| Title | : | A Long December |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1596067934 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781596067936 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 530 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2016 |
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Now, nearly two decades later, Chizmar assembles thirty-five stories, including a previously-unpublished novella, and presents us with A Long December.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."
A Long December Reviews
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This is a hefty, yet very readable, collection of short stories that for the most part has secured me as a Chizmar fan. The stories included here run the gamut of topics (crime, death, life, folklore - to name only a few), many of them owing or paying respects to the horror writers of Chizmar's childhood, some of whom can now be called friends. But the cool thing is the way he does it without copying those others, or rehashing that same old plot (the horror subjects that everyone has tried or read), and most all of them written with his own style, his own voice. If there was a recurring theme, or themes, apparent throughout this collection, I'd say it was recollection of the past, family ties, a touch of melancholy (look out because many hit with a shocking twist). I've always found that nostalgia made for one of my favorite characteristics in a book, so no wonder I liked reading this one.
I'm not going to say that this bunch of 36 shorts are all as good as those guys before him, but I think a few of them could be. It's not what the stories were about that I liked most here, because only a handful were great for me. It's the way they were told – how they were written – that I found most appealing while reading. I think many fans of fiction, horror or not, will appreciate that as well. -
Review copy
Thirty-four short stories and the title novella combine to make a worthwhile collection for any reader who enjoys good speculative fiction. The only reason for giving Richard's career spanning compendium four stars is the number of stories I felt were incomplete. Those stories were all compelling and entertaining right up until the final page where I would feel a bit let down or disappointed.
The collection begins with Blood Brothers - Even after all of the years and circumstances which have kept them apart, the Foster brothers still have a special bond, one that would be seemingly unbreakable. My favorite line in the story was "and the cubs were gonna in the goddamn world series." A premonition perhaps?
The Man With the X-Ray Eyes is about one man's quest to save the world from aliens and is a prime example of a great story that ended too soon. It could have been so much more.
Don't get me wrong, there were many wonderful stories to be found in this book. One such tale was Ditch Treasures. You wouldn't believe the things found by road crews mowing the median stips along the Maryland stretch of I-95.
The Lake is Life is a wonderfully twisted little tale of the Solomon Island slasher. According to legend, there was once a drifter who had gone crazy and started kidnapping local girls and bringing them here to the island. Once he had them trapped here, he would let them go and then hunt them down in a sadistic game of cat and mouse, ultimately capturing them and slicing them to pieces with a hunting knife.
Brothers (written with Ed Goman) was one of my favorites, as was Cemetery Dance, one of Richard's earliest shorts and astory which would become the name of both his horror magazine and small press.
A Crime of Passion was the best story in the book. Both believable and frightening. There's also a very dark Christmas tale called A Season of Giving.
I found The Poetry of Life to be powerful and bleak. The darkness in this tale just sort of snuck up on me.
And then there's A Long December, a novella which by itself is worth the purchase price. The long-time neighbor and good friend of Robert Howard is found to be a serial killer, but there is so much more to the truth.
Despite my minor complaints A Long December is a collection I can easily recommend.
Originlly published as a signed, limited edition hardcover from Subterranean Press, A Long December is now avilable in both trade paperback and e-book formats from Short, Scary Tales Publications.
From the author's bio - Richard Chizmar is best known as the publisher and editor of Cemetery Dance magazine and the owner of Cemetery Dance Publications. He also edits anthologies, writes fiction, produces films, writes screenplays, and teaches writing. -
A LONG DECEMBER, by Richard Chizmar, is a massive collection consisting of 34 short stories, and one novella. The stories range in subject matter from mystery, thriller, horror, police procedural, and the nostalgic. Some of these stories were strongly reminiscent of Twilight Zone episodes, others predictable--yet thought provoking, and then there were a handful that just didn't feel . . . complete . . . at the end.
One thing that all of these stories had in common, however, is a great writing style. No matter what the tale, I was able to identify with at least one of the main characters, and really felt that Chizmar put a great deal of detail into their lives and backstories.
