Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker 
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Crown (June 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms
This novel just might be this year’s Whalefall, a story which defies true categorization but is full of darkness, mystery, and enough emotion to bring a lumberjack to tears.
2024 is shaping up to be even better than last year, which was astounding for dark fiction. Making a best-of list is going to be a tough one, and it’s only July.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Slow Burn by Mike Allen 
Slow Burn by Mike Allen
Mythic Delirium Books (July 16, 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
As Christina Sng writes in the introduction to this collection, “Mike Allen is synonymous with the mysterious and the macabre.” He’s been a Nebula, Shirley Jackson, and World Fantasy Award finalist. He’s won three Rhyslings from the Science Fiction Poetry Association. He’s edited a number of award-winning books and anthologies. It’s no surprise, therefore, that his newest collection, Slow Burn, is yet another incredible read by an incredible horror author and editor. This collection of horror and dark fantasy poetry and short fiction needs to be on the shelf of any horror reader. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Horror Drive-In1 Comment on Horror Drive-In: RIP Doug Lewis 
Very few know the name these days, but Doug Lewis was one of the most important figures in the small horror press. He and his wife Tomi ran a Colorado bookstore called Little Bookshop of Horrors. They had a program of author appearances and readings in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I used to hear about them and feel unbelievably jealous. I wanted to be part of the horror fiction scene, but I lived under near impoverished conditions in those days. Buying books was difficult. Traveling from Virginia to Colorado was impossible.
The reading nights led Doug and Tomi to start a small publishing venture called Roadkill Press.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Unwelcome Guests by David Kopaska-Merkel 
Unwelcome Guests by David Kopaska-Merkel
Weird House Books (June 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
David C. Kopaska-Merkel is the editor and publisher of Dreams and Nightmares magazine, and was for six years the editor of Star*Line, the journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Thirty-two books and thousands of poems and stories have been published in over a thousand venues since the early 1980s. The latest poetry collection is Unwelcome Guests.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Cranberry Cove by Hailey Piper 
Cranberry Cove by Hailey Piper
Bad Hand Books, LLC (April 2024)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Hailey Piper creates a haunting atmosphere and writes with stunning prose in her Bram Stoker Award-winning novella Cranberry Cove.
In the desolate halls of the Cranberry Cove Hotel, there’s an evil once called upon but abandoned. Even rodents didn’t dare enter. No one did until Emberly’s boss, Ricard, sent she and her partner, Conner, on a mission after his son was s*xually assaulted. What stands out here is: one, the victim is male, and two, there’s a lot of nuanced information. He didn’t see his attacker. There don’t appear to be secret passages to allow someone to sneak in and out unseen. Still, Richard’s son is instantly believed, a privilege both cisgender and transgender women fight tooth and nail for. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories InterviewsLeave a comment on Hunter Gorinson brings EC Comics back to life 
The famous and infamous EC Comics — known for horror classics like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror — is being revived by Oni Press in an alliance with William M. Gaines Agent, Inc. Oni Press Publisher Hunter Gorinson spoke to Cemetery Dance about the publisher’s new lineup with Epitaphs from the Abyss (July 2024) and Cruel Universe (August 2024), how Oni is bringing EC Comics into the 21st century, and what other comics they have that would interest Cemetery Dance readers. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Blood in the Cut by Alejandro Nodarse 
Blood in the Cut by Alejandro Nodarse
Flatiron Books (June 2024)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Ignacio “Iggy” Guerra returns home, fresh off a three-year stint in prison, to find nothing but turmoil. His mother has passed away in a tragic accident. His father is angry with Iggy for the mistakes that sent him to prison. His family’s business is struggling, and his neighborhood is being reshaped through a series of unwanted changes.
Iggy, just 23, is standing at a crossroads, and everywhere he turns, there’s another bit of trouble waiting, idling, hoping for the chance to gun the engines and run him down.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews1 Comment on Review: Scribe by Michael R. Goodwin 
Scribe by Michael R. Goodwin
Dark Pine Publishing (September 2023)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
In Michael R. Goodwin’s Scribe (the Smolder prequel), an ancient force prowls and feeds in the woods, hungry for women, children, hunters, and whoever should be misfortunate enough to enter the shadows. The Penobscot natives lost several to the evil of the woods, with nothing left of the bodies, only scorched patches of earth.
