Exhumed is my humble attempt to read and review every short story & novel excerpt ever published in Cemetery Dance magazine. In their 32 years of publication, that comes to a total of 577 (and counting!) pieces spread out over 77 issues. For a comprehensive list of issues 1-75, you’ll want to check out Michael P. Sauers’ Cemetery Dance Magazine Index.
Since each Exhumed post covers just two pieces (one “old” and one “new”), I think I’m going to be doing this for a while. I sure hope you’ll join me along the way.
ALSO, to better satiate your reading needs, starting in 2021 all reviews of “new” stories will come from CD issues that are still in print (#65, #69, #71, #73, #74/75,, & #77… they’re all available right here).
SIDE NOTE: I’m always looking for requests from this lot, so please do comment letting me know which “new” story you’d like me to review.
Feel free to read each story along with me or just take it all in while I do the hard work and wax poetic with my observations. Either way, grab your shovel and dig in. There’s no telling what we’ll unearth together.
As promised last time, this installment of Exhumed will feature works by David Starkey and Keith Minnion.
Starkey’s story, “In Utero,” appears in CD#2 (1988). Minnion’s piece, titled “Down There,” is from CD#73 (2016).
Gwendy’s Final Task
by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar Cemetery Dance Publications Exclusive Trade Hardcover Announced Today! Win a Copy Signed by BOTH Authors!
We’re very pleased to announce Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, a brand new original novel that will be published by Cemetery Dance Publications as the World’s First Edition Hardcover on February 15, 2022! Featuring cover artwork by Ben Baldwin and interior artwork by Keith Minnion, this will complete the Gwendy Trilogy (Gwendy’s Button Box, Gwendy’s Magic Feather).
Win a Copy Signed by BOTH Authors!
We’re also thrilled to report that Stephen King and Richard Chizmar are signing THREE copies of our World’s First Edition Hardcover to be given away!
There are three “groups” of eligible booksellers for this giveaway, and anyone who orders from one of the groups can enter to win the copy that is being given to someone who orders from that specific group. And yes, since we know someone will ask, you can order from all these groups to enter three times!
To enter, just forward your email order confirmation to Gwendy2021@aol.com and we’ll do the rest! There’s also a free method of entry, which you can read about on the official giveaway page.
If you order from another store, you can forward your order confirmation to Gwendy2021@aol.com to enter the giveaway and request a signed bookplate!
About the Book:
When Gwendy Peterson was twelve, a mysterious stranger named Richard Farris gave her a mysterious box for safekeeping. It offered treats and vintage coins, but it was dangerous. Pushing any of its seven colored buttons promised death and destruction.
Years later, the button box entered Gwendy’s life again. A successful novelist and a rising political star, she was once again forced to deal with the temptation that box represented.
Now, evil forces seek to possess the button box and it is up to Senator Gwendy Peterson to keep it from them. At all costs. But where can you hide something from such powerful entities?
In Gwendy’s Final Task, “horror giants” (Publishers Weekly) Stephen King and Richard Chizmar take us on a journey from Castle Rock to another famous cursed Maine city to the MF-1 space station, where Gwendy must execute a secret mission to save the world. And, maybe, all worlds.
We’re pleased to announce another surprise in-stock trade paperback: Hardcore Kelli by Wrath James White!
About the Book:
Bullets whizzed past Katy as she dashed through the grass and weeds, and the maze of broken recreational vehicles, farm equipment, and other slowly oxidizing junk.
She gripped the gleaming battle axe in both hands as she waded through gunfire, determined to reach her archnemesis and end his reign of terror forever. Murder Man stood in the doorway of the rundown mobile home, firing at will. She had found his lair. Now it was time to bring him to justice.
Katy hurdled the rusting skeleton of an old ’77 Ford Thunderbird like an Olympic gymnast. She had once been a cheerleader, a good one. Once upon a time she could do flips, handsprings, and somersaults with ease. That was so long ago it felt more like an ancient story from some dusty old history book than something that had actually occurred in her lifetime.
Haibun is an interesting form. From 17th-century Japan, the term was first used by haiku poet Basho to describe a hybrid writing style of terse prose accompanied by haiku. In her book The Golem & the Nazi, Anna Cates uses a Western version of this form to weave a very dark and fantastic spell for her readers.Continue Reading
Borderlands Press is soon to publish the first of three volumes of the complete short fiction of fan favorite F. Paul Wilson, and we’re very pleased to report we’re getting a few copies for our collectors!
This first volume collects all the stories Wilson published in the 70s and 80s. Presented in chronological order with introductory notes by the author, this is a monumental and historical document as well as a wonderful celebration of a staggeringly impressive career by one of our best.
