Richard Laymon Books In Order

Publication Order of Beast House Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Making Of The Cities Books

Publication Order of Women Who Won The West Books

Publication Order of Making Of America Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Richard Laymon was one of the most reputed authors from America, who was well known for writing his books based on the suspense and horror genres. He was also known to write the novels based on the sub-genre of splatter punk. The writings of author Laymon were full of sex and violence, and were believed to be not suitable for readers with weak heart. In spite of being an American, Laymon’s books sold very well in most parts of the United Kingdom. In addition to writing solo, Laymon also collaborated with a few other prominent authors of his time in writing historical fiction books. He used to make use of the collective pen name of Lee Davis Willoughby for writing such books. Author Laymon began his writing career in the year 1980 with the release of his debut book titled The Cellar. The final novel written by him was published posthumously in 2005. Author Laymon was born as Richard Carl Laymon on January 14, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, The United States. His death occurred on February 14, 2001 due to a massive heart attack. Now, the only members of his family left behind are his wife named Ann and a daughter named Kelly. Laymon was mostly brought up in and around Chicago. During his teenage years, he used to live in Tiburon, California. Author Laymon completed his high school graduation from the Redwood High School. This was followed by a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Willamette University, located in Oregon, in the English Literature. Later on, Laymon pursued his Master’s degree in the same subject from the Loyola University, in Los Angeles.

The writing career of author Laymon includes over 60 short stories and around 30 novels. He published a few of the novels and short stories under the pen name of Richard Kelly. As many as 20 of his short stories were released as a part of the ‘Fastback Mystery’ series. This series consisted of single stories which were released in the form of books. In spite of receiving praise from other prominent authors of the genre, such as Dean Koontz and Stephen King, author Laymon was not much known in his own homeland. Rather, he enjoyed much more success throughout Europe. In the later parts of his writing career, Laymon got affiliated with the Leisure Books. Author Laymon was of the opinion that his affiliation was the result of bad editing of his first release, from which more than 50 pages were removed. Laymon’s career saw a downfall after the tremendous success of his novel The Cellar because of the unattractive art on the covers and poor editing. The original version of his novel ‘The Woods Are Dark’ was finally released in 2008 by the Leisure publication after it was reconstructed by his Laymon’s daughter Kelly. One of his novels titled Flesh was given the Best Horror award in the year 1988 by the Chronicle of Science Fiction. Laymon’s novels Funland and Flesh had received nominations for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award. Laymon went on to win this award posthumously for one of his other books. An anthology of short stories and essays known as In Laymon’s Terms, were published by the Cemetery Publications. It included contributions from prominent authors like Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Bentley Little, and Gary Brandner.

One of the initial books written by Richard Laymon is entitled ‘The Traveling Vampire Show’. Leisure Books released it in the year 2000. At the start of the book, author Laymon has shown that all over the Grandville town, the fliers showing the upcoming Vampire Show were tacked to trees, power poles, store windows, and sidewalks. The show is said to feature Valeria, who is the only vampire known to be held in captivity. The fliers describe Valeria as a stunning and gorgeous beauty. During the performance, she will be stalking volunteers and sinking her teeth in their neck to drink blood. Three teenagers who saw the fliers do not wish to miss the show at any cost. But, it appears that they may be facing many obstacles that would cost them the show. One of the problems is that no one under the age of 18 is allowed to enter the show. The teenagers, Rusty, Slim, and Dwight are nearing 16. One more problem is that the show is scheduled to start at midnight and they were not allowed to leave home at that time. But, the biggest problem of all is that the show is held at the Janks Field, a ground patch known for having bad history. Due to this, the parents do not find it safe enough to send their kids there. As the teenagers think that they are certainly going to miss the show, they think of visiting Janks Field during the day to see a glimpse of the preparations by the crew. They hope to see Valeria practicing for the show. Among the three friends, Dwight is an honest and solid kid. He uses his common sense and is loyal to the other two. Rusty seems to be a bit husky, relishing trouble. While Slim is a brave girl who likes to read novels. The novel shows the story of friendship, love, temptations, and betrayal.

Another interesting novel written by Laymon is called The Midnight Tour. It was released in 2007, after being published in 1998 for the first time. Author Laymon has described the story of a Beast House in this book, which is flocked by the tourists every time. The tourists seem eager to visit the infamous sites of the numerous atrocities and to hear the stories of of the beasts that are believed to prowl the house’s hallways. The tourists are able to hear the audio on the headphones as they move through different rooms of the house. They can also view the recreated corpses that seem realistic. However, the tours only provide the sanitized versions of the Best House horrors in audio form. The house consists of some weird facts that appear very gruesome for the normal thrill seekers. If the tourists wish to hear the full story, they are required to take up the ‘Midnight Tour’. The tour is believed to be very special and strictly limited for only 13 brave visitors. As the tour begins at midnight, it is believed that the visitors might die before the end of the tour. Just like the previous books of author Laymon, this one too became highly popular and helped Laymon to increase his popularity even more. He received wide appreciations from one and all and the critics appreciated his efforts.

One Response to “Richard Laymon”

1. Jennifer Richards: 10 months ago

   Richard Lagoon is my favorite author. There is nobody and I mean nobody that wrote better horror stories than him. He made a time in my life that was difficult much much easier on me through reading his books. He deserved much much more fame and praise. My favorite books of his are the Traveling Vampire show and The Woods are Dark and Dark Mountain. His books truly were scary and its difficult to scare me so the man knew what he was doing for sure. I will continue to keep reading all his books until I’ve read all of them. Thank you for all your great great books Richard may you rest in peace, nobody could even get close to how talented you really are sir.

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