Two adaptations of King novels — one from six years ago, the other first published forty-six years ago — landed recently. They have one thing in common: kids in jeopardy being subjected to cruel treatment (The Institute) and execution (The Long Walk). Here are my thoughts.
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Beast in the Pines by S.W. Lynch 
The Beast in the Pines by S.W. Lynch
Serotonin Press, October 2024
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor
S.W. Lynch is a writer and editor who lives in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. He has worked for nonprofit organizations such as Moonstone Arts Center and the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association. Lynch has been the editor of various journals, magazines, and anthologies, such as Rocky Wilson’s The Last Bus to Camden and Chidi Ezeobi’s Remind the World: Poems from Prison. He is the author of five books of poetry: the city of your mind (Whirlwind Press, 2013), Broad Street Line (Moonstone Press, 2016), 100 Haiku (Moonstone Press, 2017), On Violence (Radical Paper Press, 2019), and Halo Nest: Poems on Grief (Alien Buddha Press, 2024). Lynch’s debut novel is The Beast in the Pines. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Told by Firelight in Timbered Halls by Adam Bolivar 
Told by Firelight in Timbered Halls by Adam Bolivar
Jackanapes Press (September 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Adam Bolivar is the author of The Lay of Old Hex (Hippocampus Press, 2017), The Ettinfell of Beacon Hill (Jackanapes Press, 2021), Ballads for the Witching Hour (Hippocampus Press 2022), and A Wheel of Ravens (Jackanapes Press, 2023). A marionette-maker as well, he has written a multitude of original puppet-plays which have been performed in a wide variety of peculiar venues. A native of gambrel-roofed Boston, Massachusetts, he currently resides in the gloomy dreamlands of Portland, Oregon with his golden-haired wife and son. His newest collection is Told by Firelight in Timbered Halls. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Moonflow by Bitter Karella 
Moonflow by Bitter Karella
Run For It (September 2, 2025)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent
Among other things, Bitter Karella’s Moonflow promises “fungus gods, trans feels, haunted forests, weird rituals, lesbian hippies, fat sex, humongous gahungawungas, and raccoons.” It certainly delivers. Moonflow is a magnificently queer magical mystery trip into the darkly bizarre heart of Pamogo Forest. A psychedelic-fueled, rainbow trip of a novel, this book is everything you’d hope for from Bitter Karella: wickedly funny, bracingly bizarre, frequently off-color, and yet, somehow, heartfelt. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley 
Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
Poison Pen Press (September 2, 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Brian McAuley’s slasher novel Breathe In, Bleed Out is an absolute scream and an instant classic.
In this fast-paced and shocking horror novel, Hannah, a woman haunted by the ghosts of grief, and her friends are invited to a secluded healing retreat in the desert. With constant nightmares and a drug dependency, Hannah thinks this trip could be just what she needs: a chance to heal.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Come What May by Lindsey Goddard and Suzie Lockhart 
Come What May by Lindsey Goddard and Suzie Lockhart
Independently Published (July 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Convinced she was destined to be an artist, Suzie Lockhart attended The Art Institute of Pittsburgh after graduating high school, but the gnawing urge to write continued to challenge her. Originally, her desire was to write romance novels, but after discovering the innate ability to tell chilling tales, Suzie embraced her inner creepiness. Her middle son, Bruce, realized the same passion for the macabre, so it was a natural progression to team up. Over a decade later, they have published enough short stories that they can no longer remember all of them! Co-author Lindsey Goddard is an author of dark fiction, poetry, and true crime, living in Missouri, whose short stories have been published in e-zines such as Gamut Magazine and Carnage House, as well as in anthologies such as Error Code (Riverfolk Books). Her work has been performed on popular podcasts like Creepy Podcast and Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. She is the author of four short story collections, two poetry books, and a novel, Ashes of Another Life. Their newest collection is Come What May, a collection of short stories and poems. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy 
When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
Tor Nightfire (April 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
After reading Mary: An Awakening of Terror, I swore Nat Cassidy had written his magnum opus, not realizing it was his debut novel. And then I read Rest Stop from Shortwave, which is absolutely stellar with its exploration of historical trauma and triggers amongst the political state of things. And it was UNHINGED. So, I was certain that the novella was my new favorite. But, man, Cassidy came to the plate swinging with When The Wolf Comes Home and he knocked it out of the park. In his fairytale-inspired story Cassidy once again proves he’s one of the strongest voices in modern horror. His work is thoughtful, compelling, and fiercely chaotic as hell. I will devour EVERYTHING this man writes.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Invisible Woman By James P. Blaylock 
The Invisible Woman By James P. Blaylock
PS Publishing (February 2025)
Review by W.D. Gagliani
Because The Invisible Woman is a sequel to James P. Blaylock’s Pennies From Heaven (2023), I’ll first need to weave some threads from a review of that novel here.
