Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories InterviewsLeave a comment on James Aquilone Kickstarts Some DEAD DETECTIVES 
There are many detectives in fiction, but how many of them are also dead? James Aquilone, the same man behind Shakespeare Unleashed and Kolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel, has launched a Kickstarter for Dead Detectives Society, a pulpy new anthology about undead gumshoes.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Mothered by Zoje Stage 
Mothered by Zoje Stage
Thomas & Mercer (March 2023)
318 pages; $19.15 hardcover; $12.78 paperback; e-book $2.49
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Zoje Stage’s latest release, Mothered, festers with feverish delirium.
Paper dolls can’t speak for themselves. They can’t escape the shears slicing through their limbs nor the violent grasp of their manipulator. That’s what life was like for Grace. Her chronically ill twin sister, Hope, was sickly pale with a delicate dust of warm freckles across her cheeks. Her smile fooled their mother, Jackie, and just about everyone else, but Grace knew that a glee-ridden Hope spelled trouble. Continue Reading
They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark by Francesca Maria
Brigid’s Gate Press (April 2023)
205 pages; $13.99 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Francesca Maria writes dark fiction surrounded by cats near the Pacific Ocean. She is the creator of the Black Cat Chronicles comic book series. Her most recent short story collection, They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark is now available. It is an impressive collection of dark short stories, perfect for any readers looking for quick and spooky stories. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Siberia Job by Josh Haven 
The Siberia Job by Josh Haven
Mysterious Press (June 6, 2023)
384 pages; $26.95 hardcover; $17.49 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
I thought, This is either going to go right over my head, or it’s going to bore me to tears.
Fortunately, thanks to the skilled writing of Josh Haven, The Siberia Job is neither boring or bewildering. Instead, this “lightly fictionalized” account of true events is a taut thrill ride through post-Soviet Russia.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca 
Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca
CLASH Books (June 20, 2023)
202 pages; $16.95 paperback; $10.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Eric LaRocca brings cosmic horror to a small Connecticut town in his dark, grim new novel, Everything the Darkness Eats.
An old man, concealing miraculous powers in a frail frame, is prowling the streets of Henley’s Edge, plucking a handful of citizens from their everyday lives to use as pawns in a mysterious, arcane ritual. His final and most important pawn is a man who is barely existing, a man teetering on the edge of a void of grief and sorrow. Drawn into the old man’s scheme, he finds he has two choices: fight for the light, or be consumed by the darkness.
LaRocca brings some serious Clive Barker vibes to the table in everything from character names (Ghost, Heart, Saint Fleece) to the concept of a glowing orb (“…scabbed with ancient constellations, crusted with distant galaxies…”) that may or may not be God. It’s heady stuff, but LaRocca keeps everything grounded, putting us inside the head of various characters, letting us see things from many different points of view.
At its core, Everything the Darkness Eats is about survival; or, more accurately, the will to survive. What drives people to keep moving forward in the wake of unthinkable tragedy and unimaginable despair? What enables someone to walk through the dark shadow of grief in search of the merest glimmer of hope?
This is no easy, breezy summer read. It’s bleak, but not without light, and not without hope. LaRocca has been steadily building a solid reputation in the horror genre, and this novel represents a giant step forward for him. Strongly recommended.
Curses, Black Spells, and Hexes: A Grimoire Sonnetica by Juleigh Howard-Hobson
Alien Buddha Press (July 23, 2021)
33 pages; $10.44 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Juleigh Howard-Hobson is most widely known for her modern poetry which is written in form. Working under the principle that taboos — even literary ones — must always be challenged, she also writes fiction, creative non-fiction, reviews, and articles in various genres from literary to pulp horror. Recognition for her poetry spans decades, from the 1980 ANZAC Day Award (in Australia) to nominations for Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, the Rhysling Award, and the Elgin Award. Her most recent book is Curses, Black Spells and Hexes: A Grimoire Sonnetica, which is a combination spell book and poem sequence sure to delight fans of horror poetry. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Night Time LogicLeave a comment on Night Time Logic with Matthew Cheney 
“Magic Tricks. Nightmares. Ambiguities and Confessions”
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 about their stories.
