Dracula: Book II — The Brides by writer Matt Wagner and artist Kelley Jones is the sequel to Dracula: Book I — The Impaler, and is currently on Kickstarter. Grendel writer Wagner and Jones had been meaning to work together for a while, and finally found an opportunity with the world’s most famous vampire. Cemetery Dance spoke to Wagner and Jones about what went into this comic, how it builds on the first book, and their process for working together.Continue Reading
Review: Meet Me in the Flames by Greg Jones
Meet Me in the Flames by Greg Jones
Wild Ink Publishing LLC (October 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Born in 1970, Greg Jones grew up, in his opinion, in the pinnacle of all things. The best films, music, comic books and those fantastic ’80s horror novels. No matter where his mind wandered, it eventually found it’s way back to something with a monster in it. He spent his adolescence hunched over a drawing table, occasionally writing and living his life in pursuit of personal creative goals. In his current role at the local library, he is surrounded by books all day and inspired daily to keep creating his horror inspired poetry. Meet Me in the Flames is his first published work.Continue Reading
Review: Into the Green Wild Yonder by Peter Crowther and Tim Lebbon
Into the Green Wild Yonder by Peter Crowther and Tim Lebbon
PS Publishing (August 2024)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Acclaimed authors Peter Crowther and Tim Lebbon have joined forces to produce this nightmarishly surreal novella about a young couple, a rundown old garden, and an ancient evil.
Gordon and Sally Kenney are house hunting when they visit a rundown old home with a wildly overgrown garden. They find themselves both repulsed by, and strangely drawn to, the old-fashioned decor, the creepy old lady who shows them around, and the untamed thicket that bears a sign saying, “Beware of the Garden.” Continue Reading
Free Fiction: “Secret Fears” by Bill Pronzini
“Secret Fears”
by
Bill Pronzini
It was one of those unwinnable discussions you get into now and then with strangers in bars. The kind that can turn confrontational because nobody ever changes anybody else’s outlook or opinion. Politics, religion, sports — the topic doesn’t really matter. This time it happened to be horror movies.Continue Reading
Review: The Exorcist’s House: Genesis by Nick Roberts
The Exorcist’s House: Genesis by Nick Roberts
Crystal Lake Publishing (September 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor
Writer and educator Nick Roberts is a West Virginia native who currently resides in South Carolina. He holds a doctorate from Marshall University and is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Horror Authors Guild. Roberts has had work featured in several publications, such as The Fiction Pool, The Blue Mountain Review, Falling Star Magazine, Stonecrop Magazine, and Haunted MTL. His books include one self-published novel: Anathema (2020), and four titles from Crystal Lake Publishing: Mean Spirited (2024), It Haunts the Mind & Other Stories (2023), and The Exorcist’s House (2022), for which the sequel, The Exorcist’s House: Genesis (2024), has just been published. Continue Reading
It’s Judgement Day for….Archie Comics?
Since 2015, the iconic Archie Comics has delved deep into a dark new world with Archie Horror, including with their premium event Archie Comics: Judgment Day. Cemetery Dance spoke with editor Jamie Rotante about Judgment Day, how Archie works in the world of horror, and the character archetypes that allow them to be in different scenarios.Continue Reading
Bev Vincent explores ‘Salem’s Lot (2024)
The Show Begins at Sundown
Back in 2011, Screem magazine commissioned me to write an article about ‘Salem’s Lot and its adaptations. (1) That led me to revisit the 1979 miniseries, starring David Soul, that had so terrorized me at the time. I had just started reading King a couple of months earlier, and two scenes in particular—ones that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen it—haunted me for a long time thereafter. Even though the original miniseries doesn’t stand the test of time—even in 1979, Soul didn’t have the gravitas required of the role and I find the adaptation almost painful to watch now—those scenes do hold up. I would say that the miniseries is better as a memory than as an actuality. I found a lot of flaws in it when I wrote about it for Screem and I doubt I could make myself watch it again today. (2)
Review: Self-Made Monsters by Rebecca Cuthbert
Self-Made Monsters by Rebecca Cuthbert
Alien Buddha Press (October 5, 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Rebecca Cuthbert writes dark fiction and poetry. Readers of Cemetery Dance will be familiar with her work Creep This Way: How to Become a Horror Writer with 24 Tips to Get You Ghouling and her debut collection, In Memory of Exoskeletons. In the meantime, readers can enjoy Cuthbert’s work in her newest hybrid collection Self-Made Monsters. Continue Reading
Review: Pay the Piper by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus
Pay the Piper by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus
Union Square & Co. (September 2024)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
What a gift it turned out to be when George A. Romero’s estate allowed Daniel Kraus (recently of Whalefall fame) to complete Romero’s novel The Living Dead, released back in 2020. Kraus worked his way through tons of notes and ideas and chapters to put together what would have been Romero’s final, masterful word on the zombie genre. In my review, I called it “… a crowning achievement, serving as the fond farewell that George Romero deserves.”
