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FREE FICTION: “The Canyon of Terrible Lizards” (Part 1) by Norman Prentiss

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 17, 2022May 16, 2022Free FictionFree Fiction, Haunted Attractions with Your Other Father, Norman Prentiss, The Canyon of Terrible LizardsLeave a comment

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cover of Haunted Attractions with your Other Father Haunted Attractions with your Other Father by Norman Prentiss is the sequel to his Odd Adventures with your Other Father, and continues the horror/fantasy road trip adventures of Jack and Shawn as they fight monsters and homophobia in the ’80s. Since CD is publishing the new novel (with an e-book version now on sale at Amazon for 0.99!), we thought we’d catch up with the author to hear a little bit about the new book, and learn why he’s serializing a novella-length adventure for free. (Keep reading after this brief interview to begin the free story!)Continue Reading

“My Girl” by Bruce McAllister

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 1, 2022April 2, 2022Free FictionBruce McAllister, Fiction, Free Fiction, My GirlLeave a comment

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My Girl
by
Bruce McAllister

I suppose I love her. I know she loves me. We’re quite a pair at night, walking the alleys of the old parts of the city, the junkyards, the tougher residential areas, where the dogs are bigger and meaner—which is what she likes.

She likes me to watch.Continue Reading

“Ballad of the Broken Hearts at the Danse Macbre” by Kevin Lucia

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 22, 2021October 17, 2021Free FictionBallad of the Broken Hearts at the Danse Macbre, Free Fiction, Kevin Lucia, October NightsLeave a comment

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It’s publication day for Kevin Lucia as Crystal Lake Publishing releases October Nights, his collection of Halloween-themed short stories. To celebrate, Cemetery Dance is proud to share “Ballad of the Broken Hearts at the Danse Macabre,” a Halloween-themed short story that is NOT included in October Nights. Think of it as a bonus story, a companion to Lucia’s collection (which he discussed with us in a Q&A right here.)

Enjoy!

The Mask: A Halloween Serial Novel by Kevin Lucia

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 8, 2019October 7, 2019A Halloween Thing A Day, Free FictionA Halloween Thing A Day, Fiction, Free Fiction, Halloween, Kevin Lucia, The MaskLeave a comment

Cemetery Dance reviews editor/columnist Kevin Lucia is writing a Halloween serial novel one day at a time on his blog. We thought it might be something our readers would enjoy as we count down to our favorite holiday! Check out Kevin’s essay on the origins of The Mask, and follow the links at the end to read along.

The creepy mask that inspired Kevin Lucia's serial novel The Mask. Two weeks ago, I found the weirdest mask in our school’s dirt cellar.

The dirt cellar—which began life as a fallout shelters in the fifties—is where all sorts of things get stored. Things like old desks, cabinets, bookshelves, toilets, tables…you name it. Boxes of old textbooks, old televisions, all the things a school might store over the years instead of throwing out, just because they “might” be needed sometime in the future.

I’m down there all the time. I’m a scrounger by nature, (I learned it from my Dad, who learned it from his father, who was a teen during the Depression), and I’m always looking for something to add to my classroom. In this case, I was looking for Halloween decorations, because seasonal decorations are also stored in the dirt cellar.

And I found this weird rubber mask. With bulging eyes, stringy black hair, and a gaping black mouth. Inspiration struck, and I decided to take the mask (its rubber felt weird between my fingers) and hang it on my classroom door in the center of Halloween wreath as my own “Marley Knocker.”

CD eBook Spotlight: That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 21, 2019August 20, 2019Free Fiction, Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooksColumns, Eric J. Guignard, Fiction, Free Fiction, Norman Prentiss, Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooks, That Which Grows WildLeave a comment

Coiver for That Which Grows Wild We’re devoting this latest eBook column to Eric J. Guignard’s story collection, That Which Grows Wild.

In May of this year, the book won a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. Instead of an interview, this time we asked the author to provide a story that’s not in the book, as a kind of bonus/addendum, but also to give a sample of the kind of eclectic fiction you’ll find in the full collection. Without further ado, please enjoy the melancholy, romantic apocalypse of “Carmine Lips and a Fade into Oblivion.”Continue Reading

Fiction: The Road That Takes You There by Jason Sechrest

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 24, 2019April 24, 2019Free FictionFiction, Free Fiction, Jason Sechrest, The Road That Takes You There3 Comments

Meet George Tinker. Each day, George fires up his ’57 Thunderbird and drives down the road in his small home town—the same road he’s been driving since he was old enough to get behind the wheel.

