The Hour of the Oxrun Dead was a breakthrough novel for Charles L. Grant. It was the first of many books dealing with Oxrun Station, his invented, cursed locale that is probably only surpassed by Lovecraft's Arkham and King's Castle Rock in the minds of horror fans. First appearing in 1977, it helped usher in the golden age of horror fiction in the 1980s. Character-driven and emotionally wrenching, The Hour of the Oxrun Dead's subtlety stands in sharp contrast to the "gore galore" style that would come to dominate horror fiction.