Cemetery Dance Reviews

Review: Shadowman by Jamie Delano and Charlie Adlard

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cover of ShadowmanShadowman by Jamie Delano & Charlie Adlard
Valiant Entertainment (April 5, 2022)
272 pages; $24.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

When the first writer of the Hellblazer series (Jamie Delano) and one of the major artists of The Walking Dead series (Charlie Adlard) team up, readers know that something exciting is going to happen. Taking Valiant’s character Shadowman, these two artists were able to create a solid graphic novel of voodoo and horror in New Orleans that is sure to entertain any horror aficionado.Continue Reading

Review: Ghoul n’ the Cape by Josh Malerman

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cover of Ghoul n' the CapeGhoul n’ the Cape by Josh Malerman
Earthling Publications (January 2022)
727 pages; limited edition (1,000) hardcover $75
Reviewed by Dave Simms

What can be said about this monstrosity of a book that either won’t ruin the odd, weird, serpentine, acid trip plot or confuse the living hell out of the reader? That’s kind of simple, actually?
It’s written by Josh Malerman. That should be enough for most to pick it up.

Continue Reading

Review: The Eleusinian Mysteries by Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler

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cover of Eleusinian MysteriesThe Eleusinian Mysteries by Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler
Aubade Publishing (March 22, 2022)
84 pages; $14.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler is part of a literary translation team with Reilly Costigan-Humes. They work with both Ukrainian and Russian and are best known for their renderings of novels by great contemporary Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan, including Voroshilovgrad, published by Deep Vellum, and Mesopotamia, published by Yale University Press. Wheeler is also a poet whose work has appeared in journals including The Big Windows Review, The Peacock Journal, and Post(blank). His newest collection of poetry is The Eleusinian Mysteries, a series of narrative poems based on the Greek story of Persephone.Continue Reading

Review: Just a Bite by Boris Bacic

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cover of Just a BiteJust a Bite by Boris Bacic
Butterdragons Publishing (March 22, 2022)
230 pages; $12.99 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Boris Bacic is a horror author who has written more than ten novels, including collections of short horror stories. He’s been writing stories for years, ranging from genres like horror, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, suspense, etc. He’s been praised widely as an author who constructs compelling narratives and plots that will keep you at the edge of your seat. His stories regularly find their way among the top posts on Nosleep and he’s had dozens of his stories narrated by famous Creepypasta YouTube narrators. His newest novel is Just a Bite, a medical horror novel that’s a quick read and will interest fans of body horror. Continue Reading

Review: Dark Tales of Sorrow and Despair by Jack Darby

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cover of Dark Tales of Sorrow and DespairDark Tales of Sorrow and Despair by Jack Darby
Independently Published (November 2021)
337 pages; $14.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by R.B. Payne

Reviewer’s Note

Many of you know I relocated to Paris, France in 2018. Here, I am connecting with like-minded authors who specialize in dark fiction whether it be horror, thriller, or science fiction. These writers are a diverse group living in Spain, Iceland, Italy, Germany, Romania, Belgium, France, Denmark, Poland, Ireland, Lithuania, and Austria, to mention a few.

These “European Dark Fiction Writers” bring a vastly different perspective to their stories because here, amongst the charming castles and ancient battlefields, history is old… very, very old. Wounds and fears are centuries or eons deep, yet some primordial scars are still oozing fresh blood. The creatures that lurk just beyond the shadows in the cities and forests and mountains of Europe may not be quite so recognizable as the ones you think you already know.Continue Reading

Review: Secret Identity by Alex Segura

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cover of Secret IdentitySecret Identity by Alex Segura
Flatiron Books (March 15, 2022)
368 pages; $27.99 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

“It was barely eleven and Carmen Valdez already wanted to die.”

Doesn’t exactly sound like someone working at their dream job, does it? Carmen Valdez knows that being the secretary for the owner/editor-in-chief of Triumph Comics isn’t what she wants, but she’s hoping it’s at least a foot in the door…a first step on her journey to writing comic books for a living.Continue Reading

Review: Escaping the Body by Chloe N. Clark

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cover of Escaping the Body by Chloe ClarkEscaping the Body by Chloe N. Clark
Interstellar Flight Press (March 7, 2022)
118 pages; $12.99 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Chloe N. Clark is the author of Collective Gravities, Under My Tongue, Your Strange Fortune, and The Science of Unvanishing Objects. Her forthcoming books include Every Song a Vengeance and My Prayer is a Dagger, Yours is the Moon. She is a founding co-EIC of literary journal Cotton Xenomorph. Her favorite basketball player will always be Rasheed Wallace and her favorite escape artist can only be Houdini. Her newest collection, Escaping the Body, is a tour de force exploring the physical body and the liminal spaces between one’s soul and one’s skin and bones. Continue Reading

Review: The Pussy Detective by DuVay Knox

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cover of The Pussy DetectiveThe Pussy Detective by DuVay Knox
CLASH Books (February 2022)
180 pages; $14.95 paperback
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

The Pussy Detective. A title like this elicits a response; an invite to engage right off the bat. For some, it’s off-putting because of the p-word. Others see the title and the amazing retro-inspired artwork and pull the trigger. Some people think it’s a joke or a parody. 

