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Review: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 18, 2025August 10, 2025ReviewsHaley Newlin, Nat Cassidy, Reviews, When the Wolf Comes HomeLeave a comment

cover of When the Wolf Comes Home When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
Tor Nightfire (April 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

After reading Mary: An Awakening of Terror, I swore Nat Cassidy had written his magnum opus, not realizing it was his debut novel. And then I read Rest Stop from Shortwave, which is absolutely stellar with its exploration of historical trauma and triggers amongst the political state of things. And it was UNHINGED. So, I was certain that the novella was my new favorite. But, man, Cassidy came to the plate swinging with When The Wolf Comes Home and he knocked it out of the park. In his fairytale-inspired story Cassidy once again proves he’s one of the strongest voices in modern horror. His work is thoughtful, compelling, and fiercely chaotic as hell. I will devour EVERYTHING this man writes.Continue Reading

Review: The Invisible Woman By James P. Blaylock

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 15, 2025August 10, 2025ReviewsJames P. Blaylock, PS Publishing, Reviews, The Invisible Woman, W.D. GaglianiLeave a comment

The Invisible Woman By James P. Blaylock
PS Publishing (February 2025)
Review by W.D. Gagliani

Because The Invisible Woman is a sequel to James P. Blaylock’s Pennies From Heaven (2023), I’ll first need to weave some threads from a review of that novel here.

If you are already a fan you know Blaylock was one of the pioneers of the Steampunk genre (along with Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter) and later produced a notable series of unrelated “California Gothics.” Anyone who hasn’t read, at the very least, Homunculus, Lord Kelvin’s Machine (and the related St. Ives steampunky adventures), The Digging Leviathan, The Last Coin, The Paper Grail, Knights of the Cornerstone, All the Bells on Earth, and especially Night Relics, The Rainy Season, and Winter Tides, should go and do so right now. These novels form the backbone of his corner of the fantasy field, the one that’s magic realism, fantasy, horror, and SF adjacent. Because they have given me much pleasure over these many years, I confess to some bias up-front.Continue Reading

Daphne Fama talks Monstrous Women

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 12, 2025August 10, 2025InterviewsDaphne Fama, Haley Newlin, House of Monstrous Women, InterviewsLeave a comment

photo of author Daphne Fama — Daphne Fama

Daphne Fama’s gothic debut, House of Monstrous Women, is rich with Filipino folklore, female rage, ritual cannibalism, and matriarchal horror. It has been described as Silva Moreno-Garcia’s infamous novel Mexican Gothic — which this interviewer agrees solely based on the brilliant execution of the theme of generational trauma — meets the campy horror film Ready or Not, starring Samara Weaving.

When she’s not writing about monsters and the women who love them, she’s writing about video games or adoring her partner and pup. Her favorite horror games are the Fatal Frame series (minus Maiden of Black Water) and Silent Hill. She loves found footage and folklore drenched horror movies.

Fama’s social media is a celebration and dissection of Filipino folklore including the aswang — an umbrella term that refers to a wide array of monsters, from vampire-like creatures to shapeshifters. These entities became the key inspiration for House of Monstrous Women. You can find her on Instagram at @daphnefamawrites.Continue Reading

Review: House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 11, 2025August 10, 2025ReviewsDaphne Fama, Haley Newlin, House of Monstrous Women, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of House of Monstrous Women House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama
Berkley (August 12, 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Every culture has a boogeyman, a shapeless entity that eats children, such as El Cuco in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, or a shadowy, witch-like figure that eats and imprisons children, like Baba Yaga in Russia, Iraq, and Syria. In Daphne Fama’s Filipino Folk and Gothic Horror novel, House of Monstrous Women, it’s the aswang. Some declare the aswang monsters; others say they were people cursed “with a vicious hunger” and “who spent their lives like wolves cloaked in the fleece of lamb.”Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Joshua Rex

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 8, 2025August 3, 2025Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Interviews, Joshua Rex, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Ghost Stories,” “Haunted Victorian America,” and “Historical Fiction”

cover of Haunted Victorian America Night 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 and over on my YouTube channel.

Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.

My short story collections with Cemetery Dance are full of the kind of stories that operate with Night Time Logic. My latest is called Phantom Constellations and is coming in November 2025.

In June 2025, Joshua Rex was one of my guests as part of the Summer of Liminal Space series. You can hear him in conversation with the panelists as well as hear him read his story “The Caretaker” here.

We began our conversation here with a question about Joshua’s work as a historian.Continue Reading

The Comic Vault: Simon Bournel-Bosson’s Trumpets of Death

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 7, 2025August 5, 2025The Comic VaultColumns, Danica Davidson, Interviews, Previews, Simon Bournel-Bosson, The Comic Vault, Trumpets of DeathLeave a comment

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cover of Trumpets of Death French creator Simon Bournel-Bosson, who has a background in graphic design and artistic creation, is releasing his first comic book in America, Trumpets of Death. Trumpets of Death is about the conflicts that continue to cycle through generations as well as the broken connection people have with the world around us. Bournel-Bosson spoke to Cemetery Dance about his inspiration, why he likes magical realism, and what he hopes readers take away from his work.

(Interview conducted by Danica Davidson)Continue Reading

Review: October Dark by Ron Terranova

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 6, 2025August 5, 2025ReviewsOctober Dark, Reviews, Ron Terranova, Rowan B. MinorLeave a comment

October Dark by Ron Terranova
Outskirts Press (July 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Ron Terranova is a writer of novels, short stories, and poetry from Huntington Beach, California. His work has been published in Chiron Review, and he is author of two novels: The Red Wing Chronicles and I, Polyphemus. Terranova’s most recent book, October Dark, is a book of short horror stories that center around nihilism, dark noir, absurdism, and macabre humor. October Dark, which follows books October Light and October Twilight, is the third book in Terranova’s dark fiction trilogy. The stories in October Dark are 3 to 17 pages long and are all set in the month of October. Continue Reading

Review: Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice-Jones

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 1, 2025July 27, 2025Reviews, The Comic VaultArcana, Columns, Joshua Gage, Reviews, Sam Prentice-Jones, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

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Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice-Jones
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (June 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Sam Prentice-Jones is an author-illustrator working in Brighton UK who graduated from Arts University Bournemouth in 2019 with a BA Hons in Illustration, specializing in digital, graphic, character-based work. Sam likes to create work that celebrates diversity and queer culture and began his career by curating a queer illustration magazine titled POOF Magazine which ran 2019-2021. Since then, Sam has gone on to create work for the worlds of book publishing, web design, advertising and product design as well as being featured in art fairs across the UK. His newest book is the graphic novel Arcana: The Lost Heirs.Continue Reading

Review: Evil-ish by Kennedy Tarrell

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 30, 2025July 27, 2025Reviews, The Comic VaultColumns, Evil-ish, Joshua Gage, Kennedy Tarrell, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

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Evil-ish by Kennedy Tarrell
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (July 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Kennedy Tarrell (She/They) is a Los-Angeles based writer, storyboard artist, and comic-maker. She’s currently working as a story artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, most recently on Wish. She’s also written, storyboarded, or developed in both the feature and TV space for clients including Cartoon Network, Netflix Animation, DreamWorks Animation, and WB. In the publishing space, her debut YA graphic novel, Evil-ish, is now available.Continue Reading

