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King of Crime Part II — Hard Case Crime and Beyond

Bev VincentFebruary 23, 2021February 28, 2021Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Billy Summers, Charles Ardai, Columns, end of watch, Finders Keepers, From A Buick 8, Hard Case Crime, If it Bleeds, Joyland, Later, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Colorado Kid, The OutsiderLeave a comment

King of Crime: Part II — Hard Case Crime and Beyond

Next week — on March 2^nd, 2021 to be specific — Hard Case Crime will publish their third Stephen King novel, Later. Although King is generally thought of as a horror writer, he has written numerous crime short stories, novellas and novels, giving them a unique twist. In Part 1 of this three-part series, I looked at King’s earliest involvement with crime fiction. This week, I’ll explore his more recent writings in the genre, including his previous two books with Hard Case Crime and the Mercedes series. Then, on publication day, I’ll review Later and look ahead to King’s next crime novel, Billy Summers.

King of Crime Part I — The Earlier Years

Bev VincentFebruary 16, 2021February 14, 2021Stephen King News from the Dead Zone11/22/63, A Good Marriage, Bag of Bones, Bev Vincent, Billy Summers, Charles Ardai, Columns, Creepshow, Dolan's Cadillac, Full Dark, Hard Case Crime, Joyland, Later, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, No Stars, Richard Bachman, Stephen King, The Colorado Kid, The Dark Half, The Dead Zone, The Doctor's Case, The Fifth Quarter, The Green Mile, Umney's Last CaseLeave a comment

King of Crime: Part I — The Earlier Years

In a couple of weeks—on March 2^nd, 2021, to be specific—Hard Case Crime will publish their third Stephen King novel, Later. Although King is generally thought of as a horror writer, he has written numerous crime short stories, novellas and novels, giving them a unique twist. In Part 1 of a three-part series, I look at King’s earliest involvement with crime fiction[1]. Next week, I’ll explore his more recent writings in the genre, including his previous two books with Hard Case Crime and the Mercedes series. Then, on publication day, I’ll review Later and look ahead to King’s next crime novel, Billy Summers.Continue Reading

Review: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood #1

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 12, 2021February 11, 2021The Comic VaultAhoy Comics, Columns, Danica Davidson, Edgar Allan Poe, Snifter of Blood, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

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cover of Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Blood 1 Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood #1
Ahoy! Comics (October 2020)
32 pages; $4.99
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

Following their Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror line of comics, Ahoy Comics is releasing Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood. These are all anthology comics, so people can start reading them anywhere in the series.

The first issue of Snifter of Blood contains the stories “The Black Dog,” “Atlas Shrugged,” “Werewolf Hangover,” “Finally,” and “Deep Cover.” The first two are comics with sequential art, and the last three are flash fiction with an introductory illustration. While each story has something of its own tone, they all similarly have twist endings and moments of humor in the midst of horror. Edgar Allan Poe, like the Crypt Keeper for Tales from the Crypt, gives some commentary and introductions to stories.Continue Reading

Revelations: The Horror Radio of Quiet, Please!

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 5, 2021January 31, 2021RevelationsColumns, Danse Macabre, Horror, Kevin Lucia, Quiet Please, radio, RevelationsLeave a comment

Banner for Revelations, the column written by Kevin Lucia for Cemetery Dance

I apologize for my absence. This past summer I had major reconstructive surgery on my foot. Unfortunately, it took a lot out of me. However, I’m ready to resume my exploration of the works of horror which have played a role in my development as a writer, so I hope you’ll rejoin me on this journey.

For those new to this column, it began several years ago as I began reflecting on an experience which sent me on a quest through the works of horror writers who came before me. Up until then, I’d been a faithful reader of the Holy Trinity: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Peter Straub. Also, whatever Leisure Fiction was putting out at the time. However, after that fateful evening with F. Paul Wilson, Tom Monteleone, and Stuart David Schiff, I began searching out writers who had previously been only names to me, and nothing more.Continue Reading

Horror Habits: Kealan Patrick Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 29, 2021January 20, 2021Horror HabitsColumns, Horror Habits, John Brhel, Kealan Patrick BurkeLeave a comment

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Author Kealan Patrick Burke — Kealan Patrick Burke

I’ve always been curious about how creators create. As a creator myself, I know it’s not some magical process where you just sit there and the muse descends from the clouds and bestows upon you a complete story, film, painting, etc. It’s hard work, and the process differs for everyone.

