A review by jeanne25
A Long December by Richard Chizmar

4.0

My knowledge of Richard Chizmar was limited to that of him being the publisher and editor of Cemetery Dance magazine and the owner or Cemetery Dance publications. It was recently announced that Stephen King and Chizmar are co-authoring Gwendy’s Button. Being a devoted Constant Reader and not realizing that Chizmar wrote as well, I figured it was time to check out his writing. I purchased A Long December and settled back to see if he was worthy of writing alongside King. While I attempted to enter this with an open mind, I must admit that I wasn’t expecting to have a favorable opinion. In fact, I was just hoping to at least exit with a neutral view. I am one of those readers who skims over excessive descriptions and unnecessary detail that tends to muddy the writing of some authors (see George R. R. Martin). I don’t want a writer to make me see every single little thing as much as I want them to make me FEEL it. Chizmar used the perfect wordage to make the most impact. I felt a range of strong emotions as I proceeded from story to story. Not every story was a perfect match for me but I didn’t find that any were bad either. I particularly loved The Box, Heroes, The Silence of Sorrow and The Poetry of Life. Again, no one will ever replace King IMHO, but I found Chizmar to be refreshing and honest. I will be letting some time pass and then I will revisit those stories that impacted me the most. I am very glad I chose this collection as my introduction to Richard Chizmar and I look forward to reading more of his work.