Richard Chizmar

Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations

About Richard Chizmar

Richard Chizmar is the author of Gwendy's Button Box (with Stephen King) and A Long December, which was nominated for numerous awards. His fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and multiple editions of The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA's Board of Trustee's award. His third short story collection, A Long December, was recently published to starred reviews in both Kirkus and Booklist, and was featured in Entertainment Weekly. Chizmar’s work has been translated into many languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor. Please visit the author’s website at RichardChizmar.com.

Stephen King

Dean Koontz

Joe Hill

Bev Vincent

Catriona Ward

Ronald Malfi

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.

Learn more at Author Central

1 11 1

$6.99

Kindle Edition
$9.99

Kindle Edition
$13.99

Kindle Edition
$4.99

Kindle Edition
$4.99

Kindle Edition
$3.95

Kindle Edition
$6.99

Kindle Edition
$4.99

Kindle Edition
$4.99

Kindle Edition
$2.99

Kindle Edition
$0.99

Kindle Edition
$7.99

Kindle Edition

Author Updates

Titles By Richard Chizmar

All Formats Kindle Edition Audible Audiobook Paperback Hardcover See more

Gwendy's Magic Feather (Gwendy's Button Box Trilogy Book 2) Jan 21, 2020

by Richard Chizmar, Stephen King

( 6,094 )

$6.99

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER

In this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling novella by Stephen King and award-winning author Richard Chizmar, an adult Gwendy is summoned back to Castle Rock after the mysterious reappearance of the button box.

Something evil has swept into the small Maine town of Castle Rock on the heels of the latest winter storm. Sheriff Norris Ridgewick and his team are desperately searching for two missing girls, but time is running out.

In Washington, DC, thirty-seven-year-old Gwendy Peterson couldn’t be more different from the self-conscious teenaged girl who once spent a summer running up Castle Rock’s Suicide Stairs. That same summer, she had been entrusted—or some might say cursed—with the extraordinary button box by Richard Farris, the mysterious stranger in the black suit. The seductive and powerful box offered Gwendy small gifts in exchange for its care and feeding until Farris eventually returned, promising the young girl she’d never see the box again.

One day, though, the button box suddenly reappears but this time, without Richard Farris to explain why, or what she’s supposed to do with it. Between this and the troubling disappearances back in Castle Rock, Gwendy decides to return home. She just might be able to help rescue the missing girls and stop a dangerous madman before he does something ghastly.

With breathtaking and lyrical prose, Gwendy’s Magic Feather explores whether our lives are controlled by fate or the choices we make and what price we sometimes have to pay. Prepare to return again to Stephen King’s Castle Rock, the sleepy little town built on a bedrock of deep, dark secrets, just as it’s about to awaken from its quiet slumber once more.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Gwendy's Button Box: A Novella (Gwendy's Button Box Trilogy Book 1) Aug 7, 2017

by Stephen King, Richard Chizmar

( 8,896 )

$9.99

Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine

Stephen King teams up with long-time friend and award-winning author Richard Chizmar for the first time in this original, chilling novella that revisits the mysterious town of Castle Rock.

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong—if time-rusted—iron bolts and zig-zag up the precarious cliffside.

Then one day when Gwendy gets to the top of Castle View, after catching her breath and hearing the shouts of kids on the playground below, a stranger calls to her. There on a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small, neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat…

The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told—until now.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD , Board book

Chasing the Boogeyman: A Novel Aug 17, 2021

by Richard Chizmar

( 4,311 )

$13.99

The acclaimed New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel of small-town evil that “is genuinely chilling and something brand-new and exciting” (Stephen King) and “unforgettable” (Harlan Coben).

In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI, are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he’s playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end.

Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. Amid preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into a real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer’s reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come.

A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime. Chizmar’s “dazzling work of fresh imagination and psychological insight” (Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of You) is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

The Girl on the Porch Aug 31, 2019

by Richard Chizmar

( 776 )

$4.99

“Chizmar’s great gift is that he knows the people on your block—and he knows their darkest secrets. This guy is gold.”
—Stephen King

“For some, the impulse lives closer to the surface and instead of fighting it, they embrace it. The worst of them, the truly evil, listen for it…that tantalizing, deceitful voice from somewhere underneath it all.”
From New York Times bestseller Richard Chizmar, author of Gwendy's Button Box (with Stephen King) and The Long Way Home, comes a thriller that will forever change the way you look at your neighbors and best friends...

