Richard Laymon was a horror author born in Chicago who wrote more than thirty novels and sixty short stories over his career. Despite praise from Stephen King and Dean Koontz, he found greater success in the UK and Europe than in his homeland, earning a devoted international following for his relentlessly visceral fiction. His novel Flesh was named Best Horror Novel of 1988, and The Traveling Vampire Show won the Bram Stoker Award in 2000. He served as president of the Horror Writers Association and passed away on 14 February 2001.
