John Farris

John Lee Farris (born July 26, 1936) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He first achieved best-seller status at age twenty-three and is most famous as the author of The Fury (Playboy Press, 1976). He is also known largely for his work in the southern Gothic genre.

Life Farris was born in Jefferson City, Missouri to John Linder Farris (1909–1982) and Eleanor Carter Farris (1905–1984). Raised in Tennessee, he graduated from Central High School and attended Southwestern College (now Rhodes College), both in Memphis. His first wife, Kathleen, (deceased) was the mother of Julie Marie, John and Jeff Farris; his second wife, Mary Ann Pasante, is the mother of Peter John (P.J.) Farris.

Beginning with his first publication at age 19, The Corpse Next Door, Farris published twelve novels from the mid-1950s through the 1960s. These included a series of hardboiled crime novels under the pseudonym Steve Brackeen. Farris's early "Harrison High" novels were a major influence on Stephen King. Farris assisted in the rejuvenation of the horror novel with When Michael Calls, published in 1967.

After a hiatus of several years, he returned to the horror field to write his best-known novel, The Fury (1976), which was filmed the following year by Brian de Palma. Farris's horror novel, All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By, saw print in 1978. He then demonstrated a remarkable diversity with a suspense novel, Shatter (1981); the occult adventure Catacombs (1982); a subdued ghost story, The Uninvited (1982); and a flamboyant novel of possession, Son of the Endless Night (1985). In 2001 he was presented the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. At the 2015 World Horror Convention he was an Author Guest of Honor. The Axeman Cometh (Tor, 1989, pb) Fiends (Dark Harvest, 1990 [limited edition]) Demonios (1991) Sacrifice (Tor, 1994) Dragonfly (Tor/Forge, 1995) Soon She Will Be Gone (Tor/Forge, 1997) Solar Eclipse (Forge, 1999) The Fury and the Terror (2001) The Fury and the Power (2003) Phantom Nights''' (2004)Elvisland (Babbage Press, 2004) (short stories)Avenging Fury (2008)You Don't Scare Me (2007)High Bloods (2009)

Short stories “Hunting Meth Zombies in the Great Nebraskan Wasteland ” in Elvisland, nominated for Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction I Scream. You Scream. We All Scream for Ice Cream.Story Time with the Bluefield StranglerTransgressions: Volume TwoScreenplaysDear Dead Delilah (1972)The Fury (1978)