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A Long December  By  cover art

A Long December

By: Richard Chizmar
Narrated by: David Stifel
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Publisher's summary

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Now, nearly two decades later, Chizmar assembles 35 stories, including a previously unpublished novella, and presents us with A Long December.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.

©2016 Richard Chizmar (P)2017 Journalstone Publishing

What listeners say about A Long December

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  • Overall
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It's Richard Chizmar.

He's one of those writers who send you searching for rheir whole book of business because he's always great, but sometimes he really gets to you.

This collection is a nice, long, slow listen. You'll get a little creeped out, and you'll laugh, and you'll meet characters who remind you of people you know.

When I started listening to Donald Stifel's narration, I thought his voice would be too distinctive, and that it would be hard to distinguish characters. That notion evaporated very quickly as I soon found myself listening to a conversation between two cops and a woman without a moment's doubt as to who was whom. Characters? Mr. Stifel's got a million of 'em, and I enjoyed his narration a lot.




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12 people found this helpful

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Exactly What I Needed!! Great Stories & Narration!!!

I really enjoyed these stories! Very enjoyable stories filled with suspense. I couldn't stop listening!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great storytelling

I really enjoyed these stories cover to cover. awesomely narrated. I didn't think I would like the voice At first, but he knocked it out of the park

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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more please

loved it. Hated for it to end. What next Mr. Chizmar? I'm ready and waiting!

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great stories

If you love creepy short stories with a twist you'll really enjoy this book. The narrator was excellent and paced the stories very well.

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3 people found this helpful

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I love short stories..

I love reading short stories and these were very good, a wide range of genres. Enjoyed every story.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not the Chizmar I Love

Stories are predictable, too short to even offer a twist. Tried to enjoy them, but they didn't work for me. Some started promising, but ended abruptly without any satisfaction.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Stories good, reading not so much

I really enjoy Richard Chizmar's writing. The stories in this anthology are varied enough so that they don't feel repetitive. Not much horror of the supernatural or monster variety. It's more human beings as monsters, and many of these stories showed humans at their worst. I wasn't too keen on the reader though, and only listened until the end because of the writing. The reader had a speech pattern, pronunciation and/or inflection style that was very off-putting and constantly took me out of the stories. I would have given up if not for Chizmar's writing. I don't think I'd read anything by this reader again. All in all, loved the book, didn't care for the reader at all.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The stories are not bad

The narrator tears me right out of the stories. His voice should not be reading anything out loud. Voice… timing… pronunciation.
Just, no thank you

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

The stories are not very good and the narrator is no better. Once you get to a part where you think the story will get good, it’s over. The last story was the best one. It had a beginning a middle and an actual end that made sense.

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1 person found this helpful