“Wait, this book is about women who have lost their pussy and some detective helps them find it?” 

That’s exactly right.Continue Reading

Review: Entomophobia by Sarah Hans

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cover of EntomophobiaEntomophobia by Sarah Hans
Omnium Gatherum Media (January 2022)
178 pages; $14.99 Paperback; $3.49 ebook
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Bugs, amiright? Creepy little bastards. Skittering around on too many legs. Staring at us with too many eyes. Click-clacking their chitinous carapaces from the dark corners. Then they have the nerve to squirt out all those gloppy bits when you squish them. EW!Continue Reading

Review: The Headsman by Cristina Mirzoi

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cover of The HeadsmanThe Headsman by Cristina Mirzoi
Independently Published (January 2022)
41 pages; $3.50 e-book
Reviewed by R.B. Payne

One of the joys of living abroad is meeting new writers and connecting as storytellers. Living in Europe, that means meeting poets, writers, and artists from various countries and cultures. 

Cristina Mîrzoi is Romanian and English and also speaks Spanish and French. She is a member of the European Dark Fiction Writers group. She is a new writer, emerging onto the scene. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to her and encourage you to take the time to support her by reading her tale.

Without delay, then, let’s review The Headsman by Cristina Mîrzoi.Continue Reading

Review: Sleepwalkers: Round One by Izzi Breigh

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cover of SleepwalkersSleepwalkers: Round One by Izzi Breigh
Somnium Publishing LLC (Feb 22, 2022)
332 pages; $19.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Izzi Breigh, raised by a family of peacocks, grew up on a rutabaga farm. She now resides in a small cottage made entirely of pinecones. Izzi enjoys knitting shirts for starfish, rooms without corners, and peddling time. Her day job is filling hourglasses with precisely the right amount of sand, which she sells for two copper pennies every Saturday at her local flea market. Hide and seek is her favorite sport and though she has repeatedly spotted Waldo, she has yet to figure out where in the world Carmen Sandiego is. Her newest book is Sleepwalkers: Round One, a dark middle-grade book that will thrill readers young and old alike.Continue Reading

Review: Dancing With Maria’s Ghost by Alessandro Manzetti

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cover of Dancing with Maria's GhostDancing With Maria’s Ghost by Alessandro Manzetti
Independent Legions (December 2021)
65 pages; $11.90 paperback, $2.99 ebook
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Alessandro Manzetti always does a great job of evoking a narrative with his poems. He has figured out a great balance of information given and withheld within the swirling images his poems paint that hints at the larger narrative beyond what we are given. I love it. So, when he has a narrative stretched over fifteen poems, you know I’m in. Continue Reading

Review: The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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cover of The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan DouglassThe Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass 
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (July 2021) 
244 pages; hardcover $14.39; $10.99 e-book; $35 audiobook (or 1 Audible credit) 
Reviewed by Haley Newlin 

It seems impossible to turn something so pretty so ugly, but it’s not. Everything turns ugly after it’s dead.

? Ryan Douglass, The Taking of Jake Livingston

I stumbled on The Taking of Jake Livingston through one of my favorite YouTube channels, BowTies & Books. According to the channel host, BookTube collectively held its breath for the release of this YA horror story.

And I can see why. Continue Reading

Review: Devil House by John Darnielle

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cover of Devil HouseDevil House by John Darnielle
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (January 2022)
416 pages; $20.16 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Diving into John Darnielle’s Devil House is akin to entering a hedge maze: there are twists and turns ahead, and a few dead ends, and there will be times where you feel a little lost, but for the most part it’s a worthy journey.Continue Reading

Review: Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

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cover of Dead SilenceDead Silence by S.A. Barnes
Tor Nightfire (February 8th, 2022)
352 pages; $23.99 hardback; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

Dead Silence makes use of well-loved tropes within the sci-fi horror sub-genre while introducing elements borrowed from popular modern thrillers. A genre mash-up that easily captivates its audience but struggles to utilize that up-front investment to maintain interest.Continue Reading