Author Peter Straub, best known for his popular horror and supernatural novels, including two co-authored with Stephen King, has died at the age of 79.

His daughter Emma Straub, also a bestselling author of popular novels, shared the news on Instagram on Tuesday.

“Peter Francis Straub, the smartest and funniest man in any room he was ever in, 2/3/43 – 9/4/22. How lucky we were. There are not enough words in the world,” wrote Emma Straub.

Straub, a Milwaukee native and lifelong reader and writer, scored his first major success with his spooky 1979 novel “Ghost Story,” which was made into a 1981 film starring Fred Astaire and Alice Krige. Many supernatural and horror novels followed, including his most popular 1984 novel, “The Talisman,” about a boy’s journey to a parallel universe to save his mother, and its 2001 sequel, “Black House,” which he co-wrote with horror giant King.

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In a 2001 interview with USA TODAY book critic Bob Minzesheimer about his collaboration with King, Straub said, “Writing is a deeply private, intimate activity. You don’t achieve your own style without cost. You don’t want anyone in your workshop playing with your tools unless you trust them.”

King, whose new fantasy novel “Fairy Tale” hit stores on Tuesday, expressed his condolences on Twitter on this bittersweet day.

“For me, it is a happy day because FAIRY TALE is being published. It is a sad day because my good friend and incredibly talented colleague and collaborator Peter Straub has passed away. Working with him was one of the greatest joys of my creative life,” King wrote.

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In a 2002 interview with Minzesheimer, Straub said he was annoyed at being “pushed into the category of genre writer… as if genre fiction was automatically second-rate and could only become literary if it transcended genre,” and he wished critics would judge authors on the quality of their writing rather than just their subject matter.

Straub was a regular on the USA TODAY bestseller list, with seven of his novels spending 68 weeks on the list. His highest-ranking book was “Black House,” which reached No. 2 in 2001.

Emma Straub wrote warmly about her relationship with her father, which inspired her latest book, This Time Tomorrow, a heartfelt time-travel novel about a woman coping with the impending death of her writer father.

A ★★★½ (out of four) review for USA TODAY in May states, “Straub explores love — its various forms and expressions, how it evolves over time, and how we can better give and receive it. And also love for her own father, horror novelist Peter Straub, whom she thanks in the acknowledgments ‘for accepting this book as it was intended, as a gift.'”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peter Straub: ‘Talisman’ author and Stephen King collaborator dies at 79