Review: Major Arcana edited by Steve J. Shaw

cover of Major Arcana 7Major Arcana edited by Steve J Shaw
Black Shuck Books (September 2022)
234 pages; $14.99 paperback
Reviewed by Daniel Braum

Major Arcana is the title of the seventh annual installment of the Great British Horror series published by UK Publisher Black Shuck Books. Each book in the series features ten British authors and one “international” (non-UK) author.

The 2022 edition features 11 stories, each having a title sharing the name with one of the Major Arcana cards of the Tarot deck.Continue Reading

The Cemetery Dance Interview: Philip Fracassi

banner graphic that says Cemetery Dance Interviews

author Philip Fracassi
Philip Fracassi

Philip Fracassi is an award-winning, Bram Stoker-nominated author and screenwriter living it up in Los Angeles, California. His body of work includes short story collections Beneath A Pale Sky and Behold The Void while his full length novels include Gothic, A Child Alone With A Stranger and Boys In The Valley, which garnered high praise from Stephen King. As a screenwriter, Fracassi’s feature films have been distributed by Disney and Lifetime Television. He has also written a children’s book called The Boy with the Blue Rose Heart and a collection of poetry, Tomorrow’s Gone.

Between not holding his breath as several of his stories await their fate in various stages of film development, and working on his current book in progress, I somehow convinced Philip to share some of his coveted time with me. Come closer and listen in as we chat about the recent global trade release of Boys In The Valley, his intense writing process and the inner nuts and bolts of how it puts it all together.Continue Reading

Review: The Dead Shall Rise by Jay Wilburn, Armand Rosamilia and Erin Louis

cover of The Dead Shall RiseThe Dead Shall Rise by Jay Wilburn, Armand Rosamilia and Erin Louis
Crystal Lake Publishing (August 25, 2023)
202 pages; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Henry Allison

Zombie fiction is just like its namesake — it never really dies. Just when you think you’ve seen the last zombie story or movie, when you think the trope isn’t popular anymore, it shambles back to life, ready for another go around. The zombies are shambling in Crystal Lake’s latest Dark Tide collection, and it’s definitely one you’re going to want to check out.Continue Reading

Jay Stephens Takes Readers Inside His DWELLINGS

banner that reads The Comic Vault

cover of DwellingsDwellings #1, from Emmy Award-winning animator and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Jay Stephens, was published by Oni Comics on August 9, 2023. Don’t let the innocent, childlike art fool you — this is a horror series about a small town dealing with murder, possession and more. Stephens spoke to Cemetery Dance about his Harvey Comics influence, the pathway to getting Dwellings published, and what he hopes readers take away from the series.Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #232

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

It’s hot. Oh, so hot. Ever so effing hot. As many of you probably know, I live in Texas. Some years we get by without a single day with a temperature above 100°. This year, we’ve been “blessed” with almost nothing but triple-digit days, with “feels like temps” over 110°. It’s relentless.

So, while the world is melting down, what else should a person do but stay inside, with the A/C turned up high, reading and writing and watching television?
Continue Reading

Review: The Unhallowed Horseman by Jude S. Walko

cover of Unhallowed HorsemanThe Unhallowed Horseman by Jude S. Walko 
Blue Falcon Productions LLC (Oct. 2021) 
319 pages; $25.67 hardcover; $14.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“Villainy wears many masks, none so dangerous as the mask of virtue” – Washington Irving

Jude S. Walko’s The Unhallowed Horseman scrupulously reimagines the infamous tale of a silent secluded valley, a place laced with superstition and scandal, called Sleepy Hollow. Continue Reading

Review: Ghost Book by Remy Lai

banner that reads The Comic Vault

cover of Ghost BookGhost Book by Remy Lai
Henry Holt & Company (August 15, 2023)
320 pages; $22.99 hardcover; $14.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Remy Lai studied fine arts, with a major in painting and drawing. She was born in Indonesia, grew up in Singapore, and currently lives in Brisbane, Australia, where she writes and draws stories for kids with her two dogs by her side. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed Pie in the Sky, Fly on the Wall, and Pawcasso. Her newest graphic novel is Ghost Book, a haunting tale based on Chinese mythology and a child fated to see ghosts.Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: The Swallows

Dark Pathways

Indie Horror is a real thing, folks. It’s so real, in fact, that it’s being talked about in Esquire Magazine, for cryin’ out loud! And what’s wonderful about it is you don’t have to look too hard to find some incredible indie presses putting out some fantastic books. One shining example is The Swallows by Kristen Clanton:Continue Reading

Review: Mister Magic by Kiersten White

cover of Mister MagicMister Magic by Kiersten White
Del Rey (August 8, 2023)
304 pages; $25.20 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Reminiscing about the children’s shows many grew up with is a blurry experience. From The Magic Garden to Barney and Friends, there’s often a bit of weirdness, even some scariness, when the program is looked at without the innocence of youth to soften the edges. Revisiting those times can rip the scabs off some tough times, some repressed memories.

