Cemetery Dance Online

Featured review: 'The Fireman' by Joe Hill

Bev VincentMay 16, 2016ReviewsBev Vincent, Featured, fireman, harry potter, helen reddy, Joe Hill, mary poppins, Reviews, rush, Stephen King, The Fireman, The Stand, toto1 Comment

The Fireman by Joe Hill
William Morrow (May 17, 2016)
768 pages; $18.82 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Bev Vincent

The Fireman, Joe Hill’s fourth novel, is an apocalyptic tale in which a deadly disease destroys the world. If this conjures thoughts of The Stand, it’s not a coincidence. Hill is on record as saying that the book is his version of The Stand “soaked in gasoline and set on fire.” In his dedication he says he stole “everything else” about the book from his father other than the title.

The illness that spreads like wildfire is Draco incendia trychophyton, a spore rather than a virus. People exposed to it do not burn with a fever—they simply burn. First, lesions develop. Some are almost decorative, resembling scales, hence the illness’s nickname: Dragonscale. Victims are mostly asymptomatic until they suddenly catch fire, usually when under stress. It’s a devastating and terrifying disease, because the conflagration takes out others in the vicinity. Buildings burn, then city blocks, and cities, and more.Continue Reading

The Shining Is Selling Out Very Quickly!

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 13, 2016July 12, 2016Breaking NewsLeave a comment

The Shining: The Deluxe Special Edition
Includes “Before the Play,” Stephen King’s long lost 40 PAGE PROLOGUE to the novel, has been restored to its proper place at the beginning of the story!
Selling Out Very Quickly!

Hi Folks!

BIG NEWS! Our special edition of The Shining by Stephen King is selling VERY QUICKLY!

The Lettered Artist Edition is already sold out, the Numbered Artist Edition is now 93% sold out, and the Slipcased Gift Edition is already 77% sold out, just a little over 24 hours after the official announcement!

A lot of this increased interest is probably because this will be the very first edition of The Shining published anywhere in the world to include King’s original, uncut 40 page prologue entitled “Before the Play” restored at its proper place at the beginning of the story, something that may never happen again for any other edition of the book! Read more or place your order while supplies last!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

How the Mid-List Died

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 13, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Featured9 Comments

EndofRoad-web

How the Mid-List Died

Stephen Graham Jones signed his new novel, Mongrels, at Bookworks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this week. I’ll be signing at that same store next month. There’s a reason both of us—and many of our peers—chose that store. If you think of the retail bookselling market as a geographical location, it currently resembles the wasteland from a Mad Max movie. But Bookworks, and hundreds of other independent bookstores, are bright, colorful oases sprouting from that formerly toxic ground.

What happened? What caused the apocalypse? And what is allowing these indie bookstores to flourish? Two things: corporate stupidity and the changes in publishing. Continue Reading

The Shining by Stephen King: RESTORED to the Author’s Original Vision for the first time EVER!

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 12, 2016July 12, 2016Breaking NewsLeave a comment

The Shining: The Deluxe Special Edition
A Collectible Limited ONE TIME PRINTING featuring an introduction by Stephen King, an afterword by Mick Garris, color paintings by Don Maitz, and our biggest special feature in any book we’ve published to date:
“Before the Play,” Stephen King’s long lost 40 PAGE PROLOGUE to the novel, has been restored to its proper place at the beginning of the story!
Volume Three in The Stephen King Doubleday Years Set!

Hi Folks!

Huge news today, maybe our biggest announcement ever:

Our special edition of The Shining by Stephen King will be the very first edition of The Shining published anywhere in the world to include Stephen King’s original, uncut 40 page prologue entitled “Before the Play” restored at its proper place at the beginning of the story!

This may end up being the only edition to ever present the complete story of the Overlook Hotel as King originally wrote it, so don’t miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Although an excerpt from the prologue appeared in TV Guide in the 1990s, this is the first time the complete prologue has ever appeared where Stephen King intended it to go — right at the beginning of The Shining!

Special Features For This Deluxe Special Edition:
• an introduction by Stephen King
• an afterword by Mick Garris
• includes the complete text of “Before the Play,” Stephen King’s 40 page prologue that has never appeared in any edition of The Shining
• deluxe oversized design (7 inches X 10 inches) featuring two color interior printing as part of the page design
• printed on a heavy interior specialty paper stock that is much thicker than the paper in a normal trade edition
• custom-made slipcase for the Gift Edition, custom-made traycase for the Numbered Artist Edition, and custom-made three piece traycase for the Deluxe Lettered Artist Edition
• epic wrap-around full color dust jacket artwork by Don Maitz
• a different full color dust jacket for the Numbered Artist Edition painted by Don Maitz
• full color interior paintings by Don Maitz
• interior artwork will be printed on a heavy glossy stock and tipped into the book
• special limitation page artwork for all three editions by Glenn Chadbourne
• high-quality endpapers and fine bindings
• extremely collectible print run that is a tiny fraction of the TENS OF MILLIONS of copies of this novel you’ve seen in bookstores over the years!

