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Review: ‘Hekla’s Children’ by James Brogden

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 6, 2017April 3, 2017ReviewsDave Simms, Hekla's Children, James Brogden, Reviews, Titan Books1 Comment

Hekla’s Children by James Brogden
Titan Books (March 7, 2017)
400 pages; $8.79 paperback; $7.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Sometimes a book which comes out of left field can be a home run. Hekla’s Children landed on this reviewer’s desk with the invitation to give it a whirl. Whirl it did, and the wild ride became one of the best surprises in recent memory. James Brogden has published three other books but this hopefully will be his breakout effort. Some will call this urban fantasy, others weird, while most will simply enjoy a story which has a bit of everything. Continue Reading

Review: ‘Clive Barker’s Next Testament’ by Mark Alan Miller

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 4, 2017April 2, 2017ReviewsClive Barker, Dave Simms, Earthling Publications, Mark Alan Miller, Next Testament, ReviewsLeave a comment

Clive Barker’s Next Testament by Mark Alan Miller
Earthling Publications (April 2017)
$45 gift edition; $100 deluxe edition; $125 lettered edition
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Is there a God? If there is, what is He like? Why would He put up with the hell on earth for the past millennia, and what would He think of what humanity has become? Clive Barker and Mark Miller have posited the answer to these questions in a fascinating graphic novel series Next Testament. Continue Reading

Review: ‘Velvet’ by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 31, 2017March 26, 2017Reviews, The Comic VaultEd Brubaker, Gef Fox, Image Comics, Reviews, Steve Epting, The Comic Vault, VelvetLeave a comment

Velvet by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
Image Comics (April 4, 2017)
416 pages; $33.99 deluxe hardcover
Reviewed by Gef Fox

I grew up with James Bond films as my sole reference for the spy genre, and I considered him a cartoonish one at that, since he became the stuff of parody by the time the ’80s came along. It wouldn’t be until I was all grownup when I learned more of the history of the genre. And Ed Brubaker’s and Steve Epting’s Velvet, now compiled in a delicious deluxe hardcover, reads like a love letter to the spy genre’s golden era.Continue Reading

Review: ‘We Are Always Watching’ by Hunter Shea

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 28, 2017March 26, 2017Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Hunter Shea, Reviews, Sinister Grin Press, We Are Always Watching1 Comment

We Are Always Watching by Hunter Shea
Sinister Grin Press (March 2017)
460 pages; $18.59 hardback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Due to dire circumstance, Matt Riley, his wife, Debi, and their fourteen-year-old son, West, had to move in with West’s Grandpa Abraham. Grandpa insisted the place where he lived was haunted. That was fine with West, because “(he) devoured horror books like they were M&Ms.” I loved the mentions of popular horror podcasts and magazines, as well as a number of today’s most-read writers within the genre. Continue Reading

Review: ‘The Garden of Delight’ by Alessandro Manzetti

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 24, 2017March 23, 2017Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Alessandro Manzetti, Reviews, The Garden of DelightLeave a comment

The Garden of Delight by Alessandro Manzetti
Comet Press (March 2017)
250 pages; $14.95 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

The Garden of Delight is a sexually charged compilation of stories from Alessandro Manzetti. Most have been previously published, but a few of the tales are new to this collection. All the stories share a similar tone and spirit as they explore human decadance through the centuries. When it comes to sexual relations, nothing is off limits. Continue Reading

Review: ‘Revenge of the Vampir King’ by Nancy Kilpatrick

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 22, 2017March 21, 2017ReviewsNancy Kilpatrick, Peter Tomas, Revenge of the Vampir King, ReviewsLeave a comment

Revenge of the Vampir King by Nancy Kilpatrick
Crossroad Press (February 2017)
290 pages; $26.99 hardcover; $14.99 paperback; ebook $4.99
Reviewed by Peter Tomas

Revenge of the Vampir King, a blood soaked tale by Nancy Kilpatrick, is the story of a male vampire, a human girl, and the chaos which surrounds them as they interact with one another. Valada, the princess of the humans, is sent to the vampire king, Moarte, as an unwilling gift by her father Zador, the evil human king. Through a mess of emotions and erotic interactions, the two become wed, and the world around them becomes rife with treachery, confusion, lust, and hurt. They must fight their way to Zador’s throne to end his terrible reign and, with any luck, save their marriage, and the people they love most.Continue Reading

Review: ‘The Little Gift’ by Stephen Volk

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 17, 2017March 18, 2017ReviewsGef Fox, PS Publishing, Reviews, Stephen Volk, The Little Gift1 Comment

The Little Gift by Stephen Volk
PS Publishing (March 2017)
80 pages; £12.00 hardcover; £20.00 signed edition
Reviewed by Gef Fox

If you live with a cat, you live with a natural born killer. Some prey on dangling bits of string, others go after bigger game. And if they like you, they’ll leave you one of their kills as a little gift. In Stephen Volk’s newest novella, it’s one of these little gifts from a family cat that sends the man of the house, our narrator, down a dark winding memory of an encounter with an alluring woman that shook him from his mundane moorings.Continue Reading

Review: ‘Blood Infernal’ by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 10, 2017March 5, 2017ReviewsBlood Infernal, James Rollins, Peter Tomas, Rebecca Cantrell, ReviewsLeave a comment

Blood Infernal by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell
William Morrow (January 2016)
576 pages; $19.20 hardcover; $9.99 paperback; ebook $9.99
Reviewed by Peter Tomas