If you are already a fan you know Blaylock was one of the pioneers of the Steampunk genre (along with Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter) and later produced a notable series of unrelated “California Gothics.” Anyone who hasn’t read, at the very least, Homunculus, Lord Kelvin’s Machine (and the related St. Ives steampunky adventures), The Digging Leviathan, The Last Coin, The Paper Grail, Knights of the Cornerstone, All the Bells on Earth, and especially Night Relics, The Rainy Season, and Winter Tides, should go and do so right now. These novels form the backbone of his corner of the fantasy field, the one that’s magic realism, fantasy, horror, and SF adjacent. Because they have given me much pleasure over these many years, I confess to some bias up-front.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama 
House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama
Berkley (August 12, 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Every culture has a boogeyman, a shapeless entity that eats children, such as El Cuco in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, or a shadowy, witch-like figure that eats and imprisons children, like Baba Yaga in Russia, Iraq, and Syria. In Daphne Fama’s Filipino Folk and Gothic Horror novel, House of Monstrous Women, it’s the aswang. Some declare the aswang monsters; others say they were people cursed “with a vicious hunger” and “who spent their lives like wolves cloaked in the fleece of lamb.”Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: October Dark by Ron Terranova 
October Dark by Ron Terranova
Outskirts Press (July 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor
Ron Terranova is a writer of novels, short stories, and poetry from Huntington Beach, California. His work has been published in Chiron Review, and he is author of two novels: The Red Wing Chronicles and I, Polyphemus. Terranova’s most recent book, October Dark, is a book of short horror stories that center around nihilism, dark noir, absurdism, and macabre humor. October Dark, which follows books October Light and October Twilight, is the third book in Terranova’s dark fiction trilogy. The stories in October Dark are 3 to 17 pages long and are all set in the month of October. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Review: Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice-Jones 
Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice-Jones
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (June 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Sam Prentice-Jones is an author-illustrator working in Brighton UK who graduated from Arts University Bournemouth in 2019 with a BA Hons in Illustration, specializing in digital, graphic, character-based work. Sam likes to create work that celebrates diversity and queer culture and began his career by curating a queer illustration magazine titled POOF Magazine which ran 2019-2021. Since then, Sam has gone on to create work for the worlds of book publishing, web design, advertising and product design as well as being featured in art fairs across the UK. His newest book is the graphic novel Arcana: The Lost Heirs.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Review: Evil-ish by Kennedy Tarrell
Evil-ish by Kennedy Tarrell
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (July 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Kennedy Tarrell (She/They) is a Los-Angeles based writer, storyboard artist, and comic-maker. She’s currently working as a story artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, most recently on Wish. She’s also written, storyboarded, or developed in both the feature and TV space for clients including Cartoon Network, Netflix Animation, DreamWorks Animation, and WB. In the publishing space, her debut YA graphic novel, Evil-ish, is now available.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Vellum Leaves & Lettered Skins by Colleen Anderson 
Vellum Leaves & Lettered Skins by Colleen Anderson
Raw Dog Screaming Press (July 29, 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Colleen Anderson is a Canadian author writing fiction and poetry and has had two collections and over 300 poems published in such venues as Grievous Angel, Polu Texni, The Future Fire, HWA Poetry Showcase and many others. She is a member of HWA and SFPA and a Canada Council grant recipient for writing. She has performed her work before audiences in the US, UK and Canada and has placed in the Balticon, Rannu, Crucible and Wax poetry competitions. Colleen also enjoys editing and co-edited Canadian anthologies Playground of Lost Toys (Aurora nominated) and Tesseracts 17, and her solo anthology Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland was published by Exile Books. She has served on both Stoker Award and British Fantasy Award juries, and guest-edited Eye to the Telescope. Her latest collection of poetry is Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins.Continue Reading
“Dr. Werthless” by Harold Schechter and Eric Powell
Dark Horse Comics (July 2025)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
If you read comics, you’ve likely heard the name Dr. Fredric Wertham. His 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent had as big an impact on the comics industry as, say, the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics, or perhaps the work of Stan Lee.
In fact, Wertham’s book was so impactful, it nearly killed the entire comics industry.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos 
Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos
Castle Bridge Media (June 2025)
Reviewed by W.D. Gagliani
Giant bloodsucking beasts invade… screams the cover copy, and if you’re like me, that’s about all you need to crack open this short novel and wait for the fun. So you may know going in what you’ll get, and the question is: how rip-roaringly entertaining will it be?Continue Reading
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