Gift Edition Full Cover Painting:

Signed & Numbered Artist Edition Full Cover Painting:

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

The Top Werewolf Films You (Probably) Haven’t Seen But Should: Stephen Graham Jones Talks ‘Mongrels’

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 11, 2016June 12, 2018Paper CutsAdam Cesare, Columns, Featured, Mongrels, Paper Cuts, Stephen Graham Jones2 Comments

PaperCuts-web

Paper (n): material manufactured in thin sheets from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances, used for writing, drawing, or printing on

Cut (v): make (a movie) into a coherent whole by removing parts or placing them in a different order.

The Top Werewolf Films You (Probably) Haven’t Seen But Should: Stephen Graham Jones Talks ‘Mongrels’

Mongrels_cover-678x1024 When I initially pitched the idea for this column to the editors at Cemetery Dance Online, it was a very, uh… loose pitch. The “hook” was me discussing horror movies and horror fiction, wherever they happen to intersect.

And while that loosey-goosey connective theme has probably turned off some readers (“now we’re just reading a list of books he likes? Get out of your own butt, guy!”), it’s meant that I basically get to write about whatever I want and have it get a bunch of eyes on it.

Amazingly those ~~suckers~~ visionaries at CD were cool with that. Also I keep coming up with jokey clickbait headlines, so that probably helps. There is a list of “Top Werewolf Films” somewhere in this interview, but you have to read to find it.

Having no set format means I get to have guests. Which is a long-winded way of saying that, this month: I wanted to talk to one of my favorite authors! And he said yes!Continue Reading

Review: 'Kill Switch' by Jonathan Maberry

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 9, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Featured, Joe Ledger, Jonathan Maberry, Kill Switch, ReviewsLeave a comment

Kill Switch by Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Griffin (April 26 2016)
544 pages; $9.99 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Is it to early to add this to the list of my ten favorite reads of 2016? Kill Switch, by Jonathan Maberry, is that good. It’s hard to imagine many books to be published the rest of this year being better than this new adventure in the Joe Ledger series.Continue Reading

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 6, 2016July 12, 2016Breaking NewsLeave a comment

The Great and Secret Show
A Stunning New Edition of Clive Barker’s Classic Novel!
Gauntlet Press Signed Limited Edition Hardcover!

Hi Folks!

We’re thrilled to report we will be receiving some copies of Gauntlet Press’s beautiful Signed Limited Edition Hardcover of The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker, but we don’t expect our allotment to last long!

About the Book:
In the little town of Palomo Grove, two great armies are amassing; forces shaped from the hearts and souls of America. In this New York Times bestseller, Clive Barker unveils one of the most ambitious imaginative landscapes in modern fiction, creating a new vocabulary for the age-old battle between good and evil. Carrying its readers from the first stirring of consciousness to a vision of the end of the world, THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW is a breathtaking journey in the company of a master storyteller.

THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW will contain a significant amount of bonus material:

* All editions will feature Clive Barker cover art expressly drawn for the book
* Brand new Barker black and white interior illustrations
* Handwritten pages from Barker’s first draft of the novel
* Notes (along with Bradbury-like doodles) from Barker
* Pages with Barker’s handwritten corrections from the first typed draft of the book

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

In Which We Answer Who, What, Where, and Why

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 6, 2016January 22, 2018Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Featured6 Comments

In Which We Answer Who, What, Where, and Why

My name is Brian Keene. I’m a writer by trade and a road warrior by heart. Neither of these things make for very wise career or life choices, but at the age of forty-eight, it’s a little late for me to decide I’d like to become an IT Specialist or an HVAC technician instead.

Both writing and the road got in my blood at an early age. My parents were transplants from West Virginia, which is like a ghetto with trees and mountains. Seriously. All of the despair and poverty and crime that plague America’s ghettos can be found in West Virginia. But, just like the ghettos, you can also find hope and inspiration (even today, when meth production has overtaken coal mining as the state’s most popular employment opportunity). Continue Reading

Review: 'Suicide Stitch' by Sarah L. Johnson

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 4, 2016ReviewsFeatured, Reviews, Sarah L. Johnson, Suicide StitchLeave a comment

Suicide Stitch by Sarah L. Johnson
EMP Publishing (March 2016)
188 pages; $12.00 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black

Suicide Stitch is the debut collection of Sarah L. Johnson, a writer whose work runs the gamut from horror to literary to science fiction to erotica. The stories here reflect that range of style and voice. They’re billed as “sexy, transgressive, and intelligent, comprised of eleven tales that explore the sinister side of love,” and that’s an apt description for the highlights of the bunch.Continue Reading