Although the subjects and themes varied greatly, some of my personal favorites included:
--"A Long December": The novella; this one brings an interesting an personal twist on 'how well do you know your neighbors?'.
--"Blood Brothers": This story began the collection. Although its ending seemed somewhat abrupt to me, it had many layers of emotions running through it at all times.
--"The Box": Simply chilling from a parent's perspective!
--"Ditch Treasures": This one reminded me very much of another story by Stephen King. I could almost hear the Twilight Zone music playing as I read. . .
--"Monsters": A short story with a twisted variation that I loved!
--"The Tower": Another one that reminded me of a King story. This one I could see being developed into a full length novel. The idea could certainly be expanded upon!
Overall, an impressive collection that contained some great stories--even the "less than great" ones were worth reading, in my own opinion.
Recommended! -
This is a massive tome of a collection. I started out intending to write a mini-review of each of the shorts, but damn, there are 35 of these mothers in here. So, I said screw it and decided to just enjoy the stories and not worry about the rest. It’s amazing how much more relaxed the reading went after that.
As with most collections there were some tales that worked better for me than others and each varied in content and style, but the common theme here was the quality of the writing. Each of these shorts had a distinct personality and all were crafted very well. Overall an excellent collection of dark fiction and highly recommended. Well done. 4+ Stars
*I received an advance review copy of this release from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
Fantastic! 35 dark fiction stories from the publisher of Cemetery Dance. The title - A LONG DECEMBER - comes from the final story, actually a novella length piece about a serial killer. These stories are classic dark fiction, not necessarily horror, and show the influences of Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson among others. One story, which shall remain nameless (for your reading enjoyment!) clearly showed a Stephen King influence in a "what if?" kind of way.
I received my copy of A LONG DECEMBER from the publisher, Subterranean Press and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading dark fiction. -
Fantastic story telling and a book I couldn't put down. My review is posted here --->
https://wp.me/p5t5Tf-1L4 -
Напълно заслужени три звездички, сборникът ми хареса.
Чизмар пише вече три десетилетия и това страшно много личи в структурирането на текста и сюжетите. Буквално няма нито една забележка. За мое съжаление това прави голяма част от разказите някак предвидими. Авторът много рядко си позволява да кривне от тропите, както и от "учебната" структора на един разказ, пък бил той и с неочакван край. Интересно, че на две от петте места, където усетих по-волен дух се оказа, че е писано в съавторство.
Иначе сборника е с над 30 разказа, които са доста добри за любителите на кримки, мистерии, лек хорър и по-готически писания. Смятам ще е добро разнообразие за някой, който би искал да се гмурне в "мрачната" литература без да се притеснява, че ще се контузи по камъните на дъното.
Бих искал да напиша по нещо за всеки от разказите, но едно, че са доволно количество и друго, че в тази кратка форма на повечето ще издам финалната врътка около която се върти даденото произведение.
Ричард Чизмар е разкошен издател, съставител и приятел на жанра. Като писател бива, но не това е най-силната му страна.
Все пак съм чел къде по-слаби автори с по-големи претенции, а тук в послеслова, който съдържа по няколко думи за всеки разказ си личи колко голям човек е всъщност. -
Oh yes this is well worth a read, I'm thinking I very much like Mr Chizmar's style. As with all anthologies some tales were a bit hit and miss but on the whole, a good number of these were very satisfying. A lot of the stories seem to play into the fear we all have, of how the most awful things can and do occur in the most normal and mundane of settings, they rear up and smack us in the face as we go about our business. Bad sh*t could be happening right on our doorstep and we wouldn't necessarily know it - an unsettling feeling indeed. I particularly liked the last story, a novella, A Long December from which the book takes it's name. I previously really enjoyed Gwendy's Button Box, Richard Chizmar's collaboration with Stephen King, so I'll definitely be looking for more by him.
