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13 Halloween Book Recs From Your Favorite Horror Authors

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 3, 2026October 3, 2026Editor's PicksDaphne Fama, Del Sandeen, Erika T. Wurth, Gwendolyn Kiste, Haley Newlin, Isabel Canas, Markus Redmond, Mona Kabbani, Nat Cassidy, Nick Medina, Nick Roberts, RJ Joseph, Tamika Thompson, Tananarive DueLeave a comment

13 Halloween Book Recs From Your Favorite Horror Authors

by Haley Newlin

It’s officially October and readers, myself included, are eagerly assembling their spooky season TBR. I scrolled Goodreads, Instagram, the usual, looking for recommendations but then thought, why not ask authors who have written some of the most terrifying and memorable horror stories I’ve ever read? So, dear readers, with your cravings for wickedry and menace, ghosts and vampires, grab a pen, because these recommendations, from the likes of Tananarive Due (author of Mazywood and The Reformatory), Daphne Fama (author of House of Monstrous Women), Nat Cassidy (author of When the Wolf Comes Home), Isabel Cañas (author of The Possession of Alba Díaz), and more, are not to be missed.

Review: How to Escape a Tiger Cult by Briana Morgan

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 1, 2026ReviewsBriana Morgan, Chandra ClaypoolLeave a comment

How to Escape a Tiger Cult by Briana Morgan
Independently Published (October 6, 2026)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool

Remember all the rage of Tiger King during the pandemic? I certainly watched it and was fascinated by the entirety of this weird industry. Then I learned about Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, a figure from Tiger King who ended up with his own documentary because of his isolated, manipulative, cult-like tendencies at his wildlife park. Obviously, when given the opportunity to read How to Escape a Tiger Cult, it was an automatic YES. Plus, it is Briana Morgan, and I’ve loved her other work so win-win!
Continue Reading

Review: Worry Box by Chris Panatier

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 29, 2026ReviewsAbby Wolf, Chris PanatierLeave a comment

Worry Box by Chris Panatier
Angry Robot (September 2026)
Reviewed by Abby Wolf

There is something notably cruel about a haunted house story when the house is not the only thing the characters have to fear. Chris Panatier’s (Daytide, The Redemption of Morgan Bright) Worry Box shows us that the scariest monsters don’t always break down the door. Sometimes they live inside your head. Sometimes they are the things you are afraid you might do. And, maybe, the place you call home is listening.Continue Reading

The Road to OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 25, 2026Spencer Hamilton's Road to Stephen Graham Jones' OFF THE RESERVATIONSpencer Hamilton, Stephen Graham JonesLeave a comment

ROAD TO STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES’ OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review Column

by Spencer Hamilton

Stephen Graham Jones via stephengrahamjones.com

As we near the end of this column series, I’ve been reflecting on why I wanted so passionately to take on a project of this size. Yes, like other fans, I am beyond excited for Stephen Graham Jones’ upcoming novel, Off the Reservation (in fact, I’ve just begun re-reading The Only Good Indians in preparation). But more than anything, as I watch (and cheer for) his growing popularity, I can’t help but think of a younger me, just fresh off discovering this new-to-me author. As I scrolled through social media pics and reviews of Mongrels and his other major titles, I started spotting the spines and covers and titles of SGJ books I’d never heard of. It was as if I were suddenly inside of the Stephen King novella Ur, stumbling across the bibliography of my favorite author but from a parallel universe. And there was so much of it. I didn’t know where to start; I didn’t know when I’d reach the end.Continue Reading

Review: Nightjars by Michael Wehunt

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 24, 2026September 23, 2026ReviewsBriana Morgan, Michael WehuntLeave a comment

Nightjars by Michael Wehunt
St. Martin’s Press (September 29, 2026)
Reviewed by Briana Morgan

“Does the nightjar remember the night?”