Not so fast, my friend.Continue Reading
Review: Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems by LindaAnn LoSchiavo
Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems by LindaAnn LoSchiavo
Wild Ink Publishing LLC (October 1, 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
LindaAnn LoSchiavo is a dramatist, writer, and poet. A native New Yorker, LoSchiavo has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Rhysling Award, Best of the Net, the IPPY Award, CLMP’s Firecracker Award, Balcones Poetry Prize, and Dwarf Stars. She is a member of Science Fiction Poetry Assoc., The British Fantasy Society, and The Dramatists Guild. Her newest collection is Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems.Continue Reading
Night Time Logic with Paul Tremblay
“Texas Chainsaw. Alfred Hitchcock. And Horror Movie.”
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 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.
I spoke with Paul Tremblay in August 2024 about his new novel Horror Movie. Our conversation is available on YouTube.
My conversation with Paul today begins with a question about the main character in Horror Movie….Continue Reading
Interview: Mikita Brottman’s GUILTY CREATURES
Since her last talk with Cemetery Dance in 2017, Mikita Brottman has released three true crime books — An Unexplained Death, Couple Found Slain, and, most recently, Guilty Creatures. Brottman, whose many books tend to concentrate on the darker side, wants to bring more psychology and a wider view to her true crime books. She spoke with Cemetery Dance about how she does her research, why the case she portrays in Guilty Creatures caught her attention, and how being a literature professor and a psychoanalyst impacts her writing.Continue Reading
Review: Lexie by F. Paul Wilson
Lexie by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroad Press (September 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Recommending an F. Paul Wilson novel is akin to saying oxygen might be good for you. Over the course of his career, there hasn’t been a bad book in his vast catalog. Lexie is no different — it’s the stunning second book of his duology that began last spring with The Upwelling and a fitting conclusion to a tale that holds all the tenets of a classic Wilson story. The characters are intriguing and fully fleshed out, the plot twists and turns yet plays fair with the reader, and the mythos he’s created is on full display.
What Screams May Come: Come Out & Play by Patrick Tumblety
Come Out & Play by Patrick Tumblety
Uncomfortably Dark (September 2024)
The Synopsis
Scott has not left his house since causing the accident that killed his mother. To keep himself from harming his remaining loved ones, he repeats daily rituals and abides by superstitious, compulsive, and intrusive thoughts. He is successful in the endeavor until the night of his eighteenth birthday when something comes to tear him from the physical and mental walls he has built against the world.
Something that Scott fears has been sent by his mother to avenge her death.Continue Reading
Review: The Damage Done by Tony Tremblay
The Damage Done by Tony Tremblay
Haverhill House Publishing (July 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Old-school horror. It’s a term that’s tossed around lightly these days but many are unfamiliar with that entails (save for those who lived through the first golden age of paperbacks). What it truly means to many is a solid scary story with real people — just full bore ahead without stopping for subtleties, which is refreshing if the reader craves pure entertainment. There’s enough deep tomes in the dark realm to rip hearts and morals apart. Sometimes, a good story is just a good story.
Tony Tremblay knows how to spin a good — and great — story. The Damage Done is 100% great storytelling that makes the reader strap in, thrill ride style, and produces a smile that doesn’t let up until long after the final page.