Horror Habits is an interview series that lifts the veil on the writing process for writers of dark fiction. No, your favorite horror writer isn’t sitting in some gloomy castle, penning their masterworks under candlelight (hit me up if that is how you work, though!). They’re sitting at their laptops, plugging away on a word processor, and possibly eating trail mix along the way. From outlining to music choices, this series will give you some insight as to how some of today’s best horror writers get their words to the page. First up: Kealan Patrick Burke. Continue Reading

15 Years of Horror Drive-In

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 20, 2021January 18, 2021Horror Drive-InColumns, Horror Drive-In, Mark SieberLeave a comment

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It was early 2006. Before Instagram. Before Goodreads. Horror fiction fandom was a very different thing than it is today. I had been heavily involved in message board moderation, and extraordinarily successful at it, but I wanted something more.Continue Reading

Dead Air: The Company of the Mad – The Stand Podcast

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 19, 2021January 18, 2021Dead AirAnthony Breznican, Blu Gilliand, Columns, Dead Air, Interviews, Jason Sechrest, mike flanagan, Stephen King, Tananarive Due, The Company of the Mad, The StandLeave a comment

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logo of The Company of the Mad podcast 2020 was a hell of a year to be reading Stephen King’s 1978 novel, The Stand….never mind devoting an entire podcast to it.

Jason Sechrest thought the same thing — in fact, he was reading it when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. He took to Twitter with his thoughts about the book, and with a dream about examining it in detail in a podcast, and before he knew it he’d assembled an amazing lineup of co-hosts: director Mike Flanagan, author Tananarive Due, and journalist/author Anthony Breznican. The result is a six-episode podcast that is entertaining, informative, and incredibly timely. (You can WATCH The Company of the Mad: The Stand Podcast at TheStandPodcast.com, or LISTEN on Apple Podcasts here.)

With the final episode set to go live on January 20, Sechrest took a few moments to talk to Cemetery Dance about the origins of the project, and what he and his mad company learned along the way.Continue Reading

Dead Air: Unboxing Jeff Terry

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 15, 2021January 11, 2021Dead AirBlu Gilliand, Columns, Dead Air, Jeff Terry, jeffingoff, unboxingLeave a comment

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photo of Jeff Terry holding a knife — Jeff Terry

I was waiting on my copy of the Gift Edition of The Shining from the Cemetery Dance “Stephen King Doubleday Years Set” to arrive, so I thought I’d search for some unboxing videos so I could see what people thought about it — and to get a closer look at the finished product. One of the first ones I found was by a guy named Jeff Terry.

I hit the play button, and was greeted by some dude in what appeared to be a basement. The wall behind him was of grey brick, and a poster of Pennywise the Dancing Clown leered over the guy’s shoulder. The guy was wearing a black jacket, a set of enormous skull rings, and had a skull-shaped bottle of liquor on the table in front of him. He talked for a minute or two, and then proceeded to open the box containing the book, using one of the biggest damn knives I’ve ever seen.

I was hooked.Continue Reading

Horror Drive-In: Preserve Our Heritage: Collect Physical Media!

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 8, 2021January 4, 2021Horror Drive-InColumns, Horror Drive-In, Mark SieberLeave a comment

banner reading Horror Drive-In by Mark Sieber

photo of a stack of vhs tapes I have a bad habit of thinking that the things I love will always be there. Like drive-in theaters. We had three of them in my hometown. I went as much as I could, but I thought they were forever. I should have been out there every damned weekend.

It seemed that the cool bookstores would always be there. I had no idea Amazon and their Kindle would tear the guts out of our communities.

It wasn’t that long ago when I used to see great old VHS tapes at the thrift stores. I’ve been buying a lot of genre stuff up as interest in them has risen. Mostly I find later things from the latter half of the ’90s and first half of the 2000 decade.Continue Reading

Review: Remina by Junji Ito

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 15, 2020December 12, 2020Graven Images, ReviewsColumns, Danica Davidson, Graven Images, Junji Ito, Remina, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Remina by Junji Ito

Remina by Junji Ito
VIZ Media (December 15, 2020)
256 pages; $19.99 hardcover, $15.99 ebook
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

At first it looks as if everything is working out for 16-year-old Remina. Her father, a scientist, won the Nobel Prize for discovering a wormhole. When an unknown planet from a different dimension comes through the wormhole, it makes her father even more famous and celebrated, and he names the planet Remina after his daughter. Buoyed by this fame, Remina the girl uses it to get into the entertainment industry and became a celebrity in her own right.

