Cemetery Dance Online

Interview: Johanna Van Veen on Bone of My Bone and the Convergence of Religious, Historical, and Folk Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 27, 2026InterviewsHaley Newlin, Interviews, Johanna Van VeenLeave a comment

Johanna Van Veen’s debut Gothic horror novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing, was a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and her sophomore novel, Blood on Her Tongue, became an instant USA Today Bestseller. Both journey into historical settings, as does her latest release, Bone of My Bone, set in Germany during the ruthless Thirty Years’ War. It explores the convergence of three horror subgenres: folk, historical, and religious. As well as the effects of war on everyday people.

Author Johanna Van Veen — Johanna Van Veen

Johanna Van Veen sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss her new release, Bone of My Bone.

Review: Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 26, 2026May 26, 2026ReviewsHaley Newlin, Johanna Van Veen, ReviewsLeave a comment

Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen
Poisoned Pen Press (May 26, 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen

One saint. One sinner. One skull.

Horror readers, rejoice. Bram Stoker Award-nominee and USA Today bestseller Johanna Van Veen is back with another haunting, sapphic, and terrifically terrifying tale of wickedry in Bone of My Bone. For fans of Robert Eggers’ The Witch and Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy, Bone of My Bone unveils the brutality of the Thirty Years’ War and the demented depravity of man. Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the ruins of her convent, and Elsebeth, a headstrong and scrappy farmhand, form an alliance and move through the Bavarian forest in hopes of appeasing the spirit of a saint contained within a fragile holy relic they carry—a skull. A dying man tells the women of its secret: reunite the skull with the saint’s body, and a wish will be granted.

Review: Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 22, 2026May 22, 2026ReviewsBriana Morgan, Reviews, Saratoga SchaeferLeave a comment

Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Crooked Lane (February 2026)
Reviewed by Briana Morgan

There is no shortage of trad wife books in the world now. It’s no surprise that Yesteryear, a more literary-leaning title, has made such a splash in publishing—but some veritable trad wife treasures can also be found in the horror genre. Take Saratoga Schaefer’s Trad Wife for instance. Like its colleagues, this novel delves into the day-to-day life of a trad wife influencer… but with some Rosemary’s Baby thrown in.

Review: Witch’s Inheritance by Paige Hender

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 21, 2026May 21, 2026Reviews, The Comic VaultJoshua Gage, Paige Hender, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Witch’s Inheritance by Paige Hender
Henry Holt and Co. – BYR Paperbacks (July 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Home is where the monsters are…

Paige Hender is a Canadian-born, Louisiana-raised cartoonist with a degree in comic art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, with her cat, Chaplin. Witch’s Inheritance is her debut young adult graphic novel.

Review: It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 18, 2026ReviewsCynthia Pelayo, Dave Simms, It Came From Neverland, ReviewsLeave a comment

It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Crooked Lane (June 9, 2026)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

There’s one thing that Cynthia Pelayo does extremely well: twist fairytales into something unique and lovely. Her stories are horrific, too, but her writing is so well executed that the reader just strolls along for the ride.

Review: Dopefoot by Joshua Millican

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 15, 2026ReviewsAbby Wolf, Dopefoot, Joshua Millican, ReviewsLeave a comment

Dopefoot by Joshua Millican
Mad Axe Media (June 2026)
Reviewed by Abby Wolf

Dopefoot by Joshua Millican (Teleportasm, Deeper Than Hell) is a novel that felt feral in my hands, in the best ways. It resists polish and easy categorization. Instead, it burrows into something raw and deeply human. What initially reads as pure chaos, in characters, in language, and in structure, reveals itself to be deliberate. I might go as far as saying it is precise in how it disorients the reader. Dopefoot wants you off-balance.

Review: Marion by Leah Rowan

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 13, 2026May 11, 2026ReviewsDave Simms, Leah Rowan, Marion, ReviewsLeave a comment

Marion by Leah Rowan
St. Martin’s Press (June 2026)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Norman was her first…

The “what if” premise is such a cool idea for modern takes on classic tales – if done well. Marion is a great example of how this can be done, with fun storytelling and wickedly sharp, witty writing. Leah Rowan tackles the idea of Robert Bloch’s Psycho, but from Marion’s viewpoint, the victim of the infamous and bloody shower scene. But what would happen if she fought back and killed Norman?

Review: Molka by Monika Kim

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 11, 2026May 11, 2026ReviewsBriana Morgan, Molka, Monika Kim, ReviewsLeave a comment

Molka by Monika Kim
Erewhon Books (February 2026)
Reviewed by Briana Morgan

Book cover, Molka by Monika Kim

Molka by Monika Kim is a visceral, slow-burn feminist horror novel about the dangers of molka (“secret cameras”) in South Korea. The book follows two characters, Dahye and Junyoung, and their vastly different experiences with secret camera footage. Dahye is a troubled young woman who works in an office during the day and goes out with her wealthy boyfriend at night. Junyoung works in the same office but enjoys darker extracurricular fare—like hiding cameras in the women’s bathroom.