Review: 'Altar' by Philip Fracassi

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 2, 2016ReviewsAltar, Featured, Philip Fracassi, ReviewsLeave a comment

Altar by Philip Fracassi
Dunhams Manor Press (April 2016)
53 pages; $7.19 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black

Have you ever been swimming in a lake, far from shore, and found yourself wondering what might be lurking in the black depths below? There’s a primal fear being tapped, and with Altar, Philip Fracassi taps into it not through a lake, but a public swimming pool. Brightly lit, sections clearly delineated, lifeguards at the ready should anyone find themselves in need of assistance… A few rough patches notwithstanding, it says a lot about Fracassi’s skill as a storyteller that this novelette works as well as it does.Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #190

Bev VincentApril 29, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneCell, dark tower, Doctor Sleep, Gerald's Game, It, Pet Sematary, Revival, Stephen King, The Green Mile, The Mist2 Comments

End_of_Watch_cover Not long now until End of Watch comes out, the final installment in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy. King is doing a major tour for this book, with twelve stops between June 7 and June 18. The June 16 event in Albuquerque is of particular interest because George R.R. Martin will be interviewing King. Most of the events have already sold out (some in almost record time), but you can find the list of venues here.

After years of saying “no news yet” with reference to the Dark Tower movie, things are finally moving forward. The current release date is set at February 17, 2017, and the following people have been cast: Idris Elba (Roland), Matthew McConaughey (Man in Black), Jackie Earle Haley (Richard Sayre), Fran Kranz (Pimli Prentiss), Tom Taylor (Jake), Abby Lee (Tirana) and Katheryn Winnick (unknown). Some early photos from the set appeared a few days ago, and some of them disappeared soon after!Continue Reading

Review: 'The Damned' by Andrew Pyper

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 27, 2016ReviewsAndrew Pyper, Featured, Jonathan Reitan, Reviews, The DamnedLeave a comment

The Damned by Andrew Pyper
Simon & Schuster (February 2015)
304 pages; $21.24 hardcover; $13.82 paperback; $11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Jonathan Reitan

Canadian author Andrew Pyper began his career by writing “literary thrillers” but now he’s been focusing his time on some amazing works of “literary horror” such as his latest, The Damned.

Twins Danny and Ashleigh Orchard are polar opposites. While Danny is timid and kind, Ashleigh is overpowering and downright evil. Ash harbors early psychotic tendencies and terrorizes anyone near her. A house fire ultimately claims her life and almost takes Danny’s as well.Continue Reading

Review: 'I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 1: Madly Ever After' by Skottie Young

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 25, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Featured, I Hate Fairyland, Image Comics, Madly Ever After, Reviews, Skottie YoungLeave a comment

I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young
Image Comics (April 26 2016)
128 pages; $8.41 paperback
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Okay, I’m not the biggest fan of comic books, but when I Hate Fairyland came into Cemetery Dance for review, I took one look at the synopsis and knew I had to check this out.

What a trip. Artist and author Skottie Young has concocted a colorful, imaginative, raw blood fest that’s reminiscent of the old Fractured Fairy Tales…on acid. I love the artwork. It reminds me of the old Garbage Pail Kids cards I collected back in the day, only with more blood.Continue Reading

Review: 'Psycho: Sanitarium' by Chet Williamson

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 22, 2016ReviewsChet Williamson, Featured, Psycho, Psycho: Sanitarium, Reviews, Robert BlochLeave a comment

Psycho: Sanitarium by Chet Williamson
Thomas Dunne Books (April 2016)
288 pages; $19.73 hardcover; $11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Norman Bates has been institutionalized with the deaths of four people on his hands, four murders that we know about.

If you’ve never read Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel Psycho, not to worry, Chet Williamson provides an excellent synopsis to get the reader up to speed on the events which precede Psycho: Sanitarium. Personally, I went back and read the original work so it was fresh in my mind as I read this new volume. I’m glad I did as this gave me a feel for the writing in both books. If I didn’t know better, I could easily see how the two could have been written by the same author.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Sound of Time' by Jeremy Essex

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 20, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Featured, Jeremy Essex, Reviews, Samhain Publishing, The Sound of TimeLeave a comment

The Sound of Time by Jeremy Essex
Samhain Publishing (February 2016)
60 pages; $2.10 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

The Sound of Time is a quick and surreal novella. The story takes place during the late night move of a business from its old location to its new. As the old place is emptied out, it becomes rather creepy. A discussion of time, and the perception of it, sets the mood for some truly bizarre events.Continue Reading

How the Mid-List Died

The Top Werewolf Films You (Probably) Haven’t Seen But Should: Stephen Graham Jones Talks ‘Mongrels’

In Which We Answer Who, What, Where, and Why

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