When the Tuckers’ next door neighbor mentions someone rang their doorbell late the previous night, Sarah and Kenny Tucker check their home’s security camera and discover something shocking: the doorbell ringer also visited their house and it wasn’t a teenager playing a prank, but instead a terrified young woman with a shackle hanging from her right wrist. She anxiously pressed the doorbell again and again, glancing over her shoulder as if someone was coming for her, before giving up and taking off into the dark.

Almost overnight, she becomes known as The Girl on the Porch—and she’s everywhere. There are updates on all the local networks, national coverage on CNN and Fox News, and the video goes viral on social media. Before long, everyone has seen the harrowing security camera footage.
Kenny and Sarah figure it’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes the woman, but as the days pass and no one comes forward, odd things begin to transpire around the Tucker family: a man intensely watches them at a restaurant and then vanishes, fresh footprints appear in the garden next to their house where no one should have been, a neighbor’s pet is viciously killed and mutilated, and a mysterious man has started following their daughter Natalie...

A rollercoaster ride of compelling twists and turns, The Girl on the Porch demonstrates why Stephen King says Richard Chizmar’s writing is “powerful” and Robert McCammon calls his work “hard-hitting, spooky, suspenseful, harrowing, and heartbreaking.”

Other Formats: Hardcover

Widow's Point Feb 12, 2018

by Richard Chizmar, Billy Chizmar

( 701 )

$4.99

“This is a bad place. I don't think people are meant to live here.”

Longtime residents of Harper's Cove believe that something is wrong with the Widow's Point Lighthouse. Some say it's cursed. Others claim it's haunted.

Originally built in 1838, three workers were killed during the lighthouse's construction, including one who mysteriously plunged to his death from the catwalk. That tragic accident was never explained, and it was just the beginning of the terror. In the decades that followed, nearly two dozen additional deaths occurred in or around the lighthouse including cold-blooded murder, suicide, unexplained accidents and disappearances, the slaughter of an entire family, and the inexplicable death of a Hollywood starlet who was filming a movie on the grounds.

The lighthouse was finally shuttered tight in 1988 and a security fence was erected around the property. No one has been inside since.

Until tonight.

Thomas Livingston is the acclaimed author of thirteen books about the supernatural and this evening he will enter the Widow's Point Lighthouse, searching for material for his next bestseller. He will be locked inside for the weekend with no way of contacting the outside world. And although no human has stepped foot inside the structure in nearly three decades, Livingston will not be alone.

In this remarkable collaboration, father and son writing team, Richard and Billy Chizmar, combine forces to tell a chilling ghost story that will make you think twice about what is waiting for you in the dark. This novella is a much-expanded version of the short story of the same title.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover

Darkness Whispers Jun 15, 2017

by Richard Chizmar, Brian James Freeman

( 281 )

$3.95

Darkness Whispers will introduce you to the town of Windbrook, a sleepy little community nestled deep in the secluded Skullkin Valley of western Pennsylvania. All is well in Windbrook, just like usual, just like always. Nothing changes here, nothing is different. Except... except today something is different. An old man with piercing gray eyes will arrive in town this morning. This man isn't human. Not even close. And he isn't coming alone. Death travels with him.

Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December, and Brian James Freeman, acclaimed author of The Painted Darkness, have combined forces to create an old-fashioned tale of horror, full of good and evil, with a breathtaking ending that will leave you wondering when this peculiar old man might be coming for you.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

A Long December Oct 31, 2016

by Richard Chizmar

( 430 )

$6.99

In 1996, Richard Chizmar’s debut short story collection, Midnight Promises, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Publishers Weekly called it “a sterling collection” while singling out “The Silence of Sorrow” as “an understated masterpiece.”

Two years later, Subterranean Press published a mini-collection from Chizmar entitled Monsters and Other Stories. In his introduction, acclaimed genre critic Edward Bryant said, “When all is said and done, this book should leave you in utter silence, giving you time and opportunity to contemplate what you just read. Tough storytelling from a tough writer; but a writer who is not calloused. Chizmar possesses a finely honed gift of empathy. With utter grace and loving kindness he’ll put you right inside the life (and soul) of the monster.”

Now, nearly two decades later, Chizmar assembles thirty-five stories, including a previously-unpublished novella, and presents us with A Long December. This massive new collection features more than 150,000 words of Chizmar’s very best short fiction and includes 8,000 words of autobiographical Story Notes.

Eerie, suspenseful, poignant, the stories in A Long December range from horror to suspense, crime to dark fantasy, mainstream to mystery.