Review: Killer Summer by Wendy Dalrymple

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 8, 2026May 21, 2026ReviewsAdam Allen, Killer Summer, Reviews, Wendy DalrympleLeave a comment

Killer Summer by Wendy Dalrymple Killer Summer by Wendy Dalrymple. Slasher book
Mad Axe Media (May 12, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen

2026 is the year of slashers written by women, and pink horror pioneer Wendy Dalrymple is here to get the party started right with Killer Summer. In this fast-paced and gloriously gruesome novel, we follow Dani as she survives attack after attack from a stalking killer. In Dani, Dalrymple delivers a final girl worthy of the title and then some, and there are multiple moments that will have you cheering as she refuses to play the role of victim to the circumstances around her.

Review: Neon Moon by Grace R. Reynolds

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 6, 2026May 11, 2026ReviewsElizabeth Broadbent, Grace R. Reynolds, Neon Moon, ReviewsLeave a comment

Neon Moon by Grace R. Reynolds
Dark Matter Ink (May 4, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

A feminist Texas Chainsaw Massacre in a country music bar—that’s a heck of a pitch, and Grace R. Reynolds delivers with her novella Neon Moon. Everyone loves a bloody horror show of a slasher, amiright? But this one’s more than that. Reynolds’ novella might share its DNA with slasher and survivalist books, but Neon Moon is a true-blue Southern Gothic.

Review: I Know A Place by Nat Cassidy

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 4, 2026May 21, 2026ReviewsAbby Wolf, I Know A Place, Nat Cassidy, ReviewsLeave a comment

I Know A Place by Nat Cassidy
Shortwave Publishing (May 2026)
Reviewed by Abby Wolf

I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours from powerhouse Nat Cassidy (USA Today bestselling author) is not your traditional short story collection. It is more like being handed a map with certain locations circled in blood-red ink. These are the places you are warned not to visit, yet you cannot resist. Each story has its own setting, but they are not just mere backdrops. They are pressure points, spaces where something has gone wrong in ways that feel surreal yet deeply human. Cassidy understands that horror is not just about what lurks in the shadows. It is about why those shadows exist in the first place.

Review: Clara & The Devil, Volume 1

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 1, 2026May 5, 2026Reviews, The Comic VaultClara & The Devil Volume 1, Joshua Gage, Little Chmura, Olivie Blake, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Clara & the Devil, Volume 1 by Olivie Blake, Little Chmura (Illustrator)
23rd St. (May 5, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Olivie Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of speculative fiction for adults, including The Atlas Six trilogy, Alone with You in the Ether, Masters of Death, the short story collection Januaries, and her novel, Girl Dinner. As Alexene Farol Follmuth, she is also the author of the young adult novels My Mechanical Romance and Twelfth Knight. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son. With Little Chmura, she is the co-creator of the graphic series Clara & the Devil.

Review: Eat the Light by Andrew Najberg

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 29, 2026ReviewsAdam Allen, Andrew Najberg, Eat The Light, Reviews2 Comments

Eat The Light by Andrew Najberg
Wicked House Press (April 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen

I’m a sucker for a good post-apocalyptic horror story, whether it’s zombies, aliens, or some kind of disease, and Andrew Najberg’s Eat the Light will absolutely scratch that itch for readers. It is a brutal and gritty survival story that does not hold back in the slightest.

What I love about what Najberg has done with the story is that, for the majority of its page count, the characters and the reader are not entirely sure what exactly has happened or what the threat is for the sisters we follow. This lends a constant sense of mystery and urgency throughout the novel, keeping the pages turning quickly.

Interview: A. Rushby on Slashed Beauties and Feminist Body Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 27, 2026InterviewsA. Rushby, Haley Newlin, Interviews, Slashed BeautiesLeave a comment

A. Rushby (also writing as Allison Rushby and A.J. Rushby) has published more than thirty books. Whether writing for junior and middle grade readers or adults, Rushby is known for her love of all things dark and peculiar. Sometimes she writes about Victorian death photography and installation art. Sometimes it’s haunted houses or kittens who have midnight tea parties.

In Slashed Beauties, Rushby’s adult body and feminist horror novel, she writes about bewitched anatomical wax models, cursed lockets, and women’s never-ending fight for autonomy.

Rushby sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss, Slashed Beauties, Anatomical Venuses, her favorite feminist/body horror books, and her next release, All Her Beautiful Deaths.

You can connect with her on Instagram @allisonrushbyauthor and at allisonrushby.com

Review: Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 24, 2026April 29, 2026QuoteReviewsA. Rushby, Haley Newlin, Reviews, Slashed BeautiesLeave a comment

Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby
Berkley (September 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“I am the mistress of my own fate.”

Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby is a sophisticated gothic feminist horror novel laced with rage and history told through dual timelines: Alys, an antique dealer in present day who is related to Eleanor–one of the Venuses–and Eleanor, an eighteenth-century sex worker taken in by a beautiful and powerful courtesan, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s previous recruitment, Emily. Eleanor believes she has found her savior at last but things never come easy to women. Being a woman means fighting tooth and nail for agency and peace only to have it stolen again and again. And for this, in this story, anyway, men will burn.

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