Interview: Kristi DeMeester on Dark Sisters

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photo of author Kristi DeMeester
Kristi DeMeester

Kristi DeMeester is the author of Dark Sisters, Such a Pretty Smile (which was selected as a Georgia Author of the Year finalist) and Beneath. Her short fiction has appeared in publications such as The Dark, Black Static, multiple volumes of The Year’s Best Horror, Year’s Best Weird Fiction, and in her short fiction collection Everything That’s Underneath. She lives, writes, and makes horror-themed candles in Atlanta, Georgia.

She is represented by Stefanie Lieberman at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. She is at work on her next novel.

DeMeester sat down with Cemetery Dance to talk about her new folk and religious horror novel, Dark Sisters, what it’s like growing up in a mega church, the increasing demand for feminist and pink horror, and book recommendations within the subgenre.  Continue Reading

Review: Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester

cover of Dark SistersDark Sisters  by Kristi DeMeester
St. Martin’s Press (December 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin 

“And from their blood we will prosper.”

If there was ever a time for a rally cry of a read, one that holds a mirror up to the misogyny in our world, it’s now. Kristi DeMeester delivers just that with snarling fury and unflinching realism in her latest novel, Dark Sisters. It’s folk, historical, and feminist horror interwoven like a three-strand braid and is told through three women’s perspectives across centuries. Dark Sisters is a brilliant criticism of patriarchal structures used to control women’s bodies and beliefs and the damage inflicted upon generations to come. Continue Reading

Review: The Tryst by L. Marie Wood

cover of The TrystThe Tryst by L. Marie Wood
Mocha Memoir Press (February 14, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

L. Marie Wood’s new novel, The Tryst is the first book in her five-installment Red Thread Saga, and it’s not horror, but slipstream. For those unfamiliar (and I counted myself among them), slipstream is a catch-all term for works that blend elements of different genres to create something new. When I asked Wood about it, she told me that The Tryst blends elements of “romance, horror, sci-fi, action, mystery, thriller, and suspense.” The blend creates a novel that defies expectations — it’s romance, but with a sci-fi bent; it’s horror, but with thriller and mystery thrown in. But slipstream also uses elements of those genres to defy and remix their typical conventions. Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #245

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

“I wanted to go back to Mid-World, which was always the Territories by another name.” So says Stephen King in announcing Other Worlds than These, also known as T3, co-authored with Peter Straub. The release date has been set: October 6, 2026. What else do we know? Read on!

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Hellbrothers: Todd Mignola (and His Brother) Bring a New Hellboy Tale to Life

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cover of The Crown #1Brothers Mike and Todd Mignola have come together for a new two-issue comic in the Hellboy Universe, spotlighting Hellboy and his brothers! The Crown: A Tale of Hell debuts on February 11, and Cemetery Dance spoke to Todd Mignola about working with Mike again, what’s based on their childhood, and what he hopes readers take away.Continue Reading

Review: The Bride of Ravencrest by Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross

cover of The Bride of RavencrestThe Bride of Ravencrest by Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross
Glass Apple Press (October 2025)
Review by W.D. Gagliani

If you’re in the mood for a thick and chewy Gothic pastiche replete with larger than life characters and a mile-wide humor streak, this new offering by Thorne & Cross may do the trick. Continue Reading

Review: The Stunted Man by Ari Loeb

cover of The Stunted ManThe Stunted Man by Ari Loeb
Abandoned House (August 2024)
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

The Stunted Man is well-written, informative, funny, emotional, dark and engrossing. It follows Hollywood stuntman Lex Mercier, who is working on the film Everyone’s Frankenstein — and finding plenty of horror in real life, nothing supernatural needed.Continue Reading

Review: Doodooality: Shots Fired from Uranus by Sumiko Saulson, Emily Loretta Flummox, Mysterious Backup

