Ray Russell was an American writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. In 1991 he received the World Fantasy Award

World Fantasy Award

The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...

 for Lifetime Achievement.

His most famous short story is "Sardonicus", which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine, and was subsequently adapted by Russell into a screenplay for William Castle

William Castle

William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....

's film version, titled Mr. Sardonicus

Mr. Sardonicus

Mr. Sardonicus is a 1961 horror film produced and directed by William Castle. It tells the story of Sardonicus, a man whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father's grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket. He tries to force a doctor to cure him, but eventually dies when...

. American writer Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

 called "Sardonicus" "perhaps the finest example of the modern gothic ever written". "Sardonicus" was part of a trio of stories with "Sanguinarius" and "Sagittarius".

At over 45 pages, it would be more appropriate to consider "Sardonicus" as a novella or novellette.

Russell was also one of the screenwriters for Roger Corman

Roger Corman

Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...

's X

X (1963 film)

X is a 1963 science fiction/horror motion picture.Directed by Roger Corman from a script by Ray Russell and Robert Dillon, X stars Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier. A world renowned scientist, Dr. Xavier experiments with X-ray vision and things go horribly wrong...

(also known as X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes) and The Premature Burial

The Premature Burial (film)

The Premature Burial is an American International Pictures horror film, directed by Roger Corman and starring Ray Milland, screenplay by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell based upon the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.-Cast:...

(based on the Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

 short story).

Books

• Sardonicus and Other Stories (1961)
• The Case Against Satan (1963)
• Unholy Trinity (1964)
• The Little Lexicon of Love (1966)
• The Colony (1969)
• Sagittarius (Playboy Science Fiction/Fantasy, 1971)
• Prince of Darkness (1971)
• Incubus (1976)
• Holy Horatio! (1976)
• Princess Pamela (1979)
• The Devil's Mirror (1980)
• The Book of Hell (1980)
• The Bishop's Daughter (1981)
• Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Tales of Ray Russell (1985)
• Absolute Power (1992)

Short stories

• "Sardonicus"
• "Comet Wine"
• "The Actor"
• "The Cage"
• "The Exploits of Argo"
• "The Sword of Laertes"
• "Montage"
• "Booked Solid"
• "Take A Deep Breath"
• "The Pleasure Was Ours"
• "The Room"
• "I Am Returning"
• "Incommunicado"
• "His Father's House"
• "Last Will And Testament"
• "The Rosebud"
• "London Calling"
• "Ounce of Prevention"
• "Xong of Xuxan"

Screenplays

• Mr. Sardonicus
  Mr. Sardonicus
  Mr. Sardonicus is a 1961 horror film produced and directed by William Castle. It tells the story of Sardonicus, a man whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father's grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket. He tries to force a doctor to cure him, but eventually dies when...
  
  (1961)
• The Premature Burial
  The Premature Burial (film)
  The Premature Burial is an American International Pictures horror film, directed by Roger Corman and starring Ray Milland, screenplay by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell based upon the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.-Cast:...
  
  (1962)
• Zotz!
  Zotz!
  Zotz! is a 1962 fantasy/comedy film produced and directed by William Castle, about a man obtaining magical powers from a god of an ancient civilization. The film is based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Walter Karig.-Plot:...
  
  (1962)
• The Horror of It All
  The Horror of It All
  The Horror of It All is a 1963 horror comedy film directed by Terence Fisher. It stars Pat Boone and Erica Rogers.-Cast:*Pat Boone as John Robinson*Erica Rogers as Cynthia Marley*Dennis Price as Cornwallis Marley*Andree Melly as Natalie Marley...
  
  (1963)
• X
  X (1963 film)
  X is a 1963 science fiction/horror motion picture.Directed by Roger Corman from a script by Ray Russell and Robert Dillon, X stars Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier. A world renowned scientist, Dr. Xavier experiments with X-ray vision and things go horribly wrong...
  
  (1963)
• Chamber of Horrors (1966)