tribute thread by his daughter is wonderful.
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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:12 PM on September 10, 2022
(For a moment I thought this was a very roundabout way of announcing that Stephen King had died, but then remembered that King's pseudonym was Richard Bachman...)
posted by kaibutsu at 2:51 PM on September 10, 2022
posted by kaibutsu at 2:51 PM on September 10, 2022
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posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 2:58 PM on September 10, 2022
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 2:58 PM on September 10, 2022
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posted by infinitewindow at 3:04 PM on September 10, 2022
posted by infinitewindow at 3:04 PM on September 10, 2022
After the stephen King thread the other day, I dug out the copy of The Talisman that I hadn't read, and began it. So far I am really enjoying it.
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posted by Fuchsoid at 4:10 PM on September 10, 2022
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posted by Fuchsoid at 4:10 PM on September 10, 2022
'Ghost Story' is one of my favorites. Just good writing and the movie is spooky.
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posted by clavdivs at 4:29 PM on September 10, 2022
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posted by clavdivs at 4:29 PM on September 10, 2022
I really enjoyed Shadowland. Goodbye and thank you, King of the Cats.
posted by ashbury at 7:04 PM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ashbury at 7:04 PM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:51 AM on September 11, 2022
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:51 AM on September 11, 2022
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posted by triage_lazarus at 3:57 AM on September 11, 2022
posted by triage_lazarus at 3:57 AM on September 11, 2022
I read Ghost Story when I was probably 15, and I remember vividly that it was in the winter, and I could hear the winds roaring all around the house and rattling the windows as I read, late at night. This was the late '80s, there wasn't a real internet then, and if you were too young to go out with your friends, you were just home. I wish that kids now could have the experience of real solitude, and have the deep meditative space of hours of reading without the dings and chimes of "real"-world dispatches from social media. I wish I could!
What a wonderful writer.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:55 AM on September 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
What a wonderful writer.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:55 AM on September 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
@kittens - I had pretty much the same experience with Ghost Story as you. Have you read it since then?
I'll read it again to see if the magic can be recaptured. Dune didn't disappoint me, ~30 years later and I bet Ghost Story won't.
posted by superelastic at 10:59 AM on September 11, 2022
I'll read it again to see if the magic can be recaptured. Dune didn't disappoint me, ~30 years later and I bet Ghost Story won't.
posted by superelastic at 10:59 AM on September 11, 2022
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I'm a very picky/snobby horror fan and IMO Straub was one of the best.
posted by Jess the Mess at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm a very picky/snobby horror fan and IMO Straub was one of the best.
posted by Jess the Mess at 11:21 AM on September 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have read it again, but it was still some years ago. I would probably enjoy it now, I think.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:57 PM on September 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:57 PM on September 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
An amazing writer. Ghost Story and Shadowland stuck with me for a long time. RIP after a life well-lived and a fantastic legacy.
posted by rpfields at 2:34 PM on September 11, 2022
posted by rpfields at 2:34 PM on September 11, 2022
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posted by palmcorder_yajna at 3:35 PM on September 11, 2022
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 3:35 PM on September 11, 2022
Ghost Story and Shadowland are among my favourite novels ever.
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posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 6:09 AM on September 12, 2022
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posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 6:09 AM on September 12, 2022
I wanted to post this the other day, but I believed it would be overshadowed by Queen Elizabeth's death. I'm not really into horror and only occasionally do I have an appetite for dark fantasy, so I've read one only (possibly two) stories of Straub's. But it feels like I've always known who he was.
Like doctornemo said, he was really kind and genuinely interested the one time I met him. I studied with a few SF/F authors for a grad degree, so during a convention a few years back I was at the bar with them surrounded by other luminaries of speculative fiction. Despite having nothing published or being a known quantity in the community.
At some point, Peter asked me what I did for work, and we got into a long and heady conversation about books and art and what matters in the world. He was passionate, articulate, and sincere. The remembrances seen all over the writing community speak volumes about the kind of writer and the kind of person he was. Personally, I won't forget how we spoke that night, even if the details of what was said grow hazy.
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posted by xenization at 8:35 AM on September 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
Like doctornemo said, he was really kind and genuinely interested the one time I met him. I studied with a few SF/F authors for a grad degree, so during a convention a few years back I was at the bar with them surrounded by other luminaries of speculative fiction. Despite having nothing published or being a known quantity in the community.
At some point, Peter asked me what I did for work, and we got into a long and heady conversation about books and art and what matters in the world. He was passionate, articulate, and sincere. The remembrances seen all over the writing community speak volumes about the kind of writer and the kind of person he was. Personally, I won't forget how we spoke that night, even if the details of what was said grow hazy.
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posted by xenization at 8:35 AM on September 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
Emma Straub remembering her father in Vulture.
posted by Kitteh at 8:56 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 8:56 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by doctornemo at 11:32 AM on September 10, 2022 [1 favorite]