Michael Wehunt has become an auto-buy author for me. Fans of his previous release, The October Film Haunt, will be thrilled to hear that Nightjars also features found-footage elements, this time in the form of terrifying photographs.Continue Reading

Review: Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 23, 2026ReviewsAdam Allen, Deena HelmLeave a comment

Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
Tor Nightfire (September 22nd, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen

Our Cut of Salt marks the debut of a fierce new voice in literary horror. This is not only one of the best horror novels of the year, but one of the best books you’ll ever read. It is haunting, tragic, very entertaining, and it will make you do the most important things a book can do: think and feel. Horror is the genre that looks at the world and asks why, digs deeper, and doesn’t turn away from the darkness. Deena Helm’s debut is a brilliant example of how much can be accomplished by a horror novel.Continue Reading

The Road to OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 18, 2026September 18, 2026Spencer Hamilton's Road to Stephen Graham Jones' OFF THE RESERVATIONSpencer Hamilton, Stephen Graham JonesLeave a comment

ROAD TO STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES’ OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review Column

by Spencer Hamilton

Stephen Graham Jones is largely known as a horror writer—the horror writer, one could argue—but one of the greatest pleasures upon reading through his immense backlist is discovering just how widely he’s drawn from other genres. There is always that vein of horror running through his work, but today we will discuss books that could also be categorized as crime, thriller, noir, and the like. All can and often do share a relation to horror, but to just call these books “horror” would be reductive. I’ll speak more on SGJ’s specific style in the final column of this series, but for the purposes of today’s column, the common denominator is one in which he excels quite deviously: the mind of a serial killer.

Infernal Tramps by Alex Grass

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 17, 2026September 16, 2026ReviewsAlex Grass, Danica DavidsonLeave a comment

Infernal Tramps by Alex Grass
Dickinson Publishing Group (July 2026)
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

Infernal Tramps is a fascinating, morbid, and hallucinatory collection of seventeen short stories. Reading them is a bit like reading something that combines nightmares, surrealist paintings, and an extra shot of weirdness, all into a cocktail of well-written, genre-defying tales of horror. Continue Reading

Review: Ghost in the Grove by Frank Reddy

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 16, 2026ReviewsAdam Allen, Frank ReddyLeave a comment

Ghost in the Grove by Frank Reddy
Shadeland House Modern Press (July 14th, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen

If you enjoy your horrors filled with sweltering heat, religious frenzy, and generational trauma, Frank Reddy has created a Southern Gothic that fits perfectly on the shelf alongside Flannery O’Connor and Del Sandeen. This is a book that seeps into your consciousness, presenting a mystery that brings in all of the things that fascinate us about the genre. Swamps, Antebellum estates, and horror that echoes through decades all converge into one deeply disturbing and mesmerizing novel that is a true must-read.

Review: Poems to Be Afraid of by Pixie Bruner

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 12, 2026ReviewsJoshua Gage, Pixie BrunerLeave a comment

Poems to Be Afraid Of by Pixie Bruner
Authortunities Press (September 3, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Poems to Be Afraid Of is a detailed exploration of fear and phobia. Each poem is dedicated to one type of fear, detailing those fears intimately and artfully, forcing the reader to be as afraid as the speakers of these poems are. Some of these are simple detailing of lists, such as in the Chroma series.

Chroma 9 (8.1) begins with the lines:

The endless dark mouth of the sky

the interstices on the pool deck

where no light can pry beams down into.

Bituminous asphalt, sulfured night terrors,

Rottweilers and labs, sleek shadow cats

that absorb sunlight like event horizons. Continue Reading

Interview: Markus Redmond on Blood Rising, Historical Horror, and Vampires

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 11, 2026InterviewsHaley Newlin, Markus RedmondLeave a comment

Markus Redmond is an actor, director, screenwriter, and author of the Blood Saga. Known for his roles on Doogie Howser, MD, NYPD Blue, Murder One, Mad About You, Angel, and Fight Club, he wrote and starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Sharon Stone in the indie film If I Had Known I Was a Genius. He wrote, directed, and starred in the Amazon Prime thriller The 6th Degree, and has multiple screenplays in development. You can connect with him on Instagram @markusredmond.

Redmond sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss the recently released second installment in the Blood Saga— Blood Rising—historical horror, vampires, and themes of identity and retribution.Continue Reading

Review: Blood Rising (The Blood Saga #2) by Markus Redmond

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 8, 2026September 8, 2026ReviewsHaley Newlin, Markus RedmondLeave a comment

Blood Rising (The Blood Saga #2) by Markus Redmond
Dafina (August 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“If Blood Slaves is about the cost of freedom, Blood Rising is about the cost of power.”

