Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel 
Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel
Tor Nightfire (May 17, 2022)
320 pages; hardcover $26.99, e-book $13.99
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
The Stepford Wives meets Rosemary’s Baby in Anne Heltzel’s adult debut Just Like Mother.
On a GoodReads list, “Get Creeped Out With These 33 New and Upcoming Horror Novels,” I discovered Just Like Mother.
Heltzel’s novel became a haunting, inescapable image in my brain, with a wonderfully lurid cover featuring…. a baby doll. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Dance Among the Flames by Tori Eldridge 
Dance Among the Flames by Tori Eldridge
Running Wild Press (May 24, 2022)
404 pages; $19.99 paperback; $9.49 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror edited by P L McMillan and Solomon Forse
Joshua Mortensen (May 12, 2022)
352 pages; $19.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
HOWL Society, located on Discord, is the most active horror book club on the web. With hundreds of members, the club offers readers the chance to join a supportive community where they can enjoy books alongside other horror-lovers while engaging in meaningful discussions and forming long-lasting friendships. Aside from serving as an organized platform for discussing books, HOWL Society is also home to a tight-knit group of horror writers. Additionally, members can participate in tangential conversations about horror films, horror games, and much more. Because the club aims to provide equal access to all readers and writers around the world, membership is 100% free. Occasionally, HOWL Society publishes anthologies, and their most recent is Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: What Flies Want by Emily Pérez 
What Flies Want by Emily Pérez
University of Iowa Press (May 11, 2022)
96 pages; $19.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Emily Pérez is an English and gender studies instructor and grade-level dean at Colorado Academy. She is the author of What Flies Want, winner of the Iowa Prize; House of Sugar, House of Stone; and the chapbooks Backyard Migration Route and Made and Unmade. She lives in Denver, Colorado. What Flies Want, her newest collection, is a dark collection of poems that deals with very real traumas — mental health, marriage difficulties, self-harm, etc. — and their very real consequences.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak 
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
Flatiron Books (May 10, 2022)
384 pages; $25.19 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Chris Hallock
Jaded readers may approach new fiction with skepticism; however, Jason Rekulak’s eerie new work Hidden Pictures proves that the genre is ever-evolving. Rekulak’s latest character-driven work (following up his Edgar-nominated debut The Invisible Fortress) benefits largely from an isolated setting, clever twists, and a compelling protagonist who finds herself ensnared in a tragic supernatural mystery. The author layers his ghostly tale with intriguing psychological and cultural components that enrich its taut narrative, while exposing the sinister underbelly of its suburban setting. Continue Reading
John Carpenter’s Night Terrors: Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke and Jason Felix
Storm King Productions (March 2022)
104 pages; $17.99 paperback
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Back in 2015, I had the pleasure of reviewing Kealan Patrick Burke’s then-new novella, Sour Candy. You can see the full review here, but I’ll include the plot summary from that review below:Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas 
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Berkley (May 2022)
352 pages; $20.99 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Lost to the wilds of war, death, and deceit, The Hacienda ensnares readers in its malevolent maw.
In Isabel Cañas’ debut novel, dread and unease snake up the spine of both the reader and characters in a tone as haunting as the mothers of gothic stories like Elizabeth Gaskell and Daphne du Maurier. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Lust Killer by Ann Rule 
Lust Killer by Ann Rule
Berkley (May 2022)
288 pages; paperback $12.00; e-book $6.99
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
“In the face of cruel madness, calm, sane steps must be taken.” – Ann Rule
Ann Rule once again proves she is the exemplar of true crime books. After reading Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story, one of her most famous and intimately written true crime tales, I knew I had to read more of her work.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Fortunate by Kim Rashidi 
Fortunate by Kim Rashidi
Andrews McMeel Publishing (May 3, 2022)
161 pages; $14.99 paperback; $7.16 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Kim Rashidi is a 24-year-old poet based in Toronto. She explores the cosmos through her words and has a soft spot for capturing love and life in the mundane. Writing about the lives, cities, and timelines that mirror back the romantic, she weaves reality with imagined possibilities. She holds an MA in English literature and has taken to poetry since she was 16. Her newest collection is Fortunate, a series of poems based upon the Waite-Rider-Smith tarot deck.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero 
The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero
Peachtree Teen (May 3, 2022)
452 pages; $18.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
R.M. Romero is a Jewish Latina and author of fairy tales for children and adults. She lives in Miami Beach with her cat Henry VIII and spends her summers helping to maintain Jewish cemeteries in Poland. You can visit her online at RMRomero.com. Her newest book, a YA verse novel, is the ethereal The Ghosts of Rose Hill.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Berkley (May 3, 2022)
352 pages; $20.99 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
Isabel Cañas’ striking debut, The Hacienda, is a historical, Gothic horror novel enticing readers with a compelling haunted house tale while making a grab for hearts with a love story nestled in its core.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Antisocial Housing by Tim Mendees 
Antisocial Housing by Tim Mendees
Nordic Press (April 30, 2022)
87 pages; $9.99 paperback; $3.91 ebook
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Tim Mendees is a rather odd chap. He’s a horror writer from Macclesfield in the North-West of England that specializes in cosmic horror and weird fiction. A lifelong fan of classic weird tales, Tim set out to bring the pulp horror of yesteryear into the 21st Century and give it a distinctly British flavor. His work has been described as the lovechild of H.P. Lovecraft and P.G. Wodehouse and is often peppered with a wry sense of humor that acts as a counterpoint to the unnerving, and often disturbing, narratives. Tim has had over eighty published short stories and novelettes along with six stand-alone novellas and a short story collection. His newest tale is Antisocial Housing, a fun, quick read of cosmic horror.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: A History of Touch by Erin Emily Ann Vance 
A History of Touch by Erin Emily Ann Vance
Guernica Editions (May 1, 2022)
101 pages; $17.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Erin Emily Ann Vance is the author of the novel Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers (Stonehouse Publishing 2019) as well as six chapbooks of poetry. She was a recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Young Artist Prize in 2017 (nominated by Aritha van Herk) and a finalist for the 2018 Alberta Magazine Awards for her short story “All the Pretty Bones.” Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in magazines and journals all over the world. Her newest poetry collection is A History of Touch, which is a profound collection of poetry about women who were ill, disabled, mad, or simply too rebellious, and the fates they faced.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon 
The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
Scout Press (April 26, 2022)
352 pages; $25.19 hardcover; $13.39 paperback; $14.99 Kindle
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
I’ve been reading Jennifer McMahon’s books forever. I remember running across a few titles in my local, small-town library and binge-reading them both fairly quickly. Her storytelling voice effortlessly draws readers into the lives of her characters who are almost always involved in a dark mystery.
My favorite McMahon book is The Winter People. She’s had several releases since that book, but none of them gave me that same kind of experience.
I’m excited to report that The Children on the Hill is that book. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Madame Cruller’s Couch by Elizabeth Massie 
Madame Cruller’s Couch and Other Dark and Bizarre Tales by Elizabeth Massie
Crossroad Press (August 2021)
290 pages; hardcover $31.99; paperback $18.99; e-book $4.99
Reviewed by Dave Simms
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