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Ende 2022 hat die Reihe Cemetery Dance Germany eine kleine Schwester bekommen unter dem Titel "Select". Auch wenn mir nicht klar ist, was der Titel genau sagen soll, ist die neuen Reihe vergleichbar schön aufgemacht; zwar nicht so großformatig und signiert wie die Hauptreihe, aber auch als Hardcover mit Lesebändchen und einigen (leider wenigen) schönen Illustrationen. Die ersten fünf Bände kann man einzeln erwerben, aber auch ohne Aufpreis in einer Kassette.
Den Auftakt macht passenderweise eine Novelle von Richard Chizmar, dem Begründer von Cemetery Dance. In seinem großartigen Roman CHASING THE BOGEYMAN hat er die Geschichte eines jungen Mannes erzählt, der vom Studium zurückkehrt in sein Elternhaus und feststellen muss dass ein Serienmörder in der Kleinstadt sein Unwesen treibt. Diese Perspektive hat Chizmar in EIN LANGER DEZEMBER umgedreht und erzählt aus Sicht eines Familienvaters, wie das Unfassbare geschieht: Der Nachbar, bester Freund der Familie und informeller Pate des Sohnes, gerät in Verdacht, ein Serienmörder zu sein. Und was unvorstellbar schien, verdichtet sich zur Gewissheit.
Chizmar erzählt die Story nicht als blutigen Thriller, sondern legt das Augenmerk auf das, was diese Enthüllung mit der Familie macht.Er beschreibt den Weg von der Ungläubigkeit zur Gewissheit, die alles in Frage stellt. Polizeibefragungen, Stalking durch Pressevertreter, Drohungen von einem Trittbrettfahrer und "guten" Nachbarn, die sich von den Freunden eines Serienmörders abwenden.
Es sind die kleinen Details und Beobachtungen, die die Novelle so lesenswert machen. Plötzlich ist nichts mehr banal, alles wird verdächtig. Hätte man etwas ahnen, früher Verdacht schöpfen müssen? Immer droht diese Ahnungslosigkeit umzuschlagen in den Verdacht, man müsse doch etwas gewusst haben, sei also Mitwisser und decke vielleicht sogar den flüchtigen Täter.
Wie Chizmar das erzählt, ließ mich an Stewart O'Nan denken, der ebenso einfühlsam das beschreiben kann, was sich gemeinhin der Beschreibung entzieht.
Wie die Story endet wird natürlich nicht verraten, aber es gibt noch einen heftigen Twist.
Eine klare Leseempfehlung für Freunde des subtilen Schreckens -
Wonderful collection of 35 of Richard Chizmar's (darker) short stories from the last twenty years or so. Since I read it in spurts over two+ weeks I can't really give a breakdown of all of them by this point, but I wouldn't really want to give anything away anyway because Chizmar has a knack for giving a lot of these stories an ending that satisfies... but isn't really an ending because he still has you wanting to know more. In other words, the killer might be identified by the end, or the monster revealed - but what happened after the credits rolled, as it were?
The stories that stuck in my mind most were "Blood Brothers", "The Tower", "Ditch Treasures", "After the Bombs" (of which the general feel of the story reminded me of Justin Cronin's "The Passage"), "The Artist", "Night Call" and the title story - but my favorite tale was "The Season of Giving", about a down-on-his-luck department store security guard taking his turn as Santa when he notices a little girl who might be lost. (That's the one in which I really wanted an epilogue.)
Oh, and I too would be interested in the continuing crime-solving stories of Frank & Ben... -
Chizmar is one of my favorite writers, in any genre, and he is a master in the horror and supernatural genres. This collection is Chizmar at his very best. These stories are macabre, chilling, suspenseful, frightening, and above all, very very human. That above all, is why they stick with this reader, and why they matter.
