Most Popular Books by Richard Chizmar

The New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller about a group of college students encountering supernatural terror while on a road trip through Appalachia—an unforgettable, chilling novel that is “scary and hard to put down. You might be advised not to read it at night” (Stephen King). 1983: Three students from a small college embark on a weeklong road trip to film a documentary on roadside memorials for their American Studies class. The project starts out as a fun adventure, with long stretches of empty road and nightly campfires where they begin to open up with one another. But as they venture deeper into the Appalachian backwoods, the atmosphere begins to darken. They notice more and more of the memorials feature a strange, unsettling symbol hinting at a sinister secret. Paranoia sets in when it appears they are being followed. Their vehicle is tampered with overnight, and some of the locals appear to be anything but welcoming. Before long, the students can’t help but wonder if these roadside deaths were really random accidents…or is something terrifying at work here?

"There was the bad; the unimaginably, indescribably bad, hovering above all those wonderful memories like an angry, slate-gray thunderstorm sky." 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 subrurb, and soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. But law enforcement and members of the FBI are certain the the killer is a living, breathing madman--and that 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 group is formed. In the midst of preparing for his edding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into a real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Chizmar writes a personal account of the serial killer''s reign of terror, unaware that his time back home 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 psychological horror and true crime. Chizmar''s writing--combining the storytelling of Stephen King with the relentless suspense of Michelle McNamara--is on full display in this truly unique novel that will linger in your memory long after you turn the final page. --

The electrifying New York Times and USA Today bestseller—“a worthy and frightening sequel to Chizmar’s Chasing the Boogeyman. Terrific storytelling. You won’t be disappointed” (Stephen King). Back in the summer of 1988, a young Richard Chizmar was catapulted into the center of a living nightmare as the serial killer Joshua Gallagher—dubbed by the media as “The Boogeyman”—stalked his tranquil Maryland town. A lot has changed in the intervening years. These days, Chizmar enjoys a certain level of celebrity and notoriety himself, being the only person that an incarcerated Josh Gallagher will speak to on or off the record. Chizmar likes to believe that he’s doing the world a public service by visiting Gallagher in prison, as there are plenty of other nameless victims out there who Gallagher might finally admit to killing and bring closure to grieving loved ones, and a dark rhythm and routine begin to take hold. But Chizmar eventually finds there’s a price to be paid for dancing with the devil, when a masked figure with all the hallmarks of Gallagher’s reign of terror from thirty years ago now leaves a horrifying calling card in front of Chizmar’s home, and it’s clear there’s a new player on the board in the ongoing game that the Boogeyman controls… A riveting, haunting sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller Chasing the Boogeyman, this is a tale of obsession and the adulation of evil, exploring modern society’s true crime infatuation with unflinching honesty, sparing no one from the glare of the spotlight. Will those involved walk away from the story of a lifetime in order to keep their loved ones safe? Or will they once again be drawn into a killer’s web? As the story draws to its shattering conclusion, only one person holds all the answers—and he just may be the most terrifying monster of them all.

"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 was a terrified young woman with a shackle hanging from her right wrist. Almost overnight, she becomes known as The Girl on the Porch. There is national coverage on CNN and Fox News, and the video goes viral. As days pass and no one comes forward to identify the woman, fresh footprints appear in the garden next to their house; a neighbor''s pet is viciously killed; and a man starts following their daughter Natalie....

New York Times bestselling author Richard Chizmar, “one of horror’s indispensable writers” (Paste), and his son W.H. Chizmar, critically acclaimed author of Them (hailed by New York Times bestselling author Josh Malerman as “one of the best debuts I’ve ever read”) present a riveting found footage narrative about doomed thrill-seekers trapped in a haunted lighthouse. “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 now. Told across two harrowing incidents from 2017 and 2025, those who enter the Widow’s Point Lighthouse searching for supernatural proof and the next big thing find themselves cut off from the outside world. And although no one has recently stepped foot inside the structure, they are not alone. In this remarkable collaboration, father and son writing team, Richard and W.H. Chizmar combine forces to tell a terrifying ghost story that will make you think twice about what’s waiting for you in the dark.

In 1996, Richard Chizmar''s debut short story collection, MIDNIGHT PROMISES, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Now, nearly two decades later, Chizmar assembles thirty-five stories, including a previously-unpublished novella, and presents us with A LONG DECEMBER.

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.

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.

The terrifying horror trilogy finale to the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling series that includes Chasing the Boogeyman and Becoming the Boogeyman from “one of horror’s indispensable writers” (Paste). Notorious serial killer Joshua Gallagher—dubbed “the Boogeyman” by the media—has vanished from prison. One moment, he was locked inside a maximum-security cell; the next, he was gone, leaving behind on the wall a crude hangman puzzle and two chilling words: IT’S TIME. Now, days later, the world is coming apart again. Bodies are turning up near writer and Gallagher confidante Richard Chizmar’s home, echoing the Boogeyman’s signature horrors. The news frenzy reignites while the police chase shadows...even as Gallagher’s twisted true crime fanbase celebrates online, acknowledging that he’s something more than human now. To everyone else, it’s a desperate hunt for answers. To Chizmar, it’s more like destiny closing in. The evidence, the sightings, the voices in the dark all point to one unthinkable conclusion: the Boogeyman never left. And very soon, Chizmar must come face-to-face with the thing wearing Gallagher’s skin, and learns all too quickly that some nightmares don’t return—they evolve. “Richard Chizmar delves deep into our worst fears and touches the darkness that lives there.” —S. A. Cosby