I have an interest in discussing and exploring the strange, weird and uncanny side of the genre, particularly the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe.” My short story collection is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Robert Aickman’s strange tales. The new Cemetery Dance Publications trade paperback edition of the book can be found here. Included are all-new story notes discussing strange tales and an essay exploring one of Aickman’s own.
In my previous column I spoke with Justin Burnett about “leaving knots tied”, the uncanny, and labyrinths. In today’s column Matthew Cheney and I speak about his new book The Last Vanishing Man from Third Man Books and discuss the horror genre, Robert Aickman, strange tales and ambiguity, and much more. We begin…“after the end.”Continue Reading
With the film Renfield staring Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as Renfield having recently made the rounds in theatres worldwide, I figured what better time to into the truth of who Renfield really was. Renfield has always been such an enigmatic character portraying a once good man, a brilliant man, gone insane under the weight of an all-consuming manipulative force of evil personified. But what of his roots? What did Renfield stand for? What did Bram Stoker intend to convey through this most fascinating character within the most iconic gothic tale of horror ever told? These are the questions I posed to none other than Bram’s great-grandnephew, Dacre Stoker, a best selling author himself who works tirelessly to bring to life historical pieces of the puzzle within the Stokerverse. As the pieces Dacre has gather click together, so to does our understanding of Bram Stoker, his work, and what Bram was really trying to tell us through his words and life. Continue Reading
Ameri-Scares: Legend of the Night Marchers by Patricia Lee Macomber
Crossroad Press (March 2023)
192 pages; $12.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums by Maxwell I. Gold
Hex Publishers (June 2023)
174 pages; $39.99 hardcover; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Maxwell I. Gold is a multiple award-nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in weird and cosmic fiction. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Weirdbook Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Startling Stories, Strange Horizons, Tales from OmniPark Anthology, Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas, and more. He’s the author of the Elgin-Award nominated prose poetry collection Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing. His newest collection, Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums, is a book of queer, cosmic-horror poetry.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Free FictionLeave a comment on “Across the Darien Gap” by Daniel Braum 
Daniel Braum writes stories, set in locations around the globe, that explore the tension between the psychological and supernatural.
The following story originally appeared in Cemetery Dance Magazine #55 in 2006. It can be found in the all-new Cemetery Dance Publications edition of his first short story collection The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales which is out on May 19, 2023.
Cemetery Dance Publications will be releasing his novella The Serpent’s Shadow in Fall 2023. Braum is also the author of the books Underworld Dreams, The Wish Mechanics: Tales of the Strange and Fantastic, and Yeti. Tiger. Dragon.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Once Upon a Fang in the West by John Dover 
Once Upon a Fang in the West by John Dover
Not A Pipe Publishing (May 2021)
223 pages; $14.55 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Author and musician John Dover began his writing journey with his jazz-noir novellas and comic book series, Johnny Scotch. His most recent novel is Once Upon a Fang in the West.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Video Visions1 Comment on Video Visions: The Drive-In 
Over the thousand years I’ve been writing Video Visions, I’ve waxed poetic about my days walking those aisles crammed with garish VHS boxes, the smell of popcorn wafting in the air. This time around, I’m going to do something of an evolution chart, only with a surprise ending and no missing links, so there’s no questioning my impeccable logic.
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby 
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Flatiron Books (June 6, 2023)
352 pages; $23.79 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Blending social issues, unforgettable characters, and razor-sharp prose, S.A. Cosby has muscled his way to the front of the crime fiction genre. Cosby’s newest, All the Sinners Bleed, showcases his horror/thriller roots in a way we haven’t seen since his debut novel, My Darkest Prayer, and stands poised to cement the author’s position as the new king of the crime hill.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Mouth Full of Ashes by Briana Morgan 
Mouth Full of Ashes by Briana Morgan
Independently Published (October 2021)
158 pages; $9.99; $2.99 ebook; $14.95 audiobook
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
“Dear Diary, my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count.” – Heathers
I’m not typically into vampire stories, except for Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and Bela Lugosi’s performance in Dracula.
However, Briana Morgan’s Mouth Full of Ashes dismembers supernatural horror and dark, campy teen film to conjure something scheming and bloody. Continue Reading
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