Kiersten White has crafted an entertaining and damn creepy romp through those shows in Mister Magic, which might just cause a therapy visit or two. For a Bram Stoker-winning author, she definitely lives up to the hype, surpassing her previous work, Hide, which was impressive.Continue Reading

Review: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

cover of Whalefall by Daniel KrausWhalefall by Daniel Kraus
MTV Books (August 8, 2023)
336 pages; $27.99 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

What is a whalefall? A spoiler would be cruel, so steer clear of any marine biology sites until the end. What Whalefall the book is cannot be contained in the definition of the word readers will discover late in the story. What can be said is that this is one of the most intense — and moving — stories that will grace the bookstores in 2023. It’s bound to make the year’s “best of” lists, which is quite the feat on its own, yet what Daniel Kraus has created here is something that can’t be quantified.Continue Reading

Introducing Into the Abyss — New YouTube Show from Cemetery Dance!

This Saturday at 7 p.m. Cemetery Dance Publications will debut its new monthly Youtube Show, Into the Abyss! Hosted by Kevin Lucia, CW Briar, and Thomas McDonough, if you want to watch three guys eat, drink, and talk horror for two hours — this is the place to go! Future episodes will feature author interviews, announcements, and movie watches!

Night Time Logic with Liliana Carstea

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Strange Tales. Fairy Tales. Pluto in Furs and Romanian Folklore.”

author Liliana Carstea
Liliana Carstea

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. 

In this column I explore the phenomenon of Night Time Logic and other aspects of horror and dark fiction through in depth conversation with authors. 

I delight in the strange and uncanny side of the genre particularly the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe.” My short story collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Robert Aickman’s strange tales. It can be found here.   

Romanian Writer Liliana Carstea was a guest author at the New York Ghost story festival back in December 2020. You can see our conversation here.

Since then she has gone on to publish in a range of anthologies and magazines. Carstea is an author of strange tales and we begin our conversation with a question about that term.Continue Reading

Review: The Price of a Small Hot Fire by E. F. Schraeder

cover of The Price of a Small Hot FireThe Price of a Small Hot Fire by E. F. Schraeder
Raw Dog Screaming Press (July 2023)
72 pages; $13.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

E.F. Schraeder believes in ghosts, magic, and dogs. A Rhysling nominated poet, Schraeder is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association. Her newest collection is The Price of a Small Hot Fire.

Continue Reading

Review: Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

cover of Looking Glass SoundLooking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
Tor Nightfire (August 8, 2023)
352 pages; $25.19 hardcover; $20.53 paperback; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Catriona Ward lures readers with charming coming-of-age humor and strife in her latest novel, Looking Glass Sound, reminiscent of Stephen King’s “The Body.”

Those who’ve read Ward’s previous work, Little Eve and The Last House on Needless Street (favorites of mine), know the loveable and exciting are a facade. And the truth, particularly a harsh one, leaves readers black with poison, bitten by the spider, trapped in her intricate web. Twitching with metaphysical dread, desperate for answers.Continue Reading

Review: Beautiful Malady by Ennis Rook Bashe

cover of Beautiful MaladyBeautiful Malady by Ennis Rook Bashe
Interstellar Flight Press (June 2023)
72 pages; $14.99 paperback; e-book $9.99
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Ennis Rook Bashe is a nonbinary graduate student from New York who loves their rescue cat, making cosplay TikToks, and watching horror game streamers. They write books about queer and disabled people surviving and recovering from trauma, finding community, living their best lives… and falling in love.  Their newest book of poetry is Beautiful Malady. Though short, this collection is a powerful exploration of what it means to be disabled in a world that is not willing to accommodate or undersand, written from a place of honest authenticity that will capture the attention of any reader.

Continue Reading