Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Dead TreesLeave a comment on Dead Trees: Cold Blood 
Horror didn’t die in the nineties. It pulled back its reins, regrouped, and emerged as something different than we had in the eighties.
The market was flooded with weak product that eclipsed the truly worthy books being published. Those inferior books have ironically become more valuable collector’s items than most of the better titles of the time.Continue Reading
Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers edited by Matthew R. Sparks and Olivia Sizemore
University Press of Kentucky (October 2024)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor
Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers is a new book of over 50 chilling short stories adapted, collected, and edited by Matthew R. Sparks and Olivia Sizemore. These local legends center around haints, boogers, UFOs, and supernatural happenings within the Appalachian region. Separated into five sections, the otherworldly retellings in Haint Country are accompanied by unsettling watercolor illustrations by co-author Olivia Sizemore. These beautifully eerie designs are reminiscent of those by Stephen Gammell in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the legends and lore will remind you of an adult version of the Short and Shivery series. Haint Country also corrects misinformation and harmful stereotypes about rural folklore and Appalachia as a whole. Authors Sparks and Sizemore have expanded the traditions within Appalachian storytelling and invite their audience to participate in its culture. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima 
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
Tor Books (June 2024)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool (Instagram) (TikTok)
Imaging meeting the Devil at a bar and they convince you that you’re kindred spirits because you both crave stories and you’re just drunk and heartbroken enough to let them in. This book has a unique format in that there’s stories within the main story. We follow the main character and her several encounters with the Devil as we get a peek into the stories she is writing for them. I absolutely love the cover for this as it shows this concept so well.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Exclusive Preview: Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows 
The Tower of Shadows anthology series from 1969, which includes the work of such comics bigwigs as Stan Lee, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson and more, is being published by Marvel and Fantagraphics together as Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows on April 29. Cemetery Dance gets to show this exclusive preview of Gary Friedrich and George Tuska’s story. And don’t forget to check out the following Lost Marvels volumes:
These will be out in July and November, respectively.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth 
The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth
Flatiron Books (March 2025)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor
Erika T. Wurth, a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, lives in Denver, Colorado and is an urban Native of Apache, Chickasaw, and Cherokee descent. She has published in The Kenyon Review, Buzzfeed, and The Writer’s Chronicle. She is a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation and has been a guest writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Wurth’s horror novel White Horse is a New York Times editor’s pick and a Good Morning America buzz pick. Her most recent novel is The Haunting of Room 904. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden 
The Night Birds by Christopher Golden
St. Martin’s Press (May 6, 2025)
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
It is, as they say, a tale as old as time.
Someone seeking power and purpose joins a group centered around an ancient evil — in this case, something called an Ur-Witch, with followers known as weavers who practice its mysterious rituals. When the hideous truth of their involvement comes to light, a couple of women break away and seek shelter with an old acquaintance, unwittingly bringing danger and death to his door.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Night Time LogicLeave a comment on Night Time Logic with Erica Ruppert 
“Weird Horror,” “Fairy Tales,” and “Folklore”
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 to Erica Ruppert, author of Seven Stars: Collected Stories about her work, about fairy tales and folklore, including her favorite stories by Tanith Lee and Angela Carter.
We began our conversation with why a mix of genres operates well with horror fiction.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Symphony for Walpurgis: A Collection by Rami Ungar 
Symphony for Walpurgis by Rami Ungar
May 1, 2025
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Rami Ungar is the author of Rose, a novel about a woman who turns into a plant, and the collection Hannah & Other Stories, which includes the tale of a carnivorous horse. He is the Ohio chapter coordinator for the Horror Writers Association. His newest collection of novelletes is Symphony forrWalpurgis.
Novellettes are a strange beast. Many publishers and readers find them difficult because they’re such an in-between style of writing. They’re too short to build real suspense, some readers will tell you. Others will insist that they’re too long, and that they’re just short stories that need more editing. However, as the novelette is Ungar’s chosen form, he’s done his best to prove naysayers wrong, and what a job he has done!Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Breaking NewsLeave a comment on YOUR CHANCE TO BE ON THE COVER OF CEMETERY DANCE MAGAZINE! TREAT YOURSELF…or GIVE IT TO SOMEONE SPECIAL AS A GIFT!
YOU PICK THE HEADLINE: “Constant Reader of the Year!” Or “Writer of the Year!” Or…?
This once-in-a-lifetime FREE bonus item is available to anyone who pre-orders Richard & W.H. Chizmar’s WIDOW’S POINT: THE COMPLETE HAUNTING before midnight on Friday, April 25.
HOW? It’s easy!
* Just email your pre-order confirmation to [email protected] along with the photo you wish to use AND what you want the headline to say… and our designer will do the rest!
* We will email your customized Cemetery Dance cover in 5-10 days.
* You may pre-order up to 5 copies to receive 5 covers.
Author Bev VincentPosted on Categories Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1 Comment on Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #239 
There’s a lot going on in the Stephen King Universe in the next six or seven months, so you should get a calendar and fill in all the important dates. Or you could just refer to all the information in this column, which has you covered!
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Blood On Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Blood On Her Tongue is a vividly violent and sapphic, good-for-her horror story with a strong appetite and ferocious bite. Johanna Van Veen has repeated her success; Blood On Her Tongue is every bit as unputdownable and shocking as her 2024 novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing.
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Bridgit Connell: Making Monsters in the Mignolaverse
Lady Baltimore: The Daughters of Medusa, the latest in the Outerverse Universe of books, is a two-part comic by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, with art by Bridgit Connell. Connell told Cemetery Dance about her early (elementary school) horror artwork, working with Mignola and Golden, and why this is one of her favorite monster stories. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Review: Saint Catherine by Anna Meyer
Saint Catherine by Anna Meyer
23rd St. (April 29, 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Anna Meyer is an author, designer and comic artist living in Brooklyn, New York. Originally from the Midwest, Anna went to a two-year design school in Lakewood, Ohio, where she received her associate degree in graphic design. She has over eleven years of professional design experience as both a senior designer and a design manager. She has been drawing and making comics ever since she could hold a pencil. Anna’s debut graphic novel is Saint Catherine. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: This Cursed House by Del Sandeen 
This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
Berkley (October 2024)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Jemma Barker needs a fresh start, and it appears in a strange letter offering her a position with the Duchon family in New Orleans. It promises the highest pay she’s ever earned.
The author, Del Sandeen, wastes no time settling readers into the gritty anticipation of horror and mystery. When Jemma arrives in New Orleans, a woman in a café urges Jemma to return home. The driver ices her out, not wanting to speak of the Duchon place, much less see it.
This Cursed House was unputdownable from the get-go. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews1 Comment on Review: Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner 
Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner
Winding Road Stories (May 2024)
Reviewed by Chandra Claypool (Instagram) (TikTok)
“18 provocative tales of terror that explore the darkest corners of the human mind.. concluding with an unforgettable metafictional story on what it takes to be a horror writer.” Yes, please!Continue Reading
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