Peter Straub “Ghost Story” (1979) Peter Straub is best known to us as Stephen King’s co-author in the novel “The Talisman”. But this is not Straub's first (or best) work. “A Ghost Story” is his fourth novel. Her debut was the non-horror novel “Marriages,” followed by the Gothic ghost novels “Julia” (1975) and “Return to Arden” (“If you could see me”). now”) (1977). But only “A Ghost Story” brought real success to the writer, which became a bestseller almost immediately after publication.