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Review: 'Babylon Terminal' by Greg F. Gifune

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 1, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Babylon Terminal, Darkfuse, Featured, Greg F. Gifune, ReviewsLeave a comment

Babylon Terminal by Greg F. Gifune
Darkfuse (June 2016)
$99.00 hardcover; $16.99 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I can’t say I always connect with a Greg F. Gifune story, but I always try to read his work. He challenges me as a reader and Babylon Terminal did just that. This is not a casual read, it’s not light material. I feel I had to work for every bit of enjoyment I got out of this book, but it was worth it.

There is some stunning wordcraft in this story. At times Gifune’s prose is close to breathtaking. There is powerful, rich dialogue, as well.Continue Reading

Review: 'Borderlands 6' edited by Olivia F. Monteleone and Thomas F. Monteleone

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 30, 2016ReviewsBorderlands 6, Featured, Olivia F. Monteleone, Reviews, Thomas F. MonteleoneLeave a comment

Borderlands 6 edited by Olivia F. Monteleone and Thomas F. Monteleone
Borderlands Press (June 2016)
258 pages; $50.00 limited edition hardcover; $15.99 paperback; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black

It’s been 26 years since Tom Monteleone brought us the inaugural volume of Borderlands. That volume and subsequent ones have been filled with stories that veer off the beaten path of genre tropes, journeying instead into the uncanny, the inexplicable, the unexpected. There’s a twelve year gap between this sixth volume and the fifth, but in this case the adage proves true: Good things come to those who wait.Continue Reading

WHC Part 1: A Brief History of the World Horror Convention

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 27, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Featured, WHC, World Horror ConventionLeave a comment

EndofRoad-web

WHC Part 1: A Brief History of the World Horror Convention

The World Horror Convention, more commonly known as WHC, is perhaps best described as an annual trade show for horror writers, publishers, artists, booksellers, agents, and others with an interest in the field. Fans of horror fiction are welcome to attend, too, and they do, but WHC is a professional gathering, and it’s expensive, and you’re not apt to see cosplayers or a guy in the dealer’s room selling bootleg copies of Manimal on DVD like you would at a fan or media convention such as San Diego Comic Con or Dragon Con. The first WHC was held in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1991. There’s been one every year ever since, usually in the United States or Canada, although the 2010 event was held in the United Kingdom, finally putting the World in the World Horror Convention.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Moving Soul' by Joshua Criss

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 25, 2016ReviewsFeatured, Joshua Criss, Reviews, The Moving SoulLeave a comment

The Moving Soul by Joshua Criss
Self-Published (October 2015)
262 pages; $9.95 paperback; $1.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black

“Three hundred and thirty-five years ago, a settler in the Virginia colonies completed a sacrificial spell and buried a legendary occult book for the next one destined to find it. Now, that person has…”

The Moving Soul is a supernatural thriller that focuses on three main characters, all students at Jamestown University in Virginia. Louis is a meek, socially awkward kind of guy, Carolyn is the girl he longs for and eventually ends up in a relationship with, and Darin is his new roommate. Darin also happens to be a real piece of work, a sociopath who’s seeking everything he needs to complete a spell that will grant him immortality. When he makes a certain sacrifice and reaches that goal, he intends to taunt, torture, and kill for eternity.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Everything Box' by Richard Kadrey

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 23, 2016ReviewsFeatured, Reviews, Richard Kadrey, The Everything BoxLeave a comment

The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey
Harper Voyager (April 2016)
368 pages; $17.14 hardcover; $15.29 paperback; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

“Earth. Four thousand years ago. Give or take.” When this is the opening line in your new novel, it better be epic. The verdict? Richard Kadrey delivers again.

