Review: The Last Delivery by Evan Dahm

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cover of Last DeliveryThe Last Delivery by Evan Dahm
Iron Circus Comics (June 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Evan Dahm was born in 1987, growing up in Asheville, North Carolina. He’s been a resident of Brooklyn, New York since 2010, and has been creating and self-publishing comics online and in print since 2006. His prior work includes Vattu and Order of Tales, the Iron Circus graphic novels The Harrowing of Hell and Rice Boy, and The Island Book series for First Second. His newest book is The Last Delivery. Continue Reading

Review: Beyond the Bounds of Infinity edited by Vaughn A. Jackson and Stephanie Pearre

cover of Beyond the Bounds of InfinityBeyond the Bounds of Infinity edited by Vaughn A. Jackson and Stephanie Pearre
Raw Dog Screaming Press (July 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

This is a great year for horror anthologies. Something dark and amazing must be in the water as there are some stellar books released that hit all the right buttons.
This one holds zero duds in the entire book. That’s not typical in this era, so when it does, it makes a reviewer happy. The lineup between the covers is strong, which makes choosing favorites that much tougher. Upon a second reading my thoughts pivoted, and I assume they would again if there was a third time. Everyone will find gems in this anthology, depending on preference of style, topic, or voice, but there’s no doubt that readers will enjoy this one.

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Review: Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa

cover of Island WitchIsland Witch by Amanda Jayatissa
Berkley (February 2024) 
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Island Witch is an unforgettable and culturally rich good-for-her horror novel I cannot stop talking about. After reading This Cursed House by Del Sandeen, Blood On Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen, and Jordan Peele’s anthology Out There Screaming, I’ve been on such a historical fiction and female rage kick. Island Witch is topical, with themes like colonialism, colorism, racism, feminism, and misogyny. It’s a razor-sharp exploration of the violent experience of girlhood and womanhood, perfect for readers seeking a horror book with historical and social depth.Continue Reading

Review: Chopping Spree by Angela Sylvaine

cover of Chopping SpreeChopping Spree by Angela Sylvaine
Dark Matter INK (September 2024)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Angela Sylvaine has a knack for writing nostalgic horror. In her 2023 novel Frost Bite, Sylavine received praise for the nostalgia factor and her ability to create a horror story that reads like a B movie. It’s campy. I thought the same when reading the author’s 2024 novella Chopping Spree.Continue Reading

Review: Stone Martyrs by Erik Hoffstatter

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Stone Martyrs by Erik Hoffstatter
Aquaducts Press (February 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Erik Hofstatter is a dark fiction writer, born in the wild lands of the Czech Republic. He roamed Europe before subsequently settling on English shores, studying creative writing at the London School of Journalism. He now dwells in Kent, where he can be encountered consuming copious amounts of mead and tyrannizing local peasantry. His work appeared in various magazines and podcasts around the world such as Morpheus Tales, The Literary Hatchet, Wicked Library, Manor House Show, and The Black Room Manuscripts Volume IV. His newest novella is Stone Martyrs.Continue Reading

Exclusive Preview: Deathgasm 1.5 – Director’s Cut

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Readers of Cemetery Dance can get the exclusive first preview of the graphic novel Deathgasm 1.5: Director’s Cut. With words from Peter Bune and illustrations by Industrias Lamonicana, the pages can sweep people right back into the Deathgasm movie. Writer and director of the film Jason Howden remarked, “Between the events of Deathgasm 1 and Deathgasm 2 was a story that I needed to tell.” You can check out the current Kickstarter for it here!Continue Reading

Review: There’s Something Sinister In Centerfield by Robert P. Ottone

cover of There's Something Sinister in CenterfieldThere’s Something Sinister In Centerfield by Robert P. Ottone
Cemetery Gates Media (June 2024)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Robert P. Ottone wrote one of the most unsettling and raw books I’ve ever read, The Vile Thing We Created; think modern-day Rosemary’s Baby. But that’s just the half of it. Satanic worship? Or is it witchcraft?

