Cemetery Dance Online

Review: Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 5, 2023May 4, 2023The Comic VaultColumns, Grendel Kentucky, Jeff McComsey, Joshua Gage, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards
Upshot (March 2021)
96 pages; $9.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey is an incredible graphic novel that takes the Beowulf saga and modernizes it. The story focuses on Marnie, who leads the all-women biker gang The Harlots. She’s called back to her hometown of Grendel for the funeral of her adoptive father, Clyde, who was supposedly killed by a bear. When she finds out the truth, which is much worse, she seeks vengeance for her father and learns about what it means to be a family and what it means to hold on to family secrets.Continue Reading

Review: Whatever Remains Of Us In The End by Brandon Baker

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 3, 2023May 1, 2023ReviewsBrandon Baker, Haley Newlin, Reviews, Whatever Remains of Us in the EndLeave a comment

Whatever Remains Of Us In The End by Brandon Baker
Independently Published (March 2023)
132 pages; $10.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Power comes at a price in Brandon Baker’s Whatever Remains Of Us In The End, a supernatural thriller looming with feverish occult practices, the classic horror trope of “how far will you go to save those you love,” and lucid imagery reminiscent of the pulp horror era. Continue Reading

Philip Fracassi talks GOTHIC on Citywide Blackout

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 2, 2023May 1, 2023InterviewsCitywide Blackout, Gothic, Interviews, Philip Fracassi, PodcastLeave a comment

Philip Fracassi recently appeared on the Citywide Blackout podcast to talk about his novel Gothic, available now from Cemetery Dance. Host Max Bowen introduces the interview, which you can listen to below:

A haunted item is a familiar element in horror novels, but a haunted desk? That’s a new one to me and I am here for it! Continuing our series of interviews with authors on Cemetery Dance, Philip Fracassi joins me to talk about his recent novel Gothic.

Night Time Logic with Justin Burnett

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 28, 2023April 1, 2023Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Justin Burnett, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Horror and weird fiction is the labyrinth.”

photo of Justin Burnett — Justin Burnett

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

In this column, which shares a name with my New York based reading and discussion series, I explore the phenomenon of Night Time Logic and other aspects of horror fiction by diving deep into the stories from award winning authors to emerging new voices.

I have an interest in strange tales, the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe” and like to discuss them here and look at stories through that lens when I can. My first short story collection is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to the lineage of Robert Aickman’s strange tales. The new Cemetery Dance Publications trade paper back edition of the book can be found here. It discusses strange tales in the all-new story notes and features a full essay on one of Aickman’s tales.

In my previous column I spoke with Ray Cluely about ghost stories, settings in his fiction, his strange tales and more. In today’s column I speak with Justin Burnett about “leaving knots tied,” the uncanny, doppelgangers, music, labyrinths and more.

We begin with a discussion about his debut fiction collection The Puppet King and Other Atonements.Continue Reading

Review: In Memory of Exoskeletons by Rebecca Cuthbert

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 26, 2023April 24, 2023ReviewsIn Memory of Exoskeletons, Joshua Gage, Rebecca Cuthbert, ReviewsLeave a comment

In Memory of Exoskeletons by Rebecca Cuthbert
Alien Buddha Press (January 2023)
53 pages; $10.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Rebecca Cuthbert is a speculative, slipstream, and dark fiction and poetry writer living in Western New York. She is an Affiliate Member of the Horror Writers Association. She loves ghost stories, folklore, witchy women, and anything that involves nature getting revenge. Her debut poetry collection, In Memory of Exoskeletons, is out now with Alien Buddha Press. In Memory of Exoskeletons is a book that teeters between the personal and the horrific, memoir and terror, and takes the reader through the shifts and shudders eloquently. Continue Reading

Review: Every Woman Knows This by Laurel Hightower

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 25, 2023April 24, 2023ReviewsAnton Cancre, Every Woman Knows This, Laurel Hightower, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Every Woman Knows This Every Woman Knows This by Laurel Hightower
Death Knell Press (March 2023)
189 pages; $14.98 paperback; $4.49 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Every Woman Knows This is a very personal, very pointed collection of stories that reflect Laurel Hightower’s experience of the world as a woman. Experiences that are common enough she can comfortably state that commonality in the title (and yes, she is explicit in her belief that this stands for all women, so please step aside with any gender essentialism). These stories hit on everything from dealing with stalkers to the perils of motherhood to always having to clean up after some manchild that never listens to reason and climbs down into an abandoned submarine just to poke around for a bit BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID, and every one of them hits right in the gut.Continue Reading

The Cemetery Dance Interview: Revisiting Richard Chizmar

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 21, 2023April 16, 2023InterviewsInterviews, Richard Chizmar, Rick Hipson, Stephen KingLeave a comment

banner graphic that says Cemetery Dance Interviews

On the heels of reading Cemetery Dance’s recent publication of Stephen King: Revisited Volume One, I was loaded up with tons of questions, the first of which was who would be daring enough to go back in time and re-read every Stephen King book in order of publication? Richard Chizmar, that’s who. As a best selling author and publisher of Cemetery Dance, Chizmar has published several King stories and books over the years and would not only become a friend of King’s but also a collaborator who’s written books with King — the Gwendy trilogy. So yes, I was curious to chat with Rich about his take on King over the years given his unique perspective.Continue Reading

Review: All The Living And The Dead by Hayley Campbell

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 19, 2023April 17, 2023ReviewsAll the Living and the Dead, Haley Newlin, Hayley Campbell, ReviewsLeave a comment

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life’s Work by Hayley Campbell
St. Martin’s Press (August 2022)
288 pages; $21.49; $19.00 paperback; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

None of us are born with the knowledge of death. We have to stumble upon a fallen bird fluttering its wings, desperate to live. Or we lose a grandparent, a sibling, a classmate, and someone breaks the news: the deceased, those “in a better place,” won’t, can’t, ever come back.