Markus Redmond introduces both installments of the Blood Saga with a letter to the readers. In the Blood Slaves opening, Redmond describes wanting to write a “badass vampire book,” which was what he was in the middle of writing in May 2020, right before George Floyd was murdered. And while Floyd’s murder was tragic, Redmond reminds us that it was not a new or unique occurrence. This kind of violence, with little to no consequence, has been happening since slavery in colonial America.

Feeling infuriated and powerless, Redmond returned to his vampire book, wishing he could be one, imagining how that kind of power could right so much wrong, unleash revenge, settle scores, and change culture, society, and history. That’s when the author’s vampire book became something more. That’s when it became Blood Slaves, and much to this reader’s delight, the Blood Saga.Continue Reading

The Road to OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review Column

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 4, 2026September 18, 2026Spencer Hamilton's Road to Stephen Graham Jones' OFF THE RESERVATIONColumn, Spencer Hamilton, Stephen Graham JonesLeave a comment

ROAD TO STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES’ OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review Column

by Spencer Hamilton

Short stories are a form of magic. Perhaps dark magic, if we’re talking about horror short fiction here, though of course with SGJ we’re never talking about just one genre. For me, horror short fiction has always been that siren song, luring me out into the deep. It started with “The Tell-Tale Heart,” was re-ignited by Joyce Carol Oates’ 1966 story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” and became truly ravenous when young Spencer discovered the cosmic tales of H.P. Lovecraft and the stacks of books collecting the short fiction of Stephen King.

For Stephen Graham Jones, you could say his siren song was, of all things, the author bio of late modern writer Stephen Dixon. As the legend goes, some 30 years ago, near the beginning of his career, SGJ would seek out that author bio at the end of a Stephen Dixon short story to stare at one particular magic number: “[Dixon] has some 300 stories published.” Jones would dream of having that many of his own stories out there. And though I may not have an exact count for you, I would bet that all these years later, he does. And then some. And, SGJ being the dictionary entry for “prolific,” he did it in half the time.Continue Reading

Review: A River Wide by Amanda J. McGee

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 4, 2026September 3, 2026ReviewsAmanda J. McGee, Rowan B. MinorLeave a comment

A River Wide by Amanda J. McGee
Interstellar Flight Press (September 7, 2026)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Horror and fantasy writer Amanda J. McGee is a poet and novelist who resides in Southwest Virginia. Her work has been featured in Artemis Journal, Roanoke Rambler, Luna Station Quarterly, and other venues. McGee is the author of books Mother of Creation and Daughter of Madness from The Creation Saga, as well as the novella Viridian, which is featured in A Sinister Quartet alongside authors C. S. E. Cooney, Mike Allen, and Jessica P. Wick. McGee’s debut standalone horror novella is A River Wide from Interstellar Flight Press.

A River Wide is a 98-page Appalachian murder ballad that depicts violence against women through the lens of the witch trope. Main character Rhia Blackburn is a water witch from the hollers of Appalachia whose magic has been passed down through a long line of women. After her adopted sister Amey supposedly murders a no-good man, she is kidnapped, and Rhia must unveil the magic and secrets she’s suppressed most of her life. Can Rhia negotiate with the river and use her spellwork to find Amey in time?Continue Reading

Review: Blacktail by Scott Hawkins

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 3, 2026ReviewsChandra Claypool, Scott HawkinsLeave a comment

Blacktail by Scott Hawkins
Crown (September 1, 2026)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool

Welcome to Blacktail, a dark fantasy, magical realism story.

Blacktail is a wolf out for revenge. His mate, a house dog, is killed by the “two legs.” He has not only lost her but their puppies, too, and he takes vengeance on the humans. There will be more bloodshed, and the two legs must fall.

Blacktail is faithful to the Forest God, but in times like this, faith is not enough. Drawn to his fury, a feline witch makes him an offer. What if Blacktail could end the human race altogether? First, he must find and wake the Forest God, and with the woods dwindling, he has no other choice. Continue Reading

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