Given the intensity of The Vile Thing We Created, I had no idea what to expect when I heard Ottone wrote a middle-grade horror story called There’s Something Sinister In Centerfield. Ottone, however, is no stranger to children’s literature. Check out The Sleepy Hollow Gang.Continue Reading

The Comic Vault: Armored by Michael Schwartz

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A Kickstarter is currently going on for the hardcover edition of Michael Schwartz’s ghostly comic book Armored. Schwartz, who spoke with Cemetery Dance in 2023, is back to talk about the extras in the campaign, the other ghost comic he’s been working on, and his podcast centered on Wizard Magazine.Continue Reading

Review: Whistle by Linwood Barclay

cover of WhistleWhistle by Linwood Barclay
William Morrow (May 2025)
Reviewed by W.D. Gagliani

After a long list of successful conventional thrillers (Bad Move, I Will Ruin You, Take Your Breath Away, etc.), author Linwood Barclay makes a welcome first foray into well-marked Stephen King territory with Whistle, a tour de force horror novel liberally dabbed with Ray Bradbury’s kind of evocative small-town dark fantasy.Continue Reading

Bev Vincent explores The Life of Chuck

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

It’s the waiting…that’s the hard part

In my review of If It Bleeds, I called “The Life of Chuck” unusual, and the story has led to the creation of a most unusual and unique adaptation. Many directors have re-imagined King’s works over the years, but Mike Flanagan has imagined King’s novella. Rereading the story after watching the movie is an interesting experience. King’s words have never been so faithfully rendered on the screen before.

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Night Time Logic with Rebecca Cuthbert

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Strange Tales,” “Ghost Stories,” and “Eco Horror”

Rebecca Cuthbert

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance and over on my YouTube channel.

Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.

My short story collections with Cemetery Dance are full of the kind of stories that operate with Night Time Logic. My latest is called Phantom Constellations and is coming in Autumn 2025.

I spoke with Rebecca Cuthbert, author of Six O’Clock House and Other Strange Tales about her work, about ghost stories and strange tales, as well as the work of authors who influenced her such as Shirley Jackson.

We began our conversation with a question about author Daphne du Maurier.Continue Reading

Review: Creatures of Liminal Space by Daniel Braum

Creatures of Liminal Space by Daniel Braum
Jackanapes Press (June, 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Like a vinyl record from days gone by, author Daniel Braum spins a unique blend of speculative fiction that effortlessly blends fantasy, science fiction and horror and mysticism in every verse. Weaving a tapestry of quantum intelligence, Braum’s multi-dimensional characters are drawn into dark worlds of spiritualism where concepts of advanced science collide with magic realism to investigate the unexplainable at the edges of civilization. Defying conventional categorization, his work thrives in the grey area between many genres. Braum’s newest collection is Creatures of Liminal SpaceContinue Reading

Review: How To Make A Horror Movie And Survive by Craig DiLouie

cover of How to Make a Horror Movie and SurviveHow To Make A Horror Movie And Survive by Craig DiLouie 
Redhook (June 2024) 
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“Horror is cathartic medicine.”

Max Murray is on top of the world with the release of the third film in his popular slasher series, Jack The Knife. But when he notices laughter in the audience at the film’s premiere, something shifts within him. There’s a new and profound desperation to create real horror and to be taken seriously at all costs.Continue Reading

Review: Everything Endless by Linda D. Addison and Jamal Hodge

cover of Everthing EndlessEverything Endless by Linda D. Addison and Jamal Hodge
Raw Dog Screaming Press (April 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Linda D. Addison (born September 8, 1952) is an American poet and writer of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Addison is the first African-American winner of the Bram Stoker Award, which she won five times. The first two awards were for her poetry collections Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes (2001) and Being Full of Light, Insubstantial (2007). Her poetry and fiction collection How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend won the 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. She received a fourth HWA Bram Stoker for the collection The Four Elements, written with Marge Simon, Rain Graves, and Charlee Jacob. Her fifth HWA Bram Stoker was for the collection The Place of Broken Things, written with Alessandro Manzetti. Addison is a founding member of the CITH (Circles in the Hair) writing group.