Der Gründer der #1 Stephen-King-News-Website Lilja''s Library präsentiert eine schaurig-schöne Anthologie von Horrorgeschichten – darunter eine seltene Erzählung von Stephen King selbst, Klassiker von Clive Barker und Edgar Allan Poe sowie eine Novelle von John Ajvide Lindqvist ( Let the Right One In). Anlässlich des zwanzigjährigen Jubiläums der umfangreichen Stephen-King-Fanseite »Lilja''s Library - The World of Stephen King« ist diese Anthologie die perfekte Lektüre für Horrorfans aller Couleur. Shining in the Dark umfasst Kurzgeschichten von einigen der bekanntesten und talentiertesten Autoren des Genres und enthält eine furchterregende Geschichte, die bisher in keiner anderen Sammlung von Stephen King enthalten war. Zu den Geschichten gehören: »Der blaue Kompressor« von Stephen King »Internet« von Jack Ketchum und P. D. Cacek »Der Roman des Holocaust« von Stewart O''Nan »Aeliana« von Bev Vincent »Pidgin und Theresa« von Clive Barker »Das Ende aller Dinge« von Brian Keene »Totentanz« von Richard Chizmar »Die Verlockung der Flamme« von Kevin Quigley »Der Gefährte« von Ramsey Campbell »Das verräterische Herz« von Edgar Allan Poe »Mutterliebe« von Brian James Freeman »Das Handbuch des Hüters« von John Ajvide Lindqvist

The final book in the New York Times bestselling Gwendy’s Button Box trilogy from Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. When Gwendy Peterson was twelve, a mysterious stranger named Richard Farris gave her a mysterious box for safekeeping. It offered treats and vintage coins, but it was dangerous. Pushing any of its eight colored buttons promised death and destruction. Years later, the button box reentered Gwendy’s life. A successful novelist and a rising political star, she was once again forced to deal with the temptation the box represented. Now, malignant forces seek to possess the button box, and it is up to Senator Gwendy Peterson to keep it from them at all costs. But where can one hide something from such powerful entities? In Gwendy’s Final Task, master storytellers Stephen King and Richard Chizmar take us on a journey from Castle Rock to another famous cursed Maine city to the MF-1 space station, where Gwendy must execute a secret mission to save the world. And, maybe, all worlds.

The complete omnibus collection of the New York Times bestselling trilogy from Stephen King and Richard Chizmar! In Gwendy’s Button Box, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson’s life is forever changed when she is given a mysterious wooden box by a stranger for safekeeping. It offers enticing treats and vintage coins, but he warns her that if she presses any of the box’s beautifully colored buttons, death and destruction will follow. Years later, in Gwendy’s Magic Feather, she’s a successful novelist with a promising future in politics. But when the button box suddenly reappears in her life, she must decide if she is willing to risk everything for its temptations. And in the thrilling conclusion Gwendy’s Final Task, evil forces seek to possess the button box and it is up to Senator Gwendy Peterson to keep it from them at all costs. But where can one hide something so destructive from such powerful entities?

Richard Chizmar, Lisa Tuttle, Norman Prentiss, Kevin Quigley, and Peter Straub unmask monsters hiding in plain sight in an anthology of heart-pounding short fiction assembled by horror author and editor Brian James Freeman. DEVIL’S NIGHT by Richard Chizmar You’ve read about what happened that night. What you don’t know is the true extent of the damage. The papers got it wrong—and the truth is so much worse than you thought. THE LAST DARE by Lisa Tuttle Elaine hasn’t been back to her hometown in years. The house she lived in is gone. The tower house isn’t—nor are the stories of the fate that befalls whoever dares to go there. THE HALLOWEEN BLEED by Norman Prentiss People think there’s some sort of mystical power that allows enchantments and witchcraft to come to life on Halloween night. But real magic obeys no calendar—and true evil strikes whenever it’s least expected. SWING by Kevin Quigley In Hollywood, everyone lives forever. At least that’s what I used to think . . . before Jessica. But no one seems to live long when they’re around me. PORK PIE HAT by Peter Straub When it comes to jazz, there are players, and there are legends. “Hat” was a legend. His real name didn’t even matter. Still, he had his secrets—secrets best left buried in the past. Praise for Halloween Carnival Volume 5 “This miniature cavalcade of spine-tingling and thought-provoking horrors lives up to its name and is the perfect Halloween treat.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Deep in the serene forest of Silverwood, California, a monster from another dimension is desperate for the human blood it needs to return home. What begins as a relaxing week in the woods for two groups of campers—employees on a corporate retreat and a Cub Scout troop—turns into a hellish ordeal when a mysterious dark force lurking among the trees preys on their most violent impulses. A rustic getaway featuring evil whispering trees, a teddy bear-clutching child laughing at your pain, and a malevolent otherworldly presence terrorizing the campground? Welcome to the most terrifying wilderness trip of your lives, campers. Based on Silverwood by Tony E. Valenzuela, Silverwood is a Realm Production written by Brian Keene, Richard Chizmar, Stephen Kozeniewski, and the Sisters of Slaughter — Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason. Listen away.