It’s just after the great flood and the angel Qaphsiel is sent by God to finish off mankind, but he misplaces the Instrument of Destruction. Fast-forward to the present day where a number of individuals and groups are closing in on The Everything Box. Of course the usual Kadrey wit abounds. It’s a story filled with magic, where literally anything is possible.Continue Reading

Making a Living in a Post Mid-List World without Borders

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 20, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Featured3 Comments

EndofRoad-web

Making a Living in a Post Mid-List World without Borders

So, we ended last week’s column about the deaths of the mid-list and the Borders bookstore chain with the following question: “If self-publishing, independent presses, and independent bookstores are more preferable to former mid-list authors then why are you still selling books to mainstream publishers and signing in big chain bookstores, as well, Keene?” Is the answer:

A) Money.
B) People are stupid.
C) To have a stable, secure writing career in this post-mid-list world without Borders, full-time writers of genre fiction need to diversify.
D) All of the above.

Review: 'Mongrels' by Stephen Graham Jones

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 18, 2016ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Featured, Mongrels, Reviews, Stephen Graham JonesLeave a comment

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
William Morrow (May 2016)
320 pages; $19.39 hardcover; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

The werewolves of Mongrels roam the South like a pack of feral dogs, surviving on the very instincts and abilities that often work directly against them. They live in ratty trailers, work an endless parade of menial jobs, subsist on road kill and strawberry wine coolers. They sneak into town under assumed names and sneak out under the cover of night when things go bad. And they always go bad.Continue Reading

Featured review: 'The Fireman' by Joe Hill

Bev VincentMay 16, 2016ReviewsBev Vincent, Featured, fireman, harry potter, helen reddy, Joe Hill, mary poppins, Reviews, rush, Stephen King, The Fireman, The Stand, toto1 Comment

The Fireman by Joe Hill
William Morrow (May 17, 2016)
768 pages; $18.82 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Bev Vincent

The Fireman, Joe Hill’s fourth novel, is an apocalyptic tale in which a deadly disease destroys the world. If this conjures thoughts of The Stand, it’s not a coincidence. Hill is on record as saying that the book is his version of The Stand “soaked in gasoline and set on fire.” In his dedication he says he stole “everything else” about the book from his father other than the title.

The illness that spreads like wildfire is Draco incendia trychophyton, a spore rather than a virus. People exposed to it do not burn with a fever—they simply burn. First, lesions develop. Some are almost decorative, resembling scales, hence the illness’s nickname: Dragonscale. Victims are mostly asymptomatic until they suddenly catch fire, usually when under stress. It’s a devastating and terrifying disease, because the conflagration takes out others in the vicinity. Buildings burn, then city blocks, and cities, and more.Continue Reading

How the Mid-List Died

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 13, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Featured9 Comments

EndofRoad-web

How the Mid-List Died

Stephen Graham Jones signed his new novel, Mongrels, at Bookworks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this week. I’ll be signing at that same store next month. There’s a reason both of us—and many of our peers—chose that store. If you think of the retail bookselling market as a geographical location, it currently resembles the wasteland from a Mad Max movie. But Bookworks, and hundreds of other independent bookstores, are bright, colorful oases sprouting from that formerly toxic ground.

What happened? What caused the apocalypse? And what is allowing these indie bookstores to flourish? Two things: corporate stupidity and the changes in publishing. Continue Reading

The Top Werewolf Films You (Probably) Haven’t Seen But Should: Stephen Graham Jones Talks ‘Mongrels’

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 11, 2016June 12, 2018Paper CutsAdam Cesare, Columns, Featured, Mongrels, Paper Cuts, Stephen Graham Jones2 Comments

PaperCuts-web

Paper (n): material manufactured in thin sheets from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances, used for writing, drawing, or printing on

Cut (v): make (a movie) into a coherent whole by removing parts or placing them in a different order.

The Top Werewolf Films You (Probably) Haven’t Seen But Should: Stephen Graham Jones Talks ‘Mongrels’

Mongrels_cover-678x1024 When I initially pitched the idea for this column to the editors at Cemetery Dance Online, it was a very, uh… loose pitch. The “hook” was me discussing horror movies and horror fiction, wherever they happen to intersect.

And while that loosey-goosey connective theme has probably turned off some readers (“now we’re just reading a list of books he likes? Get out of your own butt, guy!”), it’s meant that I basically get to write about whatever I want and have it get a bunch of eyes on it.