Review: Vellum Leaves & Lettered Skins by Colleen Anderson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 28, 2025July 27, 2025ReviewsColleen Anderson, Joshua Gage, poetry, Reviews, Vellum Leaves & Lettered SkinsLeave a comment

cover of Vellum Leaves & Scattered Skins — Version 1.0.0

Vellum Leaves & Lettered Skins by Colleen Anderson
Raw Dog Screaming Press (July 29, 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Colleen Anderson is a Canadian author writing fiction and poetry and has had two collections and over 300 poems published in such venues as Grievous Angel, Polu Texni, The Future Fire, HWA Poetry Showcase and many others. She is a member of HWA and SFPA and a Canada Council grant recipient for writing. She has performed her work before audiences in the US, UK and Canada and has placed in the Balticon, Rannu, Crucible and Wax poetry competitions. Colleen also enjoys editing and co-edited Canadian anthologies Playground of Lost Toys (Aurora nominated) and Tesseracts 17, and her solo anthology Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland was published by Exile Books. She has served on both Stoker Award and British Fantasy Award juries, and guest-edited Eye to the Telescope. Her latest collection of poetry is Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins.Continue Reading

Review: “Dr. Werthless” by Harold Schechter and Eric Powell

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 23, 2025July 22, 2025The Comic VaultBlu Gilliand, Dark Horse Comics, Dr. Werthless, Eric Powell, Harold Schechter, Reviews, The Comic Vault1 Comment

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cover of "Dr. Werthless" “Dr. Werthless” by Harold Schechter and Eric Powell
Dark Horse Comics (July 2025)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

If you read comics, you’ve likely heard the name Dr. Fredric Wertham. His 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent had as big an impact on the comics industry as, say, the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics, or perhaps the work of Stan Lee.

In fact, Wertham’s book was so impactful, it nearly killed the entire comics industry.Continue Reading

Review: Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 21, 2025July 13, 2025ReviewsChristopher Miklos, Reviews, Tick Town, W.D. GaglianiLeave a comment

cover of Tick Town

Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos
Castle Bridge Media (June 2025)
Reviewed by W.D. Gagliani

Giant bloodsucking beasts invade… screams the cover copy, and if you’re like me, that’s about all you need to crack open this short novel and wait for the fun. So you may know going in what you’ll get, and the question is: how rip-roaringly entertaining will it be?Continue Reading

Jim Burns on Illustrating IT

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 15, 2025July 13, 2025InterviewsDanica Davidson, Folio Society, Interviews, It, Jim Burns, Stephen KingLeave a comment

photo of the Folio Society edition of IT, and its slipcase Stephen King’s novel IT is getting a new, limited edition (only 500 copies) book from Folio Press that features illustrations from Jim Burns, who is probably best known for his science fiction and fantasy artwork. The limited edition also has an introduction from director Guillermo del Toro. Burns spoke to Cemetery Dance about getting involved with the project, his introduction to IT, working in the horror genre, and more.Continue Reading

Review: The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 14, 2025July 6, 2025ReviewsCassandra Khaw, Chandra Claypool, Reviews, The Library at HelleboreLeave a comment

cover of The Library at Hellebore The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
Tor Nightfire (July 22, 2025)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool (Instagram) (TikTok)

I FREAKIN LOVE THIS BOOK! I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to read Cassandra Khaw. I have 3 other books of theirs on my shelves and I don’t know why I kept skipping over them.

Welcome to The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted — the “premiere academy for the dangerously Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.” DONE. SOLD. TAKE MY MONEY. Here we meet Aleesa — she’s been kidnapped and forced to go to Hellebore but is told this is a place where she will find acceptance and a “normal life” after graduation. However, on graduation day, the faculty decides to eat the class. One must be sacrificed every night or everyone will be killed. There can only be one survivor. Or can there?Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with TJ Price

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 11, 2025July 6, 2025Night Time LogicBetween Doorways, Columns, Daniel Braum, Interviews, Night Time Logic, TJ PriceLeave a comment

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Niemandswasser,” “The “un-defined in Fiction,” and “Liminal Space”

Night 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 and over on my YouTube channel.

Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.

My short story collections with Cemetery Dance are full of the kind of stories that operate with Night Time Logic. My latest is called Phantom Constellations and is coming in November 2025.

With the release of my fourth short story collection, Creatures of Liminal Space, on my mind, the anthology Between Doorways caught my attention. I recently spoke with TJ Price about liminal space and the anthology.

We began our conversation with a question about the meaning liminal space to him.Continue Reading

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