As New York Times bestselling author Scott Smith (A Simple Plan, The Ruins) notes: “It’s an idyllic little world Richard Chizmar has created. Boys fish in the shallows of a winding creek. A father tosses a baseball with his young son in the fading light of a summer day. There’s the smell of fresh-cut grass. And then, well…just beneath the surface? There are those missing pets whose collars turn up in a shoebox. Or the disturbing photos the dead can leave behind. Or the terrible thing you might find yourself doing when a long lost brother suddenly returns, demanding money. Chizmar does a tremendous job of peeling back his world’s shiny layers, revealing the rot that lies underneath. His stories feel like so many teeth: short and sharp and ready to draw blood.”

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback

The Long Way Home May 21, 2019

by Richard Chizmar

( 359 )

$4.99

Gathered here for the first time ever are seventeen short stories, two essays, and a short script by award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, Richard Chizmar.

Eerie, suspenseful, poignant, the stories in The Long Way Home run the gamut from horror to suspense, crime to dark fantasy, mainstream to mystery. This brand new collection features more than 100,000 words of short fiction, as well as more than 5,000 words of autobiographical Story Notes.

Chizmar's previous short story collection, A Long December, was published in 2016 to starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus, and was included on numerous "Best Books of the Year" lists. Entertainment Weekly gave the book high praise: "Each tale is a magic trick, luring you toward the light while leading you down an ever-darkening path. There is hope mingled with horror, and that's Chizmar's secret power. His storytelling always beats with a huge, passionate heart."

Stephen King says he writes "terrific stories served with a very large slice of Disquiet Pie," and with The Long Way Home, Richard Chizmar has taken his evocative and compelling storytelling to an entirely new level.

Other Formats: Kindle , Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Spiral-bound

Shivers VIII Jul 2, 2019

by Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Bentley Little, RC Matheson, Norman Prentiss, Brian James Freeman, Lisa Morton, Bev Vincent, Ray Garton

( 113 )

$4.99

Cemetery Dance Publications is proud to announce the eighth entry in this award-nominated and best-selling anthology series! In addition to the affordable trade paperback edition for general readers, this volume will also be published as a signed Limited Edition hardcover and a signed and traycased Lettered Edition hardcover, both of which will signed by the editor for the collectors!

Shivers VIII contains chilling fiction from many of today's most popular authors of horror and suspense including Stephen King, Bentley Little, Tananarive Due, Ray Garton, Laird Barron, Jack Ketchum, Kealan Patrick Burke, David Niall Wilson, Brian James Freeman, Alan Peter Ryan, Adam-Troy Castro, Bev Vincent, Keith Minnion, Norman Prentiss, and more than a dozen other authors!

Of special note to collectors: this special anthology will include "Squad D" by Stephen King, which was originally written in the 1970s for a famous anthology that was never published, and the story itself has been locked away in Stephen King's office ever since. Now, for the first time ever, the world can read King's chilling take on the ghostly, lingering horror of the Vietnam War.

Featuring original dark fiction with a handful of rare reprints, Shivers VIII is available only from Cemetery Dance Publications.

Table of Contents:
"Squad D" by Stephen King
"Summer" by Tananarive Due
"Gamma" by Laird Barron
"Hoarder" by Kealan Patrick Burke
"The Shrieking Woman" by Bev Vincent
"A God Unknown" by Tina Callaghan
"Transfiguration" by RC Matheson
"The Blue Cat" by Keith Minnion
"Gorilla in my Room" by Jack Ketchum
"The Chair" by Bentley Little
"Eyes Like Poisoned Wells" by Ian Rogers
"Above the Buried City" by Daniel Braum
"Open Wound" by Darrell Speegle
"Spice" by David Gerrold
"Dearly Beloved" by Bruce McAllister
"Ms. Wysle and the Licorice Man" by Shane Nelson
"The Hour In Between" by Adam-Troy Castro
"Always and Forever" by Greg Kishbaugh
"Autophagy" by Ray Garton
"Sexual Exploration Is a Crime" by Alan Peter Ryan
"Lucien's Tale" by David Niall Wilson
"The Carbon Dreamer" by Jack Dann
"Red Earth" by Blu Gilliand
"A House for the Wee Ones" by Michael M. Hughes
"The Gorgon" by Lisa Morton
"The Dungeon of Count Verlock" Norman Prentiss
"Mama's Sleeping" by Brian James Freeman