Amazingly those ~~suckers~~ visionaries at CD were cool with that. Also I keep coming up with jokey clickbait headlines, so that probably helps. There is a list of “Top Werewolf Films” somewhere in this interview, but you have to read to find it.

Having no set format means I get to have guests. Which is a long-winded way of saying that, this month: I wanted to talk to one of my favorite authors! And he said yes!Continue Reading

Review: 'Kill Switch' by Jonathan Maberry

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 9, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Featured, Joe Ledger, Jonathan Maberry, Kill Switch, ReviewsLeave a comment

Kill Switch by Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Griffin (April 26 2016)
544 pages; $9.99 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Is it to early to add this to the list of my ten favorite reads of 2016? Kill Switch, by Jonathan Maberry, is that good. It’s hard to imagine many books to be published the rest of this year being better than this new adventure in the Joe Ledger series.Continue Reading

In Which We Answer Who, What, Where, and Why

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 6, 2016January 22, 2018Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Featured6 Comments

In Which We Answer Who, What, Where, and Why

My name is Brian Keene. I’m a writer by trade and a road warrior by heart. Neither of these things make for very wise career or life choices, but at the age of forty-eight, it’s a little late for me to decide I’d like to become an IT Specialist or an HVAC technician instead.

Both writing and the road got in my blood at an early age. My parents were transplants from West Virginia, which is like a ghetto with trees and mountains. Seriously. All of the despair and poverty and crime that plague America’s ghettos can be found in West Virginia. But, just like the ghettos, you can also find hope and inspiration (even today, when meth production has overtaken coal mining as the state’s most popular employment opportunity). Continue Reading

Review: 'Suicide Stitch' by Sarah L. Johnson

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 4, 2016ReviewsFeatured, Reviews, Sarah L. Johnson, Suicide StitchLeave a comment

Suicide Stitch by Sarah L. Johnson
EMP Publishing (March 2016)
188 pages; $12.00 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black

Suicide Stitch is the debut collection of Sarah L. Johnson, a writer whose work runs the gamut from horror to literary to science fiction to erotica. The stories here reflect that range of style and voice. They’re billed as “sexy, transgressive, and intelligent, comprised of eleven tales that explore the sinister side of love,” and that’s an apt description for the highlights of the bunch.Continue Reading

Review: 'Altar' by Philip Fracassi

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 2, 2016ReviewsAltar, Featured, Philip Fracassi, ReviewsLeave a comment

Altar by Philip Fracassi
Dunhams Manor Press (April 2016)
53 pages; $7.19 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black

Have you ever been swimming in a lake, far from shore, and found yourself wondering what might be lurking in the black depths below? There’s a primal fear being tapped, and with Altar, Philip Fracassi taps into it not through a lake, but a public swimming pool. Brightly lit, sections clearly delineated, lifeguards at the ready should anyone find themselves in need of assistance… A few rough patches notwithstanding, it says a lot about Fracassi’s skill as a storyteller that this novelette works as well as it does.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Damned' by Andrew Pyper

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 27, 2016ReviewsAndrew Pyper, Featured, Jonathan Reitan, Reviews, The DamnedLeave a comment

The Damned by Andrew Pyper
Simon & Schuster (February 2015)
304 pages; $21.24 hardcover; $13.82 paperback; $11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Jonathan Reitan

Canadian author Andrew Pyper began his career by writing “literary thrillers” but now he’s been focusing his time on some amazing works of “literary horror” such as his latest, The Damned.

Twins Danny and Ashleigh Orchard are polar opposites. While Danny is timid and kind, Ashleigh is overpowering and downright evil. Ash harbors early psychotic tendencies and terrorizes anyone near her. A house fire ultimately claims her life and almost takes Danny’s as well.Continue Reading

WHC Part 1: A Brief History of the World Horror Convention

Making a Living in a Post Mid-List World without Borders

How the Mid-List Died

The Top Werewolf Films You (Probably) Haven’t Seen But Should: Stephen Graham Jones Talks ‘Mongrels’

In Which We Answer Who, What, Where, and Why

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