Straub has written five other novels which deal with the supernatural, including one which he cowrote with Stephen King. The earliest of these novels, Julia, was published in 1975 and is the story of a woman who attempts to save her choking daughter's life with an amateur, unsuccessful tracheotomy. After the child's death, Julia believes herself to be haunted by her ghost. Another ghost story, If You Could See Me Now, followed in 1977.

Three other works dealing with the supernatural followed the 1979 publication of Ghost Story. Shadowland, published in 1980, involves magic and is similar to Ghost Story in technique; it makes use of a series of stories, although these stories, as the appearance of the Brothers Grimm suggests, are related to fairy tales. The next of Straub's novels, Floating Dragon (1983), uses many of the themes, techniques, and types of characters of the previous novels; its climactic scene...