The author of All the Living and the Dead, Hayley Campbell, couldn’t pinpoint the moment she learned of death. She tells readers she can’t recall a time before death, stating, “Death was just there, everywhere, always.”Continue Reading

Review: Weird Fiction Quarterly

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 18, 2023April 17, 2023ReviewsJoshua Gage, Reviews, Russel Smeaton, Weird Fiction QuarterlyLeave a comment

Weird Fiction Quarterly edited by Russell Smeaton
Independently Published (Winter 2022 | Spring 2023)
120 pages; $10.00 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Weird Fiction Quarterly is a quarterly anthology series that deserves some attention. What makes this series intriguing is that each story must be five-hundred words exactly. Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: That Special Scary Friend

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 14, 2023April 3, 2023Dark PathwaysBeulah, Christi Nogle, Columns, Dark Pathways, Ken BroskyLeave a comment

Dark Pathways

cover of Beulah Christi Nogle’s Beulah is an absolute banger of a horror novel. The Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel puts a classic ghost story inside an old schoolhouse being renovated by a family desiring a new start, and it’s narrated by a young woman named Georgie. Narrated incredibly well. Georgie is perceptive and intelligent, clearly at qualms with her mother, distant around others, protective of her little sister Stevie. And she’s deeply honest with us, the readers, allowing us inside her thoughts. All this comes through in the tight prose:Continue Reading

Review: A Lovely Girl by Deborah Holt Larkin

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 12, 2023April 11, 2023ReviewsA Lovely Girl, Deborah Holt Larkin, Haley Newlin, ReviewsLeave a comment

A Lovely Girl: The Tragedy of Olga Duncan and the Trial of One of California’s Most Notorious Killers by Deborah Holt Larkin
Pegasus Crime (October 2022)
528 pages; $21.60 hardcover; $18.99 ebook
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

From the iconic mothers in horror fiction, like Norman Bates’ tormenting, ever-invasive mother, Norma, and Stephen King’s evangelically evil Margaret White from Carrie, to real-world terrifying tales of mommy dearests, motherhood captivates audiences. Continue Reading

Review: The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 10, 2023April 9, 2023ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Rachel Eve Moulton, Reviews, The Insatiable Volt SistersLeave a comment

cover of The Insatiable Volt Sisters The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton
MCD x FSG Orginals (April 2023)
464 pages: $16.20 paperback; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Rachel Eve Moulton mixes familial drama and supernatural horror in The Insatiable Volt Sisters, a long, eerie novel that lulls you in but never lets you get too comfortable.Continue Reading

Dead Trees: Midnight Movie by Tobe Hooper

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 7, 2023March 26, 2023Dead TreesColumns, Dead Trees, Mark Sieber, Midnight Movie, Tobe HooperLeave a comment

banner reading Dead Trees by Mark Sieber

Tobe Hooper was not a man. He was a God who walked the Earth for too few years.

Hooper did a lot of things in his time here, but he will always be remembered, be cherished, for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. TCM is a strong candidate for the greatest horror movie ever made. It’s the Crown Jewel of the 70’s exploitation era. No other film can touch it.Continue Reading

Review: Sifting the Ashes by Michael Bailey and Marge Simon

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 5, 2023April 3, 2023ReviewsCrystal Lake Publishing, Joshua Gage, Marge Simon, Michael Bailey, Reviews, Sifting the AshesLeave a comment

cover of Sifting the Ashes Sifting the Ashes by Michael Bailey and Marge Simon
Crystal Lake Publishing (April 2022)
222 pages; $15.99 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Michael Bailey is a freelance writer, editor and book designer, and the recipient of over two dozen literary accolades, such as the Bram Stoker Award and Benjamin Franklin Award. Composite novels include Palindrome Hannah, Phoenix Rose, and Psychotropic Dragon, and he has published two short story and poetry collections, Scales and Petals, and Inkblots and Blood Spots, as well as a children’s book, Enso.

Marge Simon lives in Ocala, FL, City of Trees with her husband, poet/writer Bruce Boston and the ghosts of two cats. She edits a column for the HWA Newsletter, “Blood & Spades: Poets of the Dark Side.” A multiple Bram Stoker award winner, Marge is the second woman to be acknowledged by the SF &F Poetry Association with a Grand Master Award. She received the HWA Lifetime Achievement award in 2021.

Their recent post-apocalyptic horror prose and poetry collection is Sifting the Ashes.Continue Reading

Review: Numinous Stones by Holly Lyn Walrath

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 3, 2023March 26, 2023ReviewsHolly Lyn Walrath, Joshua Gage, Numinous Stones, poetry, ReviewsLeave a comment

Numinous Stones by Holly Lyn Walrath
Aqueduct Press (April, 2023)
98 pages, $10 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Numinous Stones is a collection of speculative pantoums, a form derived from the Malay verse pantun berkait, which is a form of interwoven verses of alternating lines. This is a difficult form to accomplish, as the repeated lines need to seem fresh each time the reader encounters them, but also echo back to the previous stanza. The tightly entwined stanzas, when executed well, create a rhythmic and incantatory experience for the audience, hypnotizing them in a sonic spell.

Readers, if you read Numinous Stones, be prepared to be hypnotized. Continue Reading

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