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A big book of "Meh". Saw the outstanding reviews and comparisons to King's short stories. Don't understand the good reviews and as for similarities to King, not even close. These were not horror stories per se, but rather people doing evil things or atoning for mistakes & sins. A lot of the stories had what you could say were "twists" but most were somewhat lame and predictable. No real variation in stories; just a lot of the same old, same old but committed by different members of the family etc. This is a lengthy book coming in at 520 pages - don't get bogged down with this one, there's so much better out there in terms of horror short story collections. Here's my rating for each story:
1. Blood Brothers - 2/5
2. The Man with X-Ray Eyes - 3/5
3. The Box - 2/5
4. Heroes - 1/5
5. Ditch Treasures - 2/5
6. The Silence of Sorrow - 2/5
7. After the Bombs - 3.5/5
8. Last Words - 3/5
9. Night Call - 2/5
10. The Lake is Life - 3/5
11. The Good Old Days - 3.5/5
12. Grand Finale - 3/5
13. The Artist - 1/5
14: Family Ties - 2.5/5
15: Mister Parker - 3/5
16: Monsters - 1/5
17: Like Father, Like Son - 2/5
18. The Tower - 3/5
19: Brothers - 2/5
20. Cemetery Dance - 2/5
21: Blue - 2/5
22. A Crime of Passion - 2/5
23. Homesick - 2/5
24. Devil's Night - 2/5
25. Bride of Frankenstein: A Love Story - 3/5
26. The Season of Giving - 3/5
27. A Capital Cat Crime - 2/5
28. The Sinner King - 3/5
29. A Season of Change - 1/5
30. Midnight Promises - 3.5/5
31. The Night Shift - 2/5
32. Only the Strong Survive - 1/5
33. The Interview - 3/5
34. The Poetry of Life - 2/5
35. A Long December - 2.5/5 -
An excerpt. Full review coming soon via Nameless Digest:
http://www.namelessdigest.com/
A Long December, a short story collection by Richard Chizmar, published by Subterranean Press, is a superb assortment of snapshots into the psychologically and emotionally-intense lives of various characters who teach us about loss and suffering, about the unthinkable and the grotesque. What I liked most about the collection overall is that Chizmar isn’t afraid to go there. He handles taboo topics and scenarios with great class, but also with a raw brutality that doesn’t sugarcoat the material. I took notes as I read this, and all over my notebook are words like “honest,” “gripping,” and “disturbing.” Between these pages, readers will find horror in all respects, both quiet and loud, as they are swept up in Chizmar’s exceptional ability to tell a frightfully terrifying story. -
Stephen King recommended book. He said: "Powerful…I love it…Richard Chizmar writes clean, no-nonsense prose…sets his tales in no-nonsense, middle class neighborhoods I can relate to…and writes terrific stories served with a very large slice of Disquiet Pie."
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Richard Chizmar’s collection A LONG DECEMBER kicks ass. What? You want more? All right, all right. Chizmar os best known, I think, as the editor and publisher of CEMETERY DANCE MAGAZINE as well as Cemetery Dance Publishing. In other words, one of the best and most important magazines and publishers in horror and dark fiction. I expected this collection to be good, what got me is how bloody good it is.
Is it horror? Some of the stories are, I guess. Some are crime fiction, but I honestly didn’t keep track of genre because Chizmar’s writing doesn’t care about genre. These are deeply emotional stories. Some of the, are very dark, indeed, but they are all absolutely human. A few of the stories nearly left me in tears, which isn’t easy to do in literature for me.
Chizmar knows how to tell a story that will move you. I envy you your first reading of this collection -
A Long December
Loved this book of short stories. I could picture the woods with children running from imaginary monsters not knowing that real monsters were around the next bend. Loved that many of the stories took place in Maryland and were so close to how things were when I was growing up there. It does what I expect a book to do move me out of today and move into another place and time where monsters are real and ghost are real too! I love this authors writing I am reading chasing the bogey man now and it is a real page turner! -
Overall a very good read. Most of the stories were very good as well. Some were a little off for me, and too short. I know they were short stories, but a couple of pages is not a story, it is a summary. The writing style was well done though in all of them. Also fun as these were mostly not "spooky" scary, but more like things that were more plausible.
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5 glorious ⭐️. This is my first read from this author and it was brilliant. This is a book of 34 short stories. The diversity in each story was so amazing, I forgot I wasn’t reading an anthology of different authors . I highly recommend this to everyone . Not a bad story in this book and definitely something special for everyone’s taste.