Doodooality: Shots Fired from Uranus by Sumiko Saulson, Emily Loretta Flummox, Mysterious Backup
Dooky Zines (October 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Sumiko Saulson, Emily Loretta Flummox, Mysterious Backup are members of the metal karaoke band, NypSlyp. When invited to submit to the sequel of Haipoo: 7 Poospectives in Pooetry, a collection of scatalogical verse, the group decided to create their own concept album of “haipoo, limershits, and other forms of poetry focusing on the fecalarity — the sentience of poop.” This chapbook is meant to mirror or mimick a punk rock or metal concept album, full of political import and social criticism, but quickly devolves into shock for shock’s sake.Continue Reading

Review: Mama Came Callin’ by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Camilla Sucre

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cover of Mama Came Callin'Mama Came Callin’ by Ezra Claytan Daniels
William Morrow Paperbacks (February 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Ezra Claytan Daniels is a mixed-race (black/white) multidisciplinary artist and creator of the award-winning graphic novels Upgrade Soul and BTTM FDRS (with illustrator Ben Passmore). Ezra’s work has been featured on the Criterion Channel, at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum. Ezra currently resides in Los Angeles, where he writes for film and television, including Doom Patrol, for HBO Max. His newest graphic novel is Mama Came Callin’.Continue Reading

Review: Dollface by Lindy Ryand

cover of DollfaceDollface by Lindy Ryan
Minotaur Books (February 24, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

In a publishing landscape that loves to hand us blonde, virginal final girls, Lindy Ryan’s Dollface gives us something different: a forty-something mother. 

That shouldn’t be rare. It is. Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Drew Huff

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

photo of author Drew HuffNight Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance online and over on my YouTube channel where we explore the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror, dark fiction, and more.

My latest book, Phantom Constellations: Strange Tales and Ghost Stories, out now from Cemetery Dance Publications, is full of these kind of subtle, strange, and intentionally ambiguous tales the operate with Night Time Logic.

In March 2025 I had the opportunity to meet Drew Huff at the Scares that Cares Authorcon Convention in Williamsburg Virginia and had an advance look at some of their work. I recently had the opportunity to converse with them again to talk about their new releases. We begin our conversation here with a discussion of some of their influences and favorite authors.Continue Reading

Review: The Night Ship by Alex Woodroe

cover of The Night ShipThe Night Ship by Alex Woodroe
Flame Tree Press (January 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

For Americans, it’s difficult to conceptualize what living under a truly authoritarian government means: the snitching, the pressure to conform, the everyday minutiae of life controlled by the state. Alex Woodroe captures these quandaries in The Night Ship. While it’s a wild ride of a cosmic horror novel, the setting and characterization of life under Ceau?escu are the real stars in this one. Continue Reading

Eclusive Interview/Preview: Vampyre: A Horror Folktale

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cover of Vampyre: A Costa Rican FolktaleGraphic novelist, writer and Hollywood conceptual artist Ricardo Delgado spoke to Cemetery Dance in 2022 about his Dracula of Transylvania, and now he’s back in that dark world with his new work, Vampyre: A Horror Folktale. It is currently on Kickstarter. Cemetery Dance has exclusive artwork to show, and also caught up with Delgado about Vampyre, its connection to his childhood and previousDracula work, and what else he has going on.Continue Reading

Review: The Demon of Beausoleil by Mari Costa

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cover of The Demon of BeausoleilThe Demon of Beausoleil by Mari Costa
Oni Press (January 27, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Mariana Costa was born in Brazil (allegedly) fully formed from a hole in the ground. She is a deeply unserious creature who eats stories and then spits out new ones to repopulate the ecosystem. Whether these new stories are better or worse is for you to decide by eating them yourself. She is best known for Peritale, Paranorthern, Belle of the Ball, and Life of Melody. Her newest graphic novel is The Demon of Beausoleil, which an exciting queer romance set against a background of historical horror.Continue Reading

Review: White Noise Press — The Chapbooks edited by Keith Minnion

cover of White Noise Press - The ChapbooksWhite Noise Press — The Chapbooks edited by Keith Minnion
White Noise Press (November 2025)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Many horror fans love chapbooks, but they’re tough to get a hold of. Most have limited runs, are costly, or are so beautifully done that readers are reticent to open and damage them (as with Minnion’s run of these 21 novellas).

Keith Minnion, owner of White Noise Press and celebrated artist and author, has compiled all of the chapbooks into one massive collection.Continue Reading