But, for the first time in his life, George is about to come to the end of that road—and he’ll finally have to face what’s waiting for him there.

Cemetery Dance is proud to present “The Road That Takes You There” by columnist and author Jason Sechrest. Continue Reading

Free Fiction: Malignant Ghosts (Part 3) by Maynard Sims

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 31, 2018October 29, 2018Free FictionFree Fiction, Malignant Ghosts, Maynard SimsLeave a comment

Malignant Ghosts
(Part 3)
by
Maynard Sims

By the time she got home, Beth was exhausted. The new chair was robust enough, but she had become used to her previous one, and this replacement didn’t feel as smooth to maneuver. Consequently her arms ached on her trial run around the hospital corridors. An orderly helped her put it into the car, and waved her off cheerily as she drove out of the car park.Continue Reading

Free Fiction: Malignant Ghosts (Part 2) by Maynard Sims

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 30, 2018October 29, 2018Free FictionFree Fiction, Malignant Ghosts, Maynard SimsLeave a comment

Malignant Ghosts
(Part 2)
by
Maynard Sims

The Latham’s house, Peck’s Cottage, was a picturesque building set in its own grounds, and standing about a quarter of a mile from the road. With walls studded with knapped flint, and a newly thatched roof, the cottage might have been lifted from any illustrated Suffolk guidebook.

It would have been quicker to have walked through the woods, around the lake, but for Beth that wasn’t an option. She began the arduous procedure of extracting herself from her specially adapted Ford Focus, and got settled into her wheelchair.Continue Reading

Free Fiction: Malignant Ghosts (Part 1) by Maynard Sims

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 29, 2018October 29, 2018Free FictionFiction, Free Fiction, Malignant Ghosts, Maynard SimsLeave a comment

Malignant Ghosts
(Part 1)
by
Maynard Sims

The large, yellow, JCB digger raised its claw-like arm, and brought it crashing down through the roof of the house, sending tiles flying into the air. It looked as if birds were taking flight. The operator adjusted some levers in his cab, and the claw rose and fell again, into the hole that had been made, but this time hooking over the front wall of the house, and pulling it outwards. The wall collapsed in an explosion of crumbling brickwork.

The noise was extraordinary, as bricks fell, and windows shattered. It was like a primeval beast exacting revenge on an ancient enemy: loud, remorseless and final.Continue Reading

“The True Story of Christmas” by John R. Little

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 22, 2017December 21, 2017Free FictionFiction, John R. Little, The True Story of Christmas3 Comments

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“The True Story of Christmas”
by
John R. Little

My name is Alexander Malicious of Oz. I am twelve years old, but I was only ten months old when the whole world went kablooey, so I don’t remember any of it. Daddy once told me I had a different name back then, but he won’t tell me what it was. After everybody died, Mom and Dad renamed me. They never told me why.Continue Reading

The Dungeon of Count Verlock

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 20, 2017March 19, 2017Free FictionFiction, Kindle Scout, Life in a Haunted House, Norman Prentiss, The Dungeon of Count VerlockLeave a comment

“The Dungeon of Count Verlock”
(A Budget Studio Production)
edited by Norman Prentiss

This previously unpublished story, an anonymous “novelization” of a movie written and directed by Bud “Budget” Preston, was scheduled to appear in issue 101 of Monster Project magazine. For more information about the history of this story, and how I uncovered it, see my Editor’s Note after the end of the story—and continue reading to find out about my forthcoming novel, Life in a Haunted House, that fictionalizes elements of Preston’s life and filmography.Continue Reading

Exclusive Excerpt: 'Paper Tigers' by Damien Angelica Walters

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 22, 2016Free FictionDamien Angelica Walters, Featured, Fiction, Paper TigersLeave a comment

Today we’re excited to bring readers an exclusive excerpt from Paper Tigers, the forthcoming novel from Damien Angelica Walters (due out on February 29 from Dark House Press). The early word on the novel is that it’s “…a hauntingly elegant portrait of loneliness and longing for healing…” (author Bracken MaCleod) and “Wonderfully creepy and heartwarming…” (editor Sarah Read).