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Every story in this collection grabbed me immediately. Some just enough to tease me and end with me wondering what happened next. I suggest you read everything you can by this extremely talented author. You won't be disappointed
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A very good short story collection
For a full review, please go to
http://areviewerdarkly.blogspot.com/2... and follow me on Twitter @josenher -
4 and a 1/2 stars ⭐️ Short story collection (over 500 pages) by Richard Chizmar- love his books 📚
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For years, I've always seen Richard Chizmar's name appear and I've wanted to read him for a while. Finally, we have a collection hand picked by the author to be kind of his 'greatest hits' so to speak. I won't review all 34 of the stories here, way too many. I will say, While I didn't love all of them, I enjoied all of them. Very few of these stories will stick with me for years to come.
Richard Chizmar is a master of the short story form, if you enjoy dark literature, horror, or speculative fiction, you owe it to yourself to read this collection. Even for the last story A Long December, this collection will never let you go. It will hold on tight and you will be going along for the ride. Every story hit me in either an emotional way or a shocking way, I hope it does the same for you.
Stop reading this review and read the book, it's fantastic.
Reccomended for:
Horror fans, Dark literature fans, Stephen King fans, Ed Gorman fans, Short story fans, and aspiring writers. -
How could I be such a self-proclaimed “avid Horror hound” and NOT have read this critically acclaimed and insanely popular treasure trove of short stories by master genre writer, Richard Chizmar?
That’s the appropriate question to be asking here, folks. It’s not how great this collection was, and so obviously remains years and years since many of the tales included were first birthed into the world – no, it’s more like, “Dude, Oftenevil, what was SO important during the past several years of your life such that you’ve only NOW completed your first reading of this horror fan requisite?” And the answer in all honestly is: I don’t know, but for what it’s worth, I’ve never in my life been more of a proponent of the saying, “better late than never,” than I am at this moment. But here’s what’s also to note for anyone who may read this – and, gasp – perhaps they haven’t read this gauntlet of legendary proportions by Chizmar themselves: After reading something like this, something that’s been in the headlights staring at you or the world for a number of years, it means that there is hope. Hope that OTHER FANTASTIC WORKS are yet to be discovered by your or most folks etc., just as this one had been sitting right under my nose, ‘hidden’ in plain sight, while I fumbled through countless other works by as many authors, searing for one that could leave me half of the jaw-dropped-and-exasperated-with-glee expression that was sculpted on my face while working my way through the 150,000+ words inked here by Chizmar.
Look, if you haven’t read this collection yourself yet, or you did but it was a long time ago and don’t recall everything really, there is nothing I can say that you shouldn’t know just by the first two paragraphs I wrote already. Meaning: GO READ THIS NOW, GET OFF THE INTERNET (buy the book first though, then disconnect internet), AND GO INTO RECLUSIVE HIDING – DO NOT EMERGE UNTIL YOU ARE DONE. (That last instruction isn’t necessary though, after the first two or three stories hit you like a CAT 5 Hurricane, er, in a good way, you will become hellbent on making it a single-sitting-experience, hear you me.
The last thing I can personally add is the context in which I read A LONG DECEMBER. That is, what other books had I just immediately read before and after it – as this can influence one’s standards/expectations of course. Well, get this, because things are about to get even more crazy. My favorite author to read in “Literary Horror/Collections of Short Stories & Anthologies etc.” genre is the obvious “greatest [OLD ONE] of all time” aka the GOAT, LAIRD BARRON. (That’s right, fight me 1v1 irl if you disagree, you infinitesimal Leech God provender! Though I have to say that Adam L.G. Nevill, John Langan, T.E. Grau, and Phillip Fracassi are formidable contenders for that 1b spot to Barron’s 1a). So I had just pummeled through ALL FOUR of Barron’s absurdly addicting and to-great-to-be-true collections as a primer of sorts before I came across this bad boy by Chizmar. I refuse to rank Chizmar’s LONG DECEMBER to any of those four published by Barron because, that’s just not fair for me or them or anyone. There’s great and great, what’s there to know? But taking into consideration that I was coming off that ineffable Barronian high of sorts, having just marathoned through his catalogue of collections, and still found Chizmar’s LONG DECEMBER to be worthy of such high praise instead of perhaps being a prisoner to “recency bias” (and/or delusional), I still write this review KNOWING that this was something truly special. Something I’ll re-read for the rest of my life every now and again. Cheers. -
I enjoyed every story in this solid collection. The one that left the biggest emotional impact on me was "Ditch Treasures." If someone told me what it was about, I would never have expected such an emotional punch in the gut, but it had impact! "The Box" was another dandy of a horror tale. What I love about Chizmar's style is he infuses emotion into all his stories.