Cemetery Dance: Issue 71 (Cemetery Dance Magazine) Jul 25, 2017

by Richard Chizmar, Bentley Little, Simon Clark, Darrell Schweitzer, Christopher Reynaga, Jack Ketchum, Daniel Braum, Taylor Grant, Bev Vincent, Coleen Anderson

( 27 )

$2.99

This is only our third "All Fiction" Special Issue in more than 25 years of publishing the magazine, and the previous two were extremely popular with our readers and collectors.
Fiction
"In the Room" by Bentley Little
"Sacred Duty" by Simon Clark
"Odd Man Out" by Darrell Schweitzer
"A Million Miles from Graceland" by Christopher Reynaga
"Gorilla in my Room" by Jack Ketchum
"An Authentic Nichole Freres" by Sean Manseau
"The Green Man of Punta Cabre" by Daniel Braum
"The Collector" by Coleen Anderson
"Colorblind" by Eric Red
"Teratogen" by Deborah Kalin
"Quarantine" by Joel Lane
"The Infected" by Taylor Grant
"Perfect Little Town" by Blake Crouch
The Usual Suspects
"Words from the Editor" by Richard Chizmar
"Cemetery Dance Reviews"
"Feature Review of Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King" by Bev Vincent

Devil's Night: A Halloween Short Story Oct 28, 2012

by Richard Chizmar

( 186 )

$0.99

It all started on a wind-blown Friday night in October. It was the night before Halloween, the night we always called Wreck Night or Devil’s Night back when we were kids and Halloween was second in our hearts only to Christmas. At least the newspapers got that much right. The day, I mean. They pretty much screwed up the rest of the story. I was there that night. Let me tell you what really happened…

La pluma mágica de Gwendy (Trilogía La caja de botones de Gwendy 2) (Spanish Edition) Apr 28, 2022

by Richard Chizmar

( 59 )

$7.99

En esta secuela de La caja de botones de Gwendy, de Stephen King y Richard Chizmar, la adulta Gwendy Peterson vuelve a Castle Rock tras la desaparición de dos jóvenes... y el regreso de su misteriosa caja de botones.

Han pasado 15 años desde que Gwendy Peterson dejó Castle Rock. Ahora tiene 37, vive en Washington D. C. y apenas recuerda a la adolescente que volvía a casa en verano a través de las Escaleras de los Suicidios.

Sin embargo, su caja de botones reaparece y Gwendy descubre que en Castle Rock han desaparecido dos chicas. El sheriff Ridgewick y su equipo trabajan a contrarreloj para encontrarlas sin saber a qué clase de enemigo se enfrentan. Pero Gwendy sí lo sabe, y es consciente de que solamente ella podrá traerlas de vuelta..., pero solo si utiliza la poderosa pero peligrosa caja de botones una vez más.

La crítica ha dicho:

«Dos jóvenes son secuestradas y una Gwendy paranoica que no puede dejar de vigilar sus espaldas. La trama criminal avanza con presteza, pero, en el fondo, esta es la historia de cómo Gwendy encuentra el poder necesario para enfrentarse a los demonios de la caja. Una opción segura para los fans de la mitología de Castle Rock».
Booklist

«Una protagonista encantadora y la estremecedora posibilidad de caer en la tentación cautivarán a los fans de la serie y a los nuevos lectores que se acerquen a ella».
Publishers Weekly

Sobre La caja de botones de Gwendy:

«¡Tío, me encanta esta historia! Va a toda prisa, tiene la longitud perfecta y es triste y escalofriadamente relevante. Me encantaron los personajes... y cómo una pequeña niña rara conecta con el mundo entero a través de un extraño artefacto.»
J. J. Abrams

«Esta novela sobre el fin de la infancia mezcla un tono dulce con otro más amenazante... La historia brilla especialmente cuando se hace preguntas universales: ¿Cuánto de lo que pasa en nuestras vidas es fruto de nuestras acciones y no el resultado de fuerzas impredecibles? ¿Y cuánto poder tenemos cualquiera de nosotros para salvar el mundo... o para destruirlo? Los lectores devorarán esta estimulante historia».
Booklist

«Una joya de pequeño tamaño pero llena de fuerza».
Publishers Weekly

«Una fábula para un mundo que se vuelve más loco cada día».
Washington Post

«Una lectura muy entretenida que nunca pierde su impulso inicial».
USA Today

Other Formats: Hardcover

More Information

Are you an author? Visit Author Central to change your photo, edit your biography, and more

Richard Chizmar

Similar authors to follow

About Richard Chizmar

Customers Also Bought Items By

Are you an author?

Author Updates

Titles By Richard Chizmar

More Information