Richard Chizmar

Richard Thomas Chizmar (born 1965) 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.

Writing

Richard Chizmar has contributed stories to many publications, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won the Horror Writers Association Board of Trustees Award, two World Fantasy Awards, and four International Horror Guild Awards.

Publishing

Cemetery Dance magazine

Richard Chizmar started Cemetery Dance magazine in 1988, and it is still being published today. It features dark fantasy, horror fiction, and articles related to those subjects. Metro Silicon Valley called it "America's longest-running independent horror-themed magazine."^[1]

Cemetery Dance Publications

Richard Chizmar's Cemetery Dance Publications started in 1992, and it is currently still publishing books. It has produced over 200 different autographed limited edition, lettered edition hardcover novels, novellas, and anthologies. It also publishes chapbooks, trade hardcovers, and a few paperbacks.

Sceenplays and Chesapeake Films

Richard Chizmar co-founded Chesapeake Films with Johnathon Schaech. He also co-writes screenplays with Johnathon Schaech. Some of their produced screenplays include 2006's Road House 2: Last Call (based on the story by Miles Chapman) and Showtime's Masters of Horror presentation of The Washingtonians (based on Bentley Little's story) from 2007. They also wrote the screenplay for 2009's upcoming film From a Buick 8 based on Stephen King's novel.

Selected awards

Won

• 1991 World Fantasy Special Award - Non-Professional (for Cemetery Dance magazine)^[2]
• 1997 Horror Writers Association Specialty Press Award (for Cemetery Dance Magazine)^[3]
• 1999 World Fantasy Special Award - Non-Professional (for Cemetery Dance Publications)^[4]
• 2001 International Horror Guild Awards Best Anthology (for October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween)^[3]
• 2002 International Horror Guild Awards Best Anthology (for Night Visions 10)^[3]

Nominated

• Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology 1998 (for Best of Cemetery Dance)^[5]
• Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology 2001 (for Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas)^[5]
• Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology 2002 (Shivers)^[5]
• Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology 2004 (Shivers III)^[5]

Selected bibliography

Chapbooks

• Blood Brothers (1997) - a chapbook from Subterranean Press available only as 250 signed numbered copies (no ISBN)

Screenplays

• Heroes (2002) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech)
• Road House 2: Last Call (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2006) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on a story by Miles Chapman)
• Masters of Horror The Washingtonians (Showtime, 2007) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on a story by Bentley Little)
• The Poker Club (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on the story by Ed Gorman)
• Fear Itself: Eater (NBC/AXN Sci Fi, 2009) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on the story by Peter Crowther)
• Fear Itself: The Circle (NBC/AXN Sci Fi, 2009) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on the story by Lewis Shiner)
• From A Buick 8 (in production 2009) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on a story by Stephen King)
• Black House (in production 2009) (co-written with Johnathon Schaech, and based on a novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub)

Short stories

Uncollected short stories

• "The Interview" from Bad News edited by Richard Laymon (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1999) ISBN 1-881475-95-6
• "Blue" from Imagination Fully Dilated edited by Alan M. Clark and Elizabeth Engstrom (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1998)
• "Billy's Day" from the magazine Witness to the Bizarre #2 edited by Melinda Jaeb (1988)

Short story collections

• Midnight Promises (Gauntlet Press, 1996) ISBN 1-887368-03-5

Introduction by Ed Gorman

"A Season of Change"

"Heroes"

"A Crime of Passion"

"Homesick"

"Cemetery Dance"

"The Sinner King"

"A Capital Cat Crime"

"The Season of Giving"

"Grand Finale"

"Bride of Frankenstein: A Modern Love Story"

"The Silence of Sorrow"

"Beachcomber"

"Devil's Night"

"Only the Strong Survive"

"Dark Whispers"

"Midnight Promises"

"Masters of Darkness"

Afterword by Ray Garton

• Monsters and Other Stories (Subterranean Press, 1998) ISBN 0-9649890-7-7

Introduction by Ed Bryant

"Night Call"

"Like Father, Like Son"

"Monsters"

"Heroes"

"The Man With X-Ray Eyes"

""The Silence of Sorrow"

Special Afterword (only in Lettered edition) by Hugh B. Cave

Anthologies as editor

• The Best of Cemetery Dance (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1998) ISBN 1-881475-24-7
• The Best of Cemetery Dance, Volume 2 (Roc Books, 2001) ISBN 0-451-45813-3
• Cemetery Dance: A Fifteen Year Celebration (Cemetery Dance Publications, forthcoming 2010) ISBN 1-58767-102-6
• Cold Blood (Mark V. Ziesing, 1991) ISBN 0-929480-57-0
• The Earth Strikes Back: New Tales of Ecological Horror (Mark V. Ziesing, 1994) ISBN 0-929480-40-6
• In Laymon's Terms (co-edited with Kelly Laymon, Steve Gerlach) (Cemetery Dance Publications, forthcoming 2010) ISBN 978-1-58767-096-1
• Legacies (Cemetery Dance Publications, forthcoming 2010) ISBN 1-881475-46-8
• Night Visions 10 (Subterranean Press, 2001) ISBN
• October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween (co-edited with Robert Morrish) (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2000) ISBN 1-58767-019-4
• Screamplays (with Martin H. Greenberg) (Ballantine Del Rey, 1997) ISBN 0-345-39429-1

Limited Edition forthcoming from Cemetery Dance Publications in 2010 ISBN 978-1-58767-209-5)

• Smoke and Mirrors (Cemetery Dance Publications, forthcoming 2010) ISBN 978-1-58767-210-1
• Shocklines: Fresh Voices In Terror (Cemetery Dance Publications, forthcoming 2010) (with Matt Schwartz) ISBN 1-58767-086-0
• Subterranean Gallery: Stories of Horror and Crime (Subterranean Press, 1999) (with William Schafer)
• Thrillers (Cemetery Dance Publications, 1993) ISBN 1-881475-05-0
• Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2001) ISBN 1-58767-048-8

Shivers series

All released as trade paperbacks from Cemetery Dance Publications:

• Shivers (2002) ISBN 1-58767-063-1
• Shivers II (2003) ISBN 1-58767-072-0
• Shivers III (2004) ISBN 1-58767-117-4
• Shivers IV (2006) ISBN 1-58767-129-8
• Shivers V (2009) ISBN 978-1-58767-201-9

References

See also

• List of horror fiction authors