Blood Infernal, James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell’s apocalyptic nail-biter, is a story dripping with tension, religion, and vampirism. The three main characters, which consist of an archaeologist, a military man, and a vampiric priest, are united by a prophecy written in the Blood Gospel, a book Jesus evidently wrote in His own blood during His time on earth. They face off against impossible odds, dangerous individuals, and an array of damned souls, headed by a demon sent from the loving arms of Lucifer himself. The fallen angel is coming back, and only the prophetic trio are capable of keeping him shackled.Continue Reading

Review: ‘Conspiracy of Angels’ by Michelle Belanger

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 9, 2017March 5, 2017ReviewsConspiracy of Angels, Michelle Belanger, Novels of the Shadowside, Peter Tomas, Reviews1 Comment

Conspiracy of Angels by Michelle Belanger
Titan Books (October 2015)
368 pages; $7.43 paperback; ebook $7.99
Reviewed by Peter Tomas

Zachary Westland is your average amnesiac protagonist, waking up on the shores of Lake Erie with panic in his nerves and a police notice out for his head. Unable to remember his past, he searches frantically for a way to reconnect to everything he can’t remember, encountering a throng of unique and diverse characters as he goes. Many people know him, know of him, and in most cases, want him dead, and he’s clueless as to why. Eventually, he learns that his past is as dark as the looming future is, and that if he doesn’t step up and right his forgotten wrongs, the people he cares about most could suffer vast and painful consequences. The fight for resolution, and his memory, begins.Continue Reading

Review: ‘The Haunted Halls’ by Glenn Rolfe

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 7, 2017March 5, 2017Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Glenn Rolfe, Reviews, Shadow Work Publishing, The Haunted Halls1 Comment

The Haunted Halls by Glenn Rolfe
Shadow Work Publishing (December 2016)
280 pages; $14.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

It’s been a while since I’ve read a good in-your-face horror novel. Don’t get me wrong, I read and enjoyed an abundance of excellent work in 2016, but when I compare them to The Haunted Halls, the latest from up-and-coming horror writer Glenn Rolfe, they’ve all been rather tame.Continue Reading

Review: ‘Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling’ edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 6, 2017March 6, 2017ReviewsAnton Cancre, Apex Book Company, Jayn Gates, Monica Valentinelli, Reviews, Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in StorytellingLeave a comment

Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli
Apex Book Company (December 2016)
$13.48 paperback; $4.99 ebook
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Anthologies based on meta-fictive themes can be a bit of a sticky wicket. Sure, we get bored with the same old over and over again, and it is super cool when someone messes with our heads. At the same time, those “look how deft I am at subverting literature” stories are self important in the most boring way possible. Continue Reading

Review: ‘Behind Her Eyes’ by Sarah Pinborough

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 1, 2017February 20, 2017Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Behind Her Eyes, Flatiron Books, Reviews, Sarah Pinborough2 Comments

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
Flatiron Books (January 2017)
320 pages; $18.18 hardback; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

There’s a quote from Benjamin Franklin at the beginning of Behind Her Eyes. It provides a clue, of sorts, as to the devilish nature of the story which follows.

Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

Review: ‘Zoopraxis’ by Richard Christian Matheson

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 22, 2017February 19, 2017ReviewsGauntlet Press, John Skipp, Reviews, Richard Christian Matheson, Zoopraxis4 Comments

Zoopraxis by Richard Christian Matheson
Gauntlet Press
$275.00 lettered edition; $150.00 Limited Edition; $6o.oo Numered Edition
Reviewed by John Skipp

In the thirty years since Richard Christian Matheson burst upon the scene with his brilliant collection Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks, many things have changed. Up until his arrival, the short-short story was the purview of a miniscule handful of writers—Fredric Brown, Henry Slesar, and O. Henry leap most readily to mind—who’d mastered the art of telling a tight, twisted tale with a punch at the end in one thousand words or less, on a fairly regular basis.Continue Reading

Review: ‘Relics’ by Tim Lebbon

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 21, 2017February 19, 2017ReviewsDave Simms, Relics, Reviews, Tim Lebbon, Titan Books2 Comments

Relics by Tim Lebbon
Titan Books (March 21, 2017)
336 pages; $9.76 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The first literary hit of the new year has been born. Tim Lebbon, no stranger to penning stories which shrug off the shackles of genre, has hit 2017 hard with the first of a breathtaking trilogy. Equal parts thriller, horror, and fantasy, Relics takes readers back to his best world creating in the apocalyptic Silence, Coldbrook, and The Nature of Balance, along with the more fantastic in Fallen and Echo City. Continue Reading

Review: ‘Infernal Parade’ by Clive Barker

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 16, 2017February 13, 2017ReviewsBlu Gilliand Infernal Parade, Clive Barker, Reviews, Subterranean PressLeave a comment

Infernal Parade by Clive Barker
Subterranean Press (February 2017)
81 pages; $275.00 lettered edition; $60.00 limited edition; $3o.oo Trade Edition
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Infernal Parade is the second volume compiling stories created by Clive Barker to accompany figures created in conjunction with Todd McFarlane. The first, Tortured Souls, benefited because it began life as a novella that was broken up to go along with the packaging of the various figures. Infernal Parade is a series of character sketches meant to lend a little backstory to the figures, making it feel incomplete when pulled together in one volume.Continue Reading

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