Cemetery Dance Online

Review: The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 22, 2024July 18, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, F. Paul Wilson, Reviews, The UpwellingLeave a comment

The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroads Press (July 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

F. Paul Wilson has been a grandmaster of horror, thrillers, science fiction, and medical mysteries, but it somehow feels natural when he slips into this mythos that he’s built for decades. Beginning with The Keep, and through the Adversary series, which launched the iconic Repairman Jack series, the tales of the Otherness thread through novels, sometimes peripherally, sometimes head-on.

While recent novels have been entertaining and well-written, it’s in this novel, The Upwelling, that Wilson reclaims the throne of what he has built — awesome storytelling with interesting characters that readers root for and wish for future adventures to enjoy.

Night Time Logic with Jonathan Janz

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 19, 2024July 14, 2024Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Interviews, Jonathan Janz, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Stephen King. Strange Things. And the Children of the Dark books.”

photo of author Jonathan Janz — Jonathan Janz

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 Online 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 collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Aickman and his kind of stories that operate this way. It can be found here.

In June 2024 I spoke with Jonathan Janz about his Cemetery Dance Publications books Children of the Dark, Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers, and more. Our conversation is on YouTube.

We begin our conversation by talking about his favorite writer and his influences…Continue Reading

Review: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 17, 2024July 16, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, Incidents Around the House, Josh Malerman, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Incidents Around the House — Version 1.0.0

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Del Rey (June 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The early buzz about Josh Malerman’s newest novel was high. Yet, an eight-year-old narrator? How is that scary? How could he pull off detailed, intense scenes with a sense of dread through an entire novel? I wish I knew, but all doubts fell by the wayside after a few chapters. Incidents Around the House is a stunning achievement in the most fascinating ways.

Review: Ignited Melodies by Emberly Lily Summers

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 12, 2024July 11, 2024ReviewsEmberly Lily Summers, Ignited Melodies, Joshua Gage, poetry, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Ignited Melodies Ignited Melodies by Emberly Lily Summers
Independently Published (March 2021)
128 pages; $7.24 paperback, $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Emberly Lily Summers (Lauren Adele) is native to Baltimore, Maryland, and has been writing for the last ten years. She is a blind author and writes poetry, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy. Her debut novel HUNTED: The Immortal’s Kiss cowritten with Luna Nyx Frost is available on Amazon. She has had several poems featured in Maryland’s Best Emerging Poets 2019 by Z Publishing and Fae Thee Well: An Anthology and Rogues and Rebels: An Anthology both published by Dreampunk Press. Her inspiration comes from nature, the fantasy and paranormal literature, classic musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked and of course, her favorite music ranging from showtunes to punk rock. Emberly also loves reading about magic, mythology, faeries, witches, and dragons. Her newest collection is Ignited Melodies.Continue Reading

Review: All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 10, 2024June 29, 2024ReviewsAll the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker, Dave Simms, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of All the Covers of the Dark 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

Review: Slow Burn by Mike Allen

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 8, 2024June 29, 2024ReviewsJoshua Gage, Mike Allen, Reviews, Slow BurnLeave a comment

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

Horror Drive-In: RIP Doug Lewis

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 5, 2024June 29, 2024Horror Drive-InColumns, Doug Lewis, Horror Drive-In, Mark Sieber1 Comment

banner reading Horror Drive-In and Mark Sieber and Cemetery Dance

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

Review: Unwelcome Guests by David Kopaska-Merkel

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 3, 2024June 29, 2024ReviewsDavid Kopaska-Merkel, Joshua Gage, Reviews, Unwelcome Guests, Weird HouseLeave a comment

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

Review: Cranberry Cove by Hailey Piper

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 1, 2024July 2, 2024ReviewsCranberry Cove, Hailey Piper, Haley Newlin, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Cranberry Cove 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

Hunter Gorinson brings EC Comics back to life

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 28, 2024June 19, 2024InterviewsColumns, Danica Davidson, EC Comics, Hunter Gorinson, Interviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

banner that reads The Comic Vault

cover of Epitaphs of the Abyss 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

Review: Blood in the Cut by Alejandro Nodarse

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 27, 2024June 26, 2024ReviewsAlejandro Nodarse, Blood in the Cut, Blu Gilliand, Flatiron Books, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Blood in the Cut 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

Review: Scribe by Michael R. Goodwin

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 24, 2024June 19, 2024ReviewsHaley Newlin, Michael R. Goodwin, Reviews, Scribe1 Comment

cover of Scribe 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

What Screams May Come: Placerita by Lisa Morton and John Palisano

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 21, 2024June 17, 2024What Screams May ComeColumns, Interviews, John Palisano, Lisa Morton, Placerita, Rick HipsonLeave a comment

banner What Screams May Come by Rick Hipson

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

James Aquilone kickstarts Kolchak…..again

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 19, 2024June 18, 2024InterviewsDanica Davidson, Interviews, James Aquilone, KolchackLeave a comment

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

Review: The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 17, 2024June 9, 2024ReviewsCJ Tudor, Dave Simms, Reviews, The GatheringLeave a comment

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

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