Richard T. Chizmar

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.

The Long Way Home

         Here I am, yet again writing a review for a collection of short stories.  I avoid short stories like I avoid republicans, yet somehow they keep popping up in my life.  Sigh.  I likely wouldn’t know who Richard Chizmar was if he hadn’t co-written two books with Stephen King, so I’m pretty pleased that they found each other and were able to collaborate on the Gwendy trilogy together.  Mr. King has been a profound influence on my reading adventures, and I’ve always been extremely grateful for that, because he’s managed to introduce me to some exceptional writing talent. 

            Back to the short story situation:  I’m not a fan.  If you’ve read any of my reviews, I will lament, openly, when short stories end up on my TBR.  I never feel satisfied when I read short stories, it’s comparable to a halfway painted portrait.  Knowing that a collection of short stories means I’ll experience the same disappointment over and over is exhausting.  Because I’m pretty strict on what I force myself to read, I can’t always avoid them, but this one I actively sought out.  I wanted to read more of Chizmar’s work, and there wasn’t a lot available from my library, thus I was stuck with this one. 

            Here’s the problem with this particular collection:  I WANTED MORE!  There were three stories in here that I wanted to read more of.  I wanted Chizmar to rewrite those as full-blown novels.  I found myself completely engrossed, then the story was over and I wanted to cry (no tears, just some adult pouting). This set of stories is absolutely one of the best I have ever read, possibly up there with Night Shift and Four Past Midnight.  He is a master storyteller.  I cannot express my admiration for his work enough, there just aren’t words to describe how well-written this set of short stories is.  Please, find this book and read it. 

Kristen Claiborn

         Here I am, yet again writing a review for a collection of short stories.  I avoid short stories like I avoid republicans, yet somehow they keep popping up in my life.  Sigh.  I likely wouldn’t know who Richard Chizmar was if he hadn’t co-written two books with Stephen King, so I’m pretty pleased that they found each other and were able to collaborate on the Gwendy trilogy together.  Mr. King has been a profound influence on my reading adventures, and I’ve always been extremely grateful for that, because he’s managed to introduce me to some exceptional writing talent. 

            Back to the short story situation:  I’m not a fan.  If you’ve read any of my reviews, I will lament, openly, when short stories end up on my TBR.  I never feel satisfied when I read short stories, it’s comparable to a halfway painted portrait.  Knowing that a collection of short stories means I’ll experience the same disappointment over and over is exhausting.  Because I’m pretty strict on what I force myself to read, I can’t always avoid them, but this one I actively sought out.  I wanted to read more of Chizmar’s work, and there wasn’t a lot available from my library, thus I was stuck with this one. 

            Here’s the problem with this particular collection:  I WANTED MORE!  There were three stories in here that I wanted to read more of.  I wanted Chizmar to rewrite those as full-blown novels.  I found myself completely engrossed, then the story was over and I wanted to cry (no tears, just some adult pouting). This set of stories is absolutely one of the best I have ever read, possibly up there with Night Shift and Four Past Midnight.  He is a master storyteller.  I cannot express my admiration for his work enough, there just aren’t words to describe how well-written this set of short stories is.  Please, find this book and read it. 

The Long Way Home

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