Finally, an elder arranges a deal, trading sacrifice for immunity.Continue Reading
Placerita by Lisa Morton and John Palisano
Cemetery Dance (June 2024)
The Synopsis
It’s 1928, and something strange is afoot in the desert town of Placerita just north of Los Angeles. When young biologist Alexis Crawford discovers an unidentifiable specimen washed up in the wake of a devastating flood, it begins a journey that will reveal the dark conspiracies at the heart of California and the secret known only to a few: that beneath the City of Angels is an ancient world of tunnels lined in gold, a world that is home to the legendary Lizard People.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories InterviewsLeave a comment on James Aquilone kickstarts Kolchak…..again 
Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and writer James Aquilone and Monstrous Books have acquired the print rights to Jeff Rice’s novel Kolchack: The Night Stalker. Rice’s book was the basis for the cult TV favorite television series, which was released in 1972 — a year before the novel became available.
Now, Monstrous Books is planning a deluxe hardcover edition of Kolchack: The Night Stalker. The book will have a print run limited to 1,973 copies, and will feature essays and illustrations created specifically for this edition. You can help fund the book through its Kickstarter campaign.
Recently, Aquilone took time to discuss his love of all thing Kolchak, and the plans for this special new edition.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Gathering by C.J. Tudor 
The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
Ballantine Books (April 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Full disclosure here: not a vampire fan, because most fiction and movies aim for the tried and true tropes rather than injecting new blood into the subgenre. Once in a while, a novel changes that view. The Gathering is one of those, an enjoyable, left turn of a blood-sucking story that can make the reader forget about the bad stories.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories InterviewsLeave a comment on The Cemetery Dance Interview: The Haunting of Gwendolyn Kiste 
Gwendolyn Kiste is a three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Haunting of Velkwood, The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Mortals, and most recently, a short story called “Your Mother’s Love Is An Apocalypse” in the Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror anthology, foreword by Sadie Hartmann, edited by Lindy Ryan. Kiste has also won the Lambda Literary Award and received the This is Horror award for Novel of the Year.
She doesn’t just tell any old ghost stories. Kiste’s books, like The Haunting of Velkwood, orbit themes of self-identity, complacency, and unbreakable bonds. To her, “Everyone’s life is like a haunted house.” Perhaps that’s why her books linger, giving readers a ghostly book hangover.
Kiste spoke to Cemetery Dance about The Haunting of Velkwood, gothic horror, themes of complacency and accountability in her latest novel, and, of course, ghost stories (her specialty).Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Shadows Abyss by L. N. Frost 
Shadows Abyss by L. N. Frost
Independently Published (December 2020)
116 pages; $10.24 paperback, $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Luna Nyx Frost (Nicole) is a native to Baltimore, Maryland, and has been writing for the last twenty years. She is a blind author and writes poetry, urban fantasy, and paranormal. Her debut novel HUNTED: The Immortal’s Kiss cowritten with Emberly Lily Summers is available on Amazon. After publishing her poetry book. Shadow Abyss: A Book of Poetry, she has had other poems featured in anthologies such as Maryland’s Best Emerging Poets by Z Publishing and in Fae Thee Well by Dreampunk Press. Her passion for writing and reading doesn’t stop at sonnets and novels. Her inspiration mostly comes from nature, ancient history, and classic literature. Luna has also looked up to the magnificent work of poets such as Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickens. She has also read many works by Shakespeare and fables by The Brothers Grimm. Luna has also been intrigued by the great ancient civilizations. Her collection, Shadows Abyss, is available now. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Necrotek by Jonathan Maberry 
Necroteck by Jonathan Maberry
Blackstone Publishing (May 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Military science fiction crossed with Lovecraftian horror with a cast of offbeat characters in an adventure that begs for a film adaptation? Yes please!
Jonathan Maberry has conquered a bit of everything in his career, from the straight-up horror that won him a Bram Stoker award to the popular weird adventure series starring Joe Ledger to resurrecting the Weird Tales franchise in style. His style combines Matheson and Bradbury, a pair of giants he knew as a child, along with the fun adventure tales that filled drugstore spinner racks. This is all strong praise, especially for this new novel, which promises to be the start of another successful series.Continue Reading
Blood Covenant by Alan Baxter
Cemetery Dance, May 2024
The Synopsis
What should have been a breeze of a bank heist for James Glenn and his crew goes violently wrong, forcing them to flee, blood-stained and angry. They stumble onto a remote lodge that doesn’t open for another month — a perfect place to lie low until the heat’s off.
Except it’s occupied.
The Moore family, just arrived to prepare for the season, are taken hostage by the criminals, but not without bloodshed. And when blood gets spilled, something ancient notices. Something malevolent. Something ravenous.
Their only hope is the youngest Moore, teenager Rueben, outside and unseen when James and his gang arrive. It’s up to Rueben to get help and save his family, but the influence of the ancient evil is taking a toll on him as well…Continue Reading
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