If you want to know more about the novel, check out our recent interview with Walters. For now, we hope you enjoy this special peek inside its pages.

"The Hands That Hold, the Lies That Bind" by Damien Angelica Walters

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 1, 2016Free FictionDamien Angelica Walters, Featured, Fiction, The Hands That Hold The Lies That Bind1 Comment

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“The Hands That Hold, the Lies That Bind”
by
Damien Angelica Walters

The thorn breaks through Callie’s skin, rising from her left shoulder like a small, jagged periscope. There’s no pain, no blood, only a strange sensation creeping the length of her spine. The barb, about the length and width of a fingernail, is a shade darker than her skin, its shape a tiny shark’s fin, the skin around it slightly ridged.

She covers her mouth, holding in a laugh because it’s not funny. It’s not funny at all. She takes a deep breath, stares at the posters—the Avengers and Star Wars—on her bedroom wall for a long time, then at her shoulder again. The thorn’s still there. This time she does let out a laugh because it’s ridiculous. Lots of weird things happen when you’re twelve—pimples, breasts, boys snapping your bra strap in class, your dad leaving and moving to the opposite side of the country—but thorns aren’t one of them. At least they’re not supposed to be.Continue Reading

"Snakehandler" by Ronald Kelly

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 30, 2015Free FictionFeatured, Fiction, Ronald Kelly, Snakehandler1 Comment

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“Snakehandler”
by
Ronald Kelly

Unlike the others of his congregation, Old John wasn’t all that shocked and surprised when the preacher just up and quit the way he did.

“I know this is sudden,” the pastor had told them at the end of the Sunday service. “But I feel like I’m being led by the Lord to greener pastures. Please, don’t take this as a reflection of you folks. Your faith has been steadfast and true, and I appreciate that. I’m sure you’ll find another man of God – perhaps a better man than I – to preach the gospel from this pulpit soon.”Continue Reading

"Terminal" by Kealan Patrick Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 10, 2015Free FictionFeatured, Fiction, Kealan Patrick Burke, TerminalLeave a comment

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“Terminal”
by
Kealan Patrick Burke

“So, would you like my number?” she asked.

Perched on the side of the bed with his back to her, the rumpled sheets still reeking of sex, Adam closed his eyes and sighed silently. “Sure,” he said, tugging on his socks. He would give her his number because that’s how these things were supposed to go, but as soon as he was on the road, he would block hers. Getting whiny texts from some air stewardess (or whatever the hell they called themselves nowadays) would be just what he needed when he got home to his wife. Glenda was already suspicious, and with good cause. He had learned to be careful not to bring any evidence of his exploits home with him after the one time she found a pair of pink frilly panties in his suitcase, put there by one of his conquests while he’d been in the shower.Continue Reading

My Girl by Bruce McAllister

Malignant Ghosts (Part 3) by Maynard Sims

Malignant Ghosts (Part 2) by Maynard Sims

Malignant Ghosts (Part 1) by Maynard Sims

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction “The True Story of Christmas” by John R. Little

“The Dungeon of Count Verlock” (A Budget Studio Production) edited by Norman Prentiss

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction “The Hands That Hold, the Lies That Bind” by Damien Angelica Walters

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction “Snakehandler” by Ronald Kelly

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction “Terminal” by Kealan Patrick Burke

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Categories

My Girl
by
Bruce McAllister

Malignant Ghosts
(Part 3)
by
Maynard Sims

Malignant Ghosts
(Part 2)
by
Maynard Sims

Malignant Ghosts
(Part 1)
by
Maynard Sims

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“The True Story of Christmas”
by
John R. Little

“The Dungeon of Count Verlock”
(A Budget Studio Production)
edited by Norman Prentiss

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“The Hands That Hold, the Lies That Bind”
by
Damien Angelica Walters

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“Snakehandler”
by
Ronald Kelly

Cemetery Dance Online Exclusive Fiction
“Terminal”
by
Kealan Patrick Burke