SOURCE: "Impure Consciousness," in The Armchair Detective, Vol. 27, No. 3, Summer, 1994, pp. 264-71.

In the following interview, Straub discusses the creative process and the evolution of his fiction.

Peter Straub lives as one would expect a writer to live: surrounded by books. As we ascend to his office on the top floor of his Manhattan brownstone, we pass shelves at every landing, shelves piled and crammed and jammed with volumes; if there is any organization based on size or subject, it eludes me. On the walls are posters from the movie adaptations which have been made from Straub's work, Ghost Story and The Haunting of Julia (based on his more succinctly titled book Julia), as well as blowups of his novel covers.

With its massive desk and leather chairs, his office is large and comfortable-looking. A pile of books rises in the center of the room like an altar...