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I will start with full disclosure. I love short stories and anthologies. With that said this has risen to one of my top anthologies of all time. I have read the occasional story by Mr. Chizmar in the past and was always pleased with what he wrote. The stories range in length form under 5 pages to over 70 with many falling in the 10 page range. With some authors I struggle with getting fully involved in a story when it is only 10 pages. That is one of the reasons I appreciate an author who successfully pulls me into a story that is only 10 pages. A Long December manages to do this repeatedly. The range of emotions, many of the stories come at you full throttle and leave you speechless while others simply haunt you long after you turn the page.
Many of the stories are worth the price of admission alone including the Novella a Long December which gives this anthology its name and cover art. -
I decided to read this collection as a follow-up to Chizmar's collaboration with Stephen King on Gwendy's Button Box. In Gwendy, I got a glimpse of Richard's writing, but I wanted more. I'm glad I picked up A Long December next, but Chizmar is a damn good writer.
This is a massive collection, featuring stories written throughout his career. I loved that aspect, because readers can get a feel for how his writing style has evolved and matured over time. It's hard to pick my favorites in this collection, because there are so many good stories to be found here. While they're not all winners, there's not a single dud in the whole collection. That's saying something, I think. While there are some elements of horror found in this collection, most would fall into the "dark fiction" category. I loved the fact many of the stories examined the good and evil found in everyone, and how the line between the two can be a blurry one. I highly recommend this collection. -
Note: a preview version of the book was given to the reader in exchange for writing a review. What follows is my true reaction to the book.
This book will last you a long December and then some. Not because it's tough to get through. Quite the opposite. At over 500 pages this beast is chock full of tasty treats. Over 150,000 words spread over more than 30 stories and each one a charmer. In the course of this book, themes invariably are revisited but the execution of each story is always unique.
Chizmar taps into that Stephen King oil well to invest his stories with memorable characters. Likable characters. Maybe you'll see yourself, your spouse, your family, or your friends in these stories. Maybe you'll get to see how they, as normal people, would react to abnormal conditions.
These are clean and tightly coiled stories. Well worth a long month of reading. -
I am typically not a big fan of short stories. They often leave me unfulfilled, wanting more depth from the characters and more detail from the plot. I much prefer a novel that can take the time to really delve into a story.
A LONG DECEMBER shattered any of my preconceptions. In a few short pages of each story, I was drawn into familiar places with real characters, only to have that sense of comfort crushed by an unexpected twist in the plot. The stories did not leave me wanting for more but instead made me smile, made me cringe, and made me cry. To elicit such varied emotions speaks to Rich's immense talent as a writer.
A LONG DECEMBER is a must-read for any fan of suspense, psychological thrillers, or dark fiction. More importantly, it's a must-read for anyone who likes a great story. -
I read a lot of amateur horror on blogs and online forums. Much of it is better than these stories. I didn’t finish the book because 70% of the way through I couldn’t take it anymore. This book needed not only a good copy editor, but also a sensitivity reader because the casual racism, sexism, and ableism are everywhere. Statutory and/or incestuous rape, as well as child porn, are frequently used as plot points, and handled extremely badly. The author cannot evoke character in his first-person narratives; a 12yo boy sounds like a 6yo and a traumatized wife sounds like some bored dude. I’m shocked by all the accolades for this. I do not intend to read this author and his tired “twists” again.
