Richard Carl Laymon (January 14, 1947 - February 14, 2001) was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. Richard Laymon died in 2001 of a heart attack and is survived by his wife, Ann, and daughter, Kelly.He was born and raised outside of Chicago, then lived in Tiburon as a teen. He graduated from Redwood High School, then pursued a BA in English Literature from Willamette University in Oregon and an MA in English Literature from Loyola University in Los Angeles.
His works include more than sixty short stories and more than thirty novels, a few of which were published under the pseudonym Richard Kelly. However, despite praise from prominent writers from within the genre, including Stephen King and Dean Koontz, Laymon was little known in his homeland he enjoyed greater success in Europe, though, particularly in the United Kingdom until his affiliation with Leisure Books in 1999.
