A Long December assembles thirty-five stories, including a previously-unpublished novella. This collection features more than 150,000 words of short fiction and includes 8,000 words of autobiographical Story Notes.

The stories in A Long December range from horror to suspense, crime to dark fantasy, mainstream to mystery. Boys fish in the shallows of a winding creek. A father tosses a baseball with his young son in the fading light of a summer day. There’s the smell of fresh-cut grass. And then, well…just beneath the surface? There are those missing pets whose collars turn up in a shoebox. Or the disturbing photos the dead can leave behind. Or the terrible thing you might find yourself doing when a long lost brother suddenly returns, demanding money. The stories reveal the rot that lies underneath the world's shiny layers.