Richard T. Chizmar Reading Order

58 books (1991–2026)

Richard T. Chizmar's Anthologies series comprises 46 collections published from 1991 through 2024, with new volumes continuing to be released. These books should be read in publication order, beginning with Cold Blood and progressing through titles like 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories, October Dreams, and the Shivers subseries. The collections span mystery, thriller, horror, and literary fiction, offering diverse short-form stories across multiple decades of publication.

Start with Cold Blood, the first of 46 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Cold Blood 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Danger in D.C. 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Earth Strikes Back 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Screamplays 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	100 Twisted Little Tales of Torment 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	October Dreams 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Best of Cemetery Dance, Volume 1 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Best of Cemetery Dance Volume 2 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Trick or Treat 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Shivers 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Shivers II 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Shivers III 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Cemetery Dance: Issue 52 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Shivers IV 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	4 Fear of... 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	In Laymon's Terms 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Shocklines 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	The Best of Cemetery Dance II 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Shivers V 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Smoke and Mirrors 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Shivers VI 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Mister October, Volume I: An Anthology in Memory of Rick Hautala 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Shivers VII 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	Turn Down the Lights 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Cemetery Dance: Issue 71 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Dark Screams: Volume One 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Dead Harvest 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	10 Halloween Haunts 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	Better Weird 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	Hides the Dark Tower 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Horror 201: The Silver Scream Vol. 1 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	October Dreams II 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	Twice Upon A Time 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	Chiral Mad 3 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	Tales from the Witching Hour 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	Unearthed 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Dark Places, Evil Faces 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Seas & Oceans 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	The Demons of King Solomon 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Christmas Horror Vol. 2 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	Fantastic Tales of Terror 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	Halloween Haunts Volume 1 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	The Washingtonians 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	You, Human 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	100 Word Horrors Part 2 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	Dark Tides 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
48	In Darkness, Delight: Creatures of the Night 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
49	Silverwood 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
50	The Horror Collection: Black Edition 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
51	When the Clock Strikes 13 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
52	Halloween Nights 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
53	Revelations 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
54	October Screams: A Halloween Anthology 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
55	The Horror Collection: Lost Edition 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
56	Vampires 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
57	The Rack 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
58	Institutionalized 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2021–2026)

Richard T. Chizmar's Boogeyman series is an ongoing mystery and horror trilogy that began in 2021 and continues through 2026. The three books should be read in publication order: Chasing the Boogeyman, Becoming the Boogeyman, and Killing the Boogeyman. This literary thriller series builds its narrative progressively across volumes, making sequential reading essential to understanding the full story.

Start with Chasing the Boogeyman and read in order.

#	Title
1	Chasing the Boogeyman 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Becoming the Boogeyman 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Killing the Boogeyman 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

6 books (1989–1999)

The Catfantastic Anthologies is a complete series of six short story collections published between 1989 and 1999, featuring tales centered on feline characters and themes. Edited by Andre Norton and Martin H. Greenberg with various co-editors across the volumes, each book brings together multiple authors contributing original fiction. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with the first Catfantastic and progressing through its five sequels. This anthology series showcases the work of numerous horror, mystery, and literary fiction writers exploring imaginative stories involving cats.

Start with Catfantastic(By: Andre Norton), the first of 6 books in the Catfantastic Anthologies series.

3 books (1996–2018)

Richard T. Chizmar's Collections series spans three decades of literary horror and mystery with Midnight Promises (1996), A Long December (2010), and The Long Way Home (2018). This complete series should be read in publication order to fully appreciate how Chizmar's craft evolved across the collection. Each installment blends elements of mystery, thriller, and literary fiction into standalone yet thematically connected stories.

Start with Midnight Promises and read in order.

#	Title
1	Midnight Promises 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	A Long December 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Long Way Home 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

10 books (2014–2018)

The Dark Screams Anthology is a horror collection series edited by Richard T. Chizmar, featuring short stories from acclaimed authors including Stephen King, Kelley Armstrong, Ramsey Campbell, and Frank Darabont. Eight volumes were published between 2014 and 2018, with the series now complete. Readers should follow the volumes in publication order from Volume One through Volume Eight to experience the full collection as intended.

Start with Dark Screams: Volume One(By: Kelley Armstrong), the first of 8 books in the Dark Screams Anthology series.

11 books (1984–2006)

Richard T. Chizmar's Night Visions series comprises 11 complete books published between 1984 and 2006, spanning mystery, thriller, horror, and literary fiction. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with Night Visions: In the Blood and continuing through Night Visions 12. Each installment builds on the previous entries, offering interconnected stories that develop across the full arc of the collection.

Start with Night Visions: In the Blood, the first of 11 books in the Night Visions series.

#	Title
1	Night Visions: In the Blood 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Night Visions 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Night Visions 2 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Night Visions 3 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Night Visions: The Hellbound Heart 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Night Visions 6 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Night Visions 8 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Night Visions 9 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Night Visions 10 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Night Visions 11 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Night Visions 12 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

6 books (1997–2024)

Richard T. Chizmar's Short Stories/Novellas series comprises six books released between 1997 and 2024, with the series currently ongoing. These mystery, thriller, and horror works should be read in publication order, beginning with Dirty Coppers, a collaboration with Ed Gorman. The series continues through Devil's Night: A Halloween Short Story, Brothers, The Washingtonians (co-written with Bentley Little and Johnathon Schaech), Widow's Point, and concludes with The Man Behind the Mask.

Start with Dirty Coppers(With: Ed Gorman), the first of 6 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	Dirty Coppers(With: Ed Gorman) 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Devil's Night: A Halloween Short Story 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Brothers 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Washingtonians(With: Bentley Little,Johnathon Schaech) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Widow's Point 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	The Man Behind the Mask 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2017–2024)

Richard T. Chizmar has published three standalone novels between 2017 and 2024, with the series still ongoing. These mystery thrillers blending horror and literary fiction elements should be read in publication order, beginning with Darkness Whispers, a collaboration with Brian James Freeman, followed by The Girl on the Porch and Memorials.

Start with Darkness Whispers(With: Brian James Freeman) and read in order.

#	Title
1	Darkness Whispers(With: Brian James Freeman) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Girl on the Porch 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Memorials 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (2000–2001)

This two-volume anthology series edited by Richard T. Chizmar was published between 2000 and 2001 and is now complete. Volume 1 was compiled with Nancy Holder, while Volume 2 was compiled with William Relling Jr. Read the volumes in publication order, beginning with Volume 1, to experience the complete collection of stories curated from Cemetery Dance magazine.

Start with The Best of Cemetery Dance, Volume 1(With: Nancy Holder) and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Best of Cemetery Dance, Volume 1(With: Nancy Holder) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Best of Cemetery Dance Volume 2(With: William Relling Jr.) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2017–2022)

The Button Box is a three-book mystery and horror series co-authored by Richard T. Chizmar and Stephen King, published between 2017 and 2022. The series appears to be complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with Gwendy's Button Box. Each installment builds on the previous one, making sequential reading essential to understanding the full narrative arc.

Start with Gwendy's Button Box(With: Stephen King) and read in order.

#	Title
1	Gwendy's Button Box(With: Stephen King) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Gwendy's Magic Feather 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Gwendy's Final Task(With: Stephen King) 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible