Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Island X by Marissa Yarrow Island X by Marissa Yarrow
Mad Axe Media (July 2026)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool
A thousand celebrities and influencers are invited to an island music festival and have to commit quickly or they will lose an opportunity of a lifetime. Imagine being invited to a party no one has ever heard of to really amp up your status in the online world and pump up those numbers! How could you refuse? You simply CANNOT.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Small Town Slasher by Stephanie Rose Small Town Slasher by Stephanie Rose
Death by TBR Books (August 4, 2026)
Reviewed by Briana Morgan
“There’s no time to run. There’s no time to hide.”
After her partner Charlie’s tragic passing, Jenna Willcot struggles to adjust to her new reality. One day, after arriving home in the wake of the accident, Jenna discovers Charlie booked a stay for them in a “one-of-a-kind overnight experience designed to spark nostalgia and give you the creeps in the best way possible.” The trip is planned and paid for—all Jenna has to do is go.Continue Reading
ROAD TO STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES’ OFF THE RESERVATION: An Obsessive’s Fiction Review Column
Horror, as a fiction genre, is having a moment (e.g., Obsession, Backrooms, Sinners). So it’s only fitting that one of the 21st century’s greatest storytellers would finally take his pound of flesh and rise with this wave of fictional blood. Stephen Graham Jones has been steadily putting out his particular brand of fiction for a quarter century now. Many of us this summer were, though unsurprised, thrilled to watch him accept the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, and Nebula Award for Best Novel for his masterpiece, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Give the man his flowers, we said, all while knowing he’d keep feeding us, and well. Our next meal? Off the Reservation, his upcoming novel from Saga Press—and surprise follow-up to 2020 fan-favorite The Only Good Indians—in stores everywhere October 13, 2026.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Lost in Found Footage by Joey Powell Lost in Found Footage by Joey Powell
Mad Axe Media (August 11, 2026)
Reviewed by Briana Morgan
As a devotee of found footage, cursed objects, and the dark side of influencer culture, I had high hopes for Joey Powell’s Lost in Found Footage. When Powell first teased the concept on social media, it ticked every box for me. This is the quintessential “Summerween” read—perfect for those early August nights when the air starts to turn.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories InterviewsLeave a comment on Interview: Cynthia Gómez on Muñeca and Gothic Horror Cynthia Gómez is the author of the story collection The Nightmare Box and Other Stories, and a Tin House and VONA alumn whose short fiction has published in Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, Pseudopod, Nightmare Magazine, and numerous anthologies.
Gómez’s new release, Muñeca, is a queer, Latine novel set in 1968 Oakland about a working-class witch who sets out to save a bespelled heiress and explores misogyny, racial hierarchy, classism, and the power of female friendship and community.
Book Riot called Muñeca one of the best horror books of 2026 so far. It also appeared on lists such as “15 Books Our Critics Can’t Wait for This Summer” from NPR, and Buzzfeed’s “Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2026.”
Gómez sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss her new gothic horror release, Muñeca, the author’s early experiences reading classic gothic horror, additional influences such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Isabel Cañas, and the creepy doll trope. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Imprint by L. Marie Wood Imprint: Book Three of the Red Saga by L. Marie Wood
Mocha Memoirs Press (July 14, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent 
L. Marie Wood’s Imprint is the third book of The Red Thread Saga, “a genre-bending, experimental series,” which weaves elements of traditional horror, science fiction, psychological horror, romance, and thriller into a slipstream conglomeration that’s purely original and purely Wood. With all six books releasing in one year (!) fans don’t have to wait to learn the fate of throuple Mark, Eric, and Nicole (referred to as The Tryst in book one).Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Unnamed Bones by Lora Senf 
Unnamed Bones by Lora Senf
Union Square & Co. (July 21, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen
Some books transcend the labels placed on them because they are so much more. Unnamed Bones by Lora Senf is one such book. Though it is labeled as YA horror, and it is a horror book about young adults, Unnamed Bones should not be interpreted as being strictly for young readers. It is one of the best books of the year and destined to be a horror classic for all ages. I’ve read a lot of horror, a lot, and this book is terrifying. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Greedy by Callie Kazumi Greedy by Callie Kazumi
Bantam Books (February 2026)
Reviewed by Briana Morgan
Set amidst the beauty of Tokyo, Japan, Greedy by Callie Kazumi is a horror novel whose satirization of greed comes across as darkly funny. As the protagonist strives to keep food on his family’s table, he’s horrified to learn what might put food on someone else’s. Ultimately, he must decide whether providing a better life for his family is worth hurting others.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen
Crown (June 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Slasher Summer is a blood-soaked whodunnit made for fans of slasher horror films like Friday the 13th and Scream. E.L. Chen’s horror expertise, not just in references and nods to iconic horror flicks like Psycho and Get Out, but in the execution of tropes and rules of survival, rivals even the most die-hard fans and know-it-all characters we love, like Scream’s Randy Meeks.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Devil’s Pocketbook by Ross Jeffery The Devil’s Pocketbook by Ross Jeffery
CLASH Books (August 18, 2026)
Reviewed by Abby Wolf
Some horror novels terrify through spectacle. Others rely on relentless violence and shocking twists. The Devil’s Pocketbook distinguishes itself because it recognizes that grief can be more horrifying than any monster. Ross Jeffery has crafted a novel where supernatural horror grows organically from emotional devastation and is as heartbreaking as it is unsettling.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Arson by Design by Tyler Jones Arson by Design by Tyler Jones
Rapture Publishing (August 2026)
Reviewed by Abby Wolf
Tyler Jones’ Arson by Design is a collection obsessed with destruction. Not simply physical destruction, but emotional self-immolation. Again and again, these stories return to people who knowingly step toward ruin and strike the match themselves even while understanding the cost. Whether through grief, obsession, guilt, ambition, or desperation, Jones fills these pages with characters who participate in their own undoing. The result is a stellar collection of horror that feels deeply intimate beneath its sometimes supernatural surface. We aren’t only facing monsters. We are facing the human instinct to burn our lives down in search of meaning or absolution. In some cases, even seeking escape.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane
Dafina (January 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
With recent reads like The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond, I have found that there is so much information and empathy to be gained from reading historical horror books. So, when I saw Clay Cane’s Burn Down Master’s House at a local bookstore, I knew that I had to read it. It’s a historical retelling of four individuals’ experiences in the Antebellum South.
With an emphasis on collective opposition to oppression in Burn Down Master’s House, Cane offers an unforgettable look into so much American history that has been rewritten, falsified, or omitted entirely. This is one of the most important books you’ll ever read. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Ripped Up the Middle in Two by Viggy Parr Hampton Ripped Up the Middle in Two by Viggy Parr Hampton
Horror Humor Hunger Press (July 29th, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen
Ripped Up the Middle in Two is not just a novel but a guttural howl of rage and frustration that will shake you to your very core. It’s funny, it’s infuriating, and it’s horrifying as hell. Viggy Parr Hampton has created a world that is so realistic, with characters you believe you could encounter on a walk through the neighborhood, that when the supernatural arrives, it makes it all the more disturbing. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Night Time LogicLeave a comment on Night Time Logic with Emma E. Murray 
Grief, Loss, and Unsettling Horror
Night Time Logic is a term for the parts of a story that are felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance online and over on my YouTube channel, where we explore the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror, dark fiction, and more.
My latest book, Phantom Constellations: Strange Tales and Ghost Stories, out now from Cemetery Dance Publications, is full of subtle, strange, and intentionally ambiguous tales that operate with Night Time Logic.
I met author Emma E. Murray at the Indie Book Fair in Ridgewood, New York, in November 2025, where I obtained a copy of her short story collection, The Drowning Machine and Other Obsessions.
I recently had a chance to speak with Emma E. Murray about the collection, Jack Ketchum, and grief horror. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Just Us, Here by V.S. Lawrence Just Us, Here by V.S. Lawrence
Self-published (July 24, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen
V.S. Lawrence has made a name for herself in the indie horror space as a writer of nostalgic, fun novels like 80s Ghosts and With Friends Like These, but she does something very different with the unsettling and extremely effective Just Us, Here. Lawrence creates an all-too-realistic portrait of a person slowly succumbing to a malevolent entity in their newhome, or perhaps she is just losing her mind. The results are devastating. Continue Reading
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