Jamal Hodge is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and a Bram Stoker Award Nominated Writer. An active member of the HWA and SFPA, his writing works are in anthologies with notable writers such as Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, and Josh Malerman. Jamal has earned Rhysling Award nominations in 2021, 2022, and 2024, with his poem “Colony” winning 2nd place at the 2022 Dwarf Stars. His book, The Dark Between the Twilight, debuted as the #1 hot new American Poetry Release and was nominated for a 2024 Bram Stoker award. His anthology, Bestiary of Blood: Modern Fables & Dark Tales (2024), launched as the #1 New Horror Anthology Release on Amazon and features 18 Bram Stoker award-winning writers. His newest poetry book, Everything Endless (2025), is a collaboration with Grand Master Linda D. Addison and is published by Raw Dog Screaming Press.

Everything Endless is a collection of micro poetry, called “Dwarf Poems” by Hodge in his introduction. This would imply poems eligible for the Dwarf Star Award, started by Deborah P. Kolodji for the SFPA. Hodge, of course, is a former Dwarf Star winner, and this collection is clearly an attempt to build on that success. The poems are science fiction in nature, and while they explore the darker aspects of humanity, there is a hopefulness as well. The book itself is organized in a conversational “call and response” form, as though the poems are echoing and bouncing off each other, informing each other as the book moves forward. 

When the poems use rich imagery, metaphor, juxtaposition, using all the craft tools one would expect from micropoetry, they work well enough as individual poems. There is a cleverness and wry irony that permeates this collection, and the when the poets are able to work that tone into a poetic organization, the book all but sings. Take, for example, these opening lines from “Alien Blues” by Addison:

the day i came to earth

      my soul was low

           though you don’t think i have one

       looking for a song for my people

            i was so low

       and you shot me down

my planet all gone

      i want a song for my people

            a riff, for a lost planet.

      But one dark night

            at the crossroads to the universe

      you shot me down

Addison is using the blues form to create a poem spoken from an alien. The clever use of blues idioms (“shot me down,” “crossroads of the universe”) and the idea of “alien” as other is rich in this poem, and creating a striking afro-futurist piece. Hodge’s response is his award winning “Colony”:

     The red soil of Mars

     cannot truly be our home

     until one man kills another.

     Preferably, for no reason,

     other than,

 

     it’s the earthiest thing,

     an earthman

     can do.

Readers can already sense the way the poems inform and respond to each other, as well as the way Hodge and Addison weave their voices in and out of each other’s work.

With that being said, there are points when this collection seems under curated and the poems teeter into abstraction and cliche. Take, for example, the cyberhorror piece “Awake” by Hodge:

After death,

we laugh,

when we wake up.

Poems like this detract from the narrative arc of the collection, as well as the horror and anxiety that permeates the collection. While one could see a poem like this as an amuse bouche in the greater meal of the collection, their frequency makes for a rather uneven collection. 

Overall, for readers interested in Science Fiction Horror, especially one tinged with the dread of interstellar space, the unknowns of travel, and the sacrifice of oneself for a better future, this collection will certainly pique their interest. Despite a smattering of weaker poems that come across as too abstract and clever to be consistent with this collection, readers will be sure to find something rewarding in this book. The conversation between two award-winning horror poets alone is worth the price of admission, and this book will be sure to capture the attention of fans of speculative poetry.

Review: Soul Machine by Jordana Globerman

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cover of Soul MachineSoul Machine by Jordana Globerman
Annick Press (June 17, 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Jordana Globerman is a comic book writer and illustrator based in Ottawa, Canada. She holds a Masters in Visual Arts from the University of the Arts London in England, where she majored in drawing anthropomorphic bears and drinking tea the proper way. Her newest book is Soul Machine, a YA-oriented graphic novel of science fiction horror. Continue Reading