Category Archives: You Wrote What?

A bibliography of my work…

MURDER OLD AND NEW by Laurie and me…

Murder Old and NewMy wife Laurie and I wrote this one together, and it came out in 2020 in both print, e-book, and audio, recorded by the great Mary Ann Jacobs.

An aged photograph of a dead man hanging from a tree…

Deaths in a nursing home that may not be as natural as they appear…

Clues showing a 70-year-old suicide could be murder…

Sinister small town secrets, decades old, finally revealed…

Feisty Livy Crowe, single-and-loving-it owner of the nostalgia shop, Better Days, has to deal with all of these and more, including her mother’s slow deterioration in a senior residence that might be a crime scene, a very awkward romantic triangle, and murders old and new that threaten even Livy herself…

***
Some nice words from Joe R. Lansdale:
“I was so engaged in this slick, clever mystery, I nearly burned the house down, having forgotten I had something cooking on the stove. Murder Old and New by Laurie and Chet Williamson is so riveting and swiftly paced you almost hate to arrive at the solution because you hate to lose the narrator’s voice.
Sharp writing, excellent characterization and a satisfying conclusion should put this at the top of your reading list.”

PSYCHO: SANITARIUM

I was approached by the Robert Bloch estate and asked if I’d like to write an authorized sequel to Bloch’s PSYCHO, in the “psycho”tic universe that Bloch, and not the films, had created. Since Bloch has always been one of my primary influences, and PSYCHO a touchstone, I was delighted with the opportunity.

The result was ROBERT BLOCH’S PSYCHO: SANITARIUM, to use the full title. I had a great time writing it. Both the estate and the editor were very pleased with it, and the promotional machine was in full force, with bright hopes for getting Universal to do a film version, until Universal basically said that if they wanted to do another film,  they’d do it themselves. Ah well.

Here’s the basic gist of the book:

______________________________ Continue reading PSYCHO: SANITARIUM

My LITTLE BLUE BOOK OF BIBLIOMANCY — out 2/17!

Little-Blue-Book

Happy to announce that my A Little Blue Book of Bibliomancy is being added to Borderlands Press’s prestigious “Little Book” line, so I’m joining the ranks of Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, and other fine scribes.  It’s a signed and limited edition of 500 copies, and is due to be released February 17th, just a few days away. As for its contents, there’s a real grab-bag of prose here. I’ll let Borderlands Press tell you about it:

Continue reading My LITTLE BLUE BOOK OF BIBLIOMANCY — out 2/17!

The Night Listener & Others

nightlistenerThe Night Listener and Others, my second collection of short stories and novellas, was published in May 2015 by the UK’s PS Publishing. Peter Crowther and his staff did a beautiful job with this limited edition hardcover, with a wraparound dustjacket by Jill Bauman, an introduction by Richard Christian Matheson, and 22 stories, none of which were in my earlier collection. At the back of the book are my own notes and comments on each story. The book is available in a boxed, signed, and numbered edition, as well as a standard hardcover.  I can’t resist quoting from RC’s introduction: “For those privileged few, lucky enough to be new to the miraculous Chet Williamson, you are about to enter worlds of glorious and sinister wonder. I envy you.”

Andrew Vachss Underground

undergroundI scripted and helped to edit a lengthy graphic novel based on an unpublished screenplay by Andrew Vachss for Dark Horse Comics. Mike Richardson scripted the first 24 pages, which appeared serially in DARK HORSE PRESENTS, and I wrote the remainder of the 144 page book, Andrew Vachss Underground, a gorgeous hardcover with art by Dominic Reardon.

Though there are similarities between this graphic novel and a four-issue run of UNDERGROUND  back in the mid-90s, this is an all new creation  and story, and I was delighted to be a part of it.

Defenders of the Faith

Crossroad Press trade paperback edition

Defenders of the Faith is my first novel that was an ebook original from Crossroad Press, though the trade paperback followed shortly thereafter. It’s a horror novel crossed with a suspense thriller, and there’s no supernatural element.

The book is an exploration into what happens when one’s religious faith comes up against one’s reason. It’s told from the point of view of a basically good man who crosses the threshold of violence, and discovers that he has inspired a young and even more crazed disciple.

Fearnet said: “This isn’t a simple tale.  It is full of contradictions, in the way that life is full of contradictions.  There is no distinct line between good and bad and right and wrong.  As a study of a truly tragic character, Defenders of the Faith is one of modern horror’s best examples.”

Horror Drive-In added: “Chet Williamson is a complicated writer and Defenders of the Faith is a complicated novel. I’m not saying that it’s stodgy or overly intellectual. This is a lightning-paced thriller. It’s just that Chet doesn’t present right and wrong in clearly defined terms. You won’t find the good guys wearing white hats and the bad guys with black ones on their heads…Defenders of the Faith is a book for the ages.”

Tales from the Crossroad w/2 of my rarest stories: $.99!

Crossroad Press has released a new ebook, Tales from the Crossroad Vol. 1, with two of my scarcest stories, as well as two each by Al Sarrantonio, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tom Piccirilli, and Gerald Houarner. What I’m most excited about is the reprinting of my novelette, “Jeaves and the Deteriorating Relations,” in which P. G. Wodehouse’s characters meet Joe Lansdale’s God of the Razor, and bloody hilarity ensues. I read aloud a briefer version of this at last year’s Horrorfind convention, and it was a big hit. It first appeared in the $100 Lansdale-edited Lords of the Razor, long out of print with copies now going between $300 and $600, so I’m delighted to have this inexpensive reprint appear! My other story is “And So Will I Remember You,” a very quiet ghost story from an Ash-Tree Press anthology, which might be new to most readers. There are novel excerpts from each of the five authors as well — that’s a total of ten stories and five novel excerpts. A lot of good reading for less than a buck!

The book is available for $.99 (a few sips of a latte!) at Amazon, and also at Barnes and Noble and many other fine ebook retailers on your favorite neighborhood Interwebz…