Necronomicon: A Manual of Corpse Eating by Martin Llewellyn Biting Dog Press (December 2019)
42 pages; Limited Edition (35 copies) Reviewed by Rick Hipson
Welcome to a grotesque and fascinating journey into the historical depths of the Book of the Dead and its curator, the mad alchemist, Abdullah Alhazred. Martin Llewellyn, who provides translations from Alhazred’s ancient texts, proclaims he obtained the pages in error when they fell from another book he had requested from the Rare Books and Music in the British Library. Knowing he shouldn’t scour the third century torn, scorched and barely illegible texts, how could he resist? His translations now remain for your eyes only. Or, at least for those lucky enough to own one of only thirty-five copies produced.Continue Reading
NECRONOMICON illustrator George A. Walker (Photo courtesy Michelle Walker)
An Associate Professor at OCAD University of Toronto, George A. Walker is an award-winning Canadian wood engraver, teacher, book artist, author and illustrator who resides in Toronto, Ontario. Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art for his contribution to the cultural area of Book Arts, George has exhibited his wood engravings and limited-edition books internationally for over twenty years through such presses as Cheshire Cat Press, Porcupine Quill Press, and Biting Dog Press. George has also created highly collectable, revered works such as The Mysterious Death of Tom Thompson (2011), Book of Hours: A 9/11 Story (2008) and The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe (2005) among many others. George continues to carve his visionary style and prowess into the woods of Canadian Maple, often making his paper by scratch, and inspires awe and wonder with every groove of his engraving tools.
Most recently, I sat down with George to discuss his design work on Necronomicon: A Manual of Corpse Eating, written by Martin Llewellyn. Originally published in 2019, it’s promotional push was interrupted by our current pandemic, but a proper launch party is planned for the near future. Sit back and enjoy as George and I discuss what drew him to this morbid and fascinating world of sacrifice and scientific controversy. Continue Reading
Martin Llewellyn is a graduate of King’s College in London, UK, where he studied literature and earned his doctorate. His novels include House of the Missing and Necronomicon: A Manual of Corpse Eating, which I was fortunate enough to chat with him about.
Necronomicon is a metafictional representation of Abdulah Alhazred polarizing medical practices as he evolved into ritualistic religious practices which eventually drove him insane during his pursuit to communicate with the Old Gods and achieve life beyond death.
Join Martin and I as we discuss teachings and inspirations surrounding his newest book, poignantly illustrated by the award-winning wood engraver, George A. Walker.Continue Reading
Writing this column is occasionally daunting. I often grapple with the unfortunate reality that not only is it impossible for me to completely cover every important horror/spec fic writer, it’s also hard to read everything written by the writers I highlight. In some cases — writers with modest outputs, or contemporary writers I’ve been reading right along — that’s not such a difficulty.
However, with other writers, such as the focus of today’s column — Algernon Blackwood — I simply have to be content with believing I’ve read enough of their work to offer an informed opinion and recommendation. Even so, there’s still that little irrational insecurity (anyone who knows me knows I’m nothing more than a bundle of irrational insecurities) someone will pipe up in the comments, “Oh, but have you read THIS story by INSERT AUTHOR NAME HERE? You haven’t? Oh.”Continue Reading
14-year-old Daphne Byrne lives in a world where she doesn’t belong. Her father was the only person who understood her, but he died in a disgraceful way, a way that gives gossips plenty to talk about. This is 1886 in New York, and Daphne’s morbid, literate, precocious personality doesn’t fit well in a time and place where women are expected to be docile and obedient. The other girls at school all make fun of her, so she doesn’t fit in anywhere.Continue Reading
Lori suffers from stress-induced migraines. She is enjoying a pain-free day shopping for groceries when she is approached by a woman crowding her personal space. Lori notices the woman has peculiar eyes… a slit instead of a round pupil.
Max Booth III is carving a niche out for himself as the king of premises that should not, in any way whatsoever, work. Yet, somehow, he does it. Every frickin’ time. Even with that anthology that every editor on the planet curses him for. I’ll be damned if he doesn’t pull it off again with We Need to Do Something.Continue Reading
Haley Newlin’s Take Your Turn, Teddy is a dark, psychological horror story exploring the manifestations of early childhood trauma. Newlin uses themes of domestic violence, anxiety, and isolation to create a provocative landscape, The Shadow, for her characters to encounter and battle. A disturbing glimpse of how a broken spirit can unleash powerful demons of the soul. Absolutely captivating, I couldn’t put it down.Continue Reading
Don’t you hate it when online columnists start a post by explaining why they haven’t posted in a while?
Me too. Me too.
Anyway, here’s a bullet list explaining why I haven’t posted in a while: 2019:
Moved
New job
Had a baby
2020:
COVID
Moved again
Another new job
Baby is a toddler now, & as much as I love her, she’s exhausting
So, since it’s obviously been a while…
*checks watch
*frowns
*checks calendar
Eh-heh.
*smiles
…let me remind everyone what this column is all about.Continue Reading
Necronomicon: A Manual of Corpse Eating by Martin Llewellyn
2 pages; $12.95 paperback; $3.99 e-book