But then the planet Remina keeps heading toward earth, moving faster than should be possible. Moving faster than the speed of light, even. As it goes, it destroys the planets on its path. It appears to have eyes that look out, and giant tongues that can attack planets. It doesn’t take people long to figure that the planet Remina will destroy earth as well.Continue Reading

Review: Sadako at the End of the World by Koma Natsumi and Koji Suzuki

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 16, 2020November 15, 2020ReviewsColumns, Danica Davidson, Graven Images, Koma Natsumi, manga, Reviews, Sadako at the End of the World, The RingLeave a comment

Sadako at the End of the World by Koma Natsumi and Koji Suzuki
Yen Press (November 17, 2020)
146 pages; $15 paperback, $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

Sadako, the vengeful ghost villain from The Ring franchise, gets a new twist to her story in the manga Sadako at the End of the World.

The Ring started out as a 1991 novel written by Koji Suzuki (and is available in America from the publisher Vertical), and that spawned off into more books and then movies. Japan made two movie adaptations and South Korea made one before the franchise made its way to America with a 2002 Hollywood movie adaptation starring Naomi Watts. In America, “Sadako” was changed to “Samara Morgan.” The obsession with Sadako and The Ring franchise continues in Japan, where their most recent movie in the franchise (called Sadako) came out in 2019.Continue Reading

Video Visions: A Very Cannibal Thanksgiving

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 13, 2020November 10, 2020Video VisionsCannibal Ferrox, Cannibal Holocaust, Columns, Hunter Shea, Microwave Massacre, Motel Hell, Soylent Green, ThanksKilling, The Green Inferno, The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Video VisionsLeave a comment

Like all things in 2020, Thanksgiving will be a little different this year. Uncle Hank who showers only on quarter moons and is addicted to scratch-off tickets is not welcome in the house. Nor is cousin Amber, she of the chronic rhinitis and inexhaustible lineup of failed relationships. We tell ourselves it’s for everyone safety, but really, aren’t you glad they’re not coming?Continue Reading

Review: The Witch and the Beast by Kousuke Satake

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 4, 2020October 31, 2020Breaking NewsColumns, Danica Davidson, Graven Images, Kousuke Satake, Reviews, The Witch and the BeastLeave a comment

cover of the witch and the beast The Witch and the Beast by Kousuke Satake
Kodansha Comics (October 27, 2020)
192 pages; $12.99 paperback, $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

The Witch and the Beast opens with a question: “Do you know how to break a witch’s curse?” It gives two answers: “Method 1: A loving kiss from a prince on a white horse. Method 2: Hope the wrathful witch has a change of heart.”

But the manga is quick to assure us that these methods are nearly impossible to work out.Continue Reading

Review: Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 1 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ryosuke Takeuchi, and Hikaru Miyoshi

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 26, 2020October 20, 2020Graven Images, ReviewsColumns, Graven Images, Hikaru Miyoshi, Moriarty the Patriot, Reviews, Ryosuke Takeuchi, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, VIZ MediaLeave a comment

Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 1 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ryosuke Takeuchi, and Hikaru Miyoshi
VIZ Media (October 2020)
206 pages; $9.99 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

William James Moriarty was barely in the Sherlock Holmes books, but his position as Holmes’s archenemy and “The Napoleon of Crime” have kept him in people’s imaginations. Over the years he’s been seen in movies, books and other forms of entertainment not made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And now he’s the main character in a Japanese manga that’s been made into an anime currently playing in Japan and streaming in America.Continue Reading

Video Visions: The Ultimate Movie for Halloween Night

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 23, 2020October 17, 2020Video VisionsColumns, Halloween, Hunter Shea, October, Sid Haig, Spider Baby, Video VisionsLeave a comment

Black background with spooky lettering that says Hunter Shea Video Visions and the Cemetery Dance logo

Look, I know most normal people aren’t like me, setting aside about 50 movies to watch each October. I mean, who has that kind of time and demented dedication? If I think I won’t have time to watch a movie when I get home from work, I’ll set the alarm to wake me up at five in the morning so I can devour Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Hellraiser like a bowl of Count Chocula before heading off to the day job.Continue Reading

King of Crime: Part II — Hard Case Crime and Beyond

King of Crime: Part I — The Earlier Years

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