Richard Carl Laymon (January 14, 1947 – February 14, 2001[1]) was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre.
His works include more than sixty short stories and more than thirty novels, a few of which were published under the pseudonym Richard Kelly.
Early in his career, Laymon found greater commercial success in the United Kingdom and Europe, despite praise from prominent writers from within the genre, including Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
Laymon believed that this was a result of a badly-edited first release of The Woods Are Dark, which had had over fifty pages removed.
It featured short stories and non-fiction tribute essays by authors such as Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Gary Brandner, Edward Lee, and many others.