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Review: Scribe by Michael R. Goodwin

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 24, 2024June 19, 2024ReviewsHaley Newlin, Michael R. Goodwin, Reviews, Scribe1 Comment

cover of Scribe Scribe by Michael R. Goodwin
Dark Pine Publishing (September 2023)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

In Michael R. Goodwin’s Scribe (the Smolder prequel), an ancient force prowls and feeds in the woods, hungry for women, children, hunters, and whoever should be misfortunate enough to enter the shadows. The Penobscot natives lost several to the evil of the woods, with nothing left of the bodies, only scorched patches of earth.

Finally, an elder arranges a deal, trading sacrifice for immunity.Continue Reading

What Screams May Come: Placerita by Lisa Morton and John Palisano

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 21, 2024June 17, 2024What Screams May ComeColumns, Interviews, John Palisano, Lisa Morton, Placerita, Rick HipsonLeave a comment

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Placerita by Lisa Morton and John Palisano
Cemetery Dance (June 2024)

The Synopsis

It’s 1928, and something strange is afoot in the desert town of Placerita just north of Los Angeles. When young biologist Alexis Crawford discovers an unidentifiable specimen washed up in the wake of a devastating flood, it begins a journey that will reveal the dark conspiracies at the heart of California and the secret known only to a few: that beneath the City of Angels is an ancient world of tunnels lined in gold, a world that is home to the legendary Lizard People.Continue Reading

James Aquilone kickstarts Kolchak…..again

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 19, 2024June 18, 2024InterviewsDanica Davidson, Interviews, James Aquilone, KolchackLeave a comment

Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and writer James Aquilone and Monstrous Books have acquired the print rights to Jeff Rice’s novel Kolchack: The Night Stalker. Rice’s book was the basis for the cult TV favorite television series, which was released in 1972 — a year before the novel became available.

Now, Monstrous Books is planning a deluxe hardcover edition of Kolchack: The Night Stalker. The book will have a print run limited to 1,973 copies, and will feature essays and illustrations created specifically for this edition. You can help fund the book through its Kickstarter campaign.

Recently, Aquilone took time to discuss his love of all thing Kolchak, and the plans for this special new edition.Continue Reading

Review: The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 17, 2024June 9, 2024ReviewsCJ Tudor, Dave Simms, Reviews, The GatheringLeave a comment

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
Ballantine Books (April 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Full disclosure here: not a vampire fan, because most fiction and movies aim for the tried and true tropes rather than injecting new blood into the subgenre. Once in a while, a novel changes that view. The Gathering is one of those, an enjoyable, left turn of a blood-sucking story that can make the reader forget about the bad stories.Continue Reading

The Cemetery Dance Interview: The Haunting of Gwendolyn Kiste

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 14, 2024June 13, 2024InterviewsGwendolyn Kiste, Haley Newlin, Interviews, The Haunting of VelkwoodLeave a comment

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Author Gwendolyn Kiste — Gwendolyn Kiste

Gwendolyn Kiste is a three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Haunting of Velkwood, The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Mortals, and most recently, a short story called “Your Mother’s Love Is An Apocalypse” in the Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror anthology, foreword by Sadie Hartmann, edited by Lindy Ryan. Kiste has also won the Lambda Literary Award and received the This is Horror award for Novel of the Year.

She doesn’t just tell any old ghost stories. Kiste’s books, like The Haunting of Velkwood, orbit themes of self-identity, complacency, and unbreakable bonds. To her, “Everyone’s life is like a haunted house.” Perhaps that’s why her books linger, giving readers a ghostly book hangover.

Kiste spoke to Cemetery Dance about The Haunting of Velkwood, gothic horror, themes of complacency and accountability in her latest novel, and, of course, ghost stories (her specialty).Continue Reading

Review: Shadows Abyss by L. N. Frost

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 12, 2024June 9, 2024ReviewsJoshua Gage, L.N. Frost, poetry, Reviews, Shadows AbyssLeave a comment

cover of Shadows Abyss Shadows Abyss by L. N. Frost
Independently Published (December 2020)
116 pages; $10.24 paperback, $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Luna Nyx Frost (Nicole) is a native to Baltimore, Maryland, and has been writing for the last twenty years. She is a blind author and writes poetry, urban fantasy, and paranormal. Her debut novel HUNTED: The Immortal’s Kiss cowritten with Emberly Lily Summers is available on Amazon. After publishing her poetry book. Shadow Abyss: A Book of Poetry, she has had other poems featured in anthologies such as Maryland’s Best Emerging Poets by Z Publishing and in Fae Thee Well by Dreampunk Press. Her passion for writing and reading doesn’t stop at sonnets and novels. Her inspiration mostly comes from nature, ancient history, and classic literature. Luna has also looked up to the magnificent work of poets such as Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickens. She has also read many works by Shakespeare and fables by The Brothers Grimm. Luna has also been intrigued by the great ancient civilizations. Her collection, Shadows Abyss, is available now. Continue Reading

Review: Necrotek by Jonathan Maberry

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 10, 2024June 9, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, Jonathan Maberry, Necrotek, ReviewsLeave a comment

Necroteck by Jonathan Maberry
Blackstone Publishing (May 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Military science fiction crossed with Lovecraftian horror with a cast of offbeat characters in an adventure that begs for a film adaptation? Yes please!

Jonathan Maberry has conquered a bit of everything in his career, from the straight-up horror that won him a Bram Stoker award to the popular weird adventure series starring Joe Ledger to resurrecting the Weird Tales franchise in style. His style combines Matheson and Bradbury, a pair of giants he knew as a child, along with the fun adventure tales that filled drugstore spinner racks. This is all strong praise, especially for this new novel, which promises to be the start of another successful series.Continue Reading

What Screams May Come: Blood Covenant by Alan Baxter

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 7, 2024June 5, 2024What Screams May ComeAlan Baxter, Blood Covenant, Columns, Interviews, Rick Hipson, What Screams May ComeLeave a comment

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Blood Covenant by Alan Baxter
Cemetery Dance, May 2024

The Synopsis

cover of Blood Covenant What should have been a breeze of a bank heist for James Glenn and his crew goes violently wrong, forcing them to flee, blood-stained and angry. They stumble onto a remote lodge that doesn’t open for another month — a perfect place to lie low until the heat’s off.

Except it’s occupied.

The Moore family, just arrived to prepare for the season, are taken hostage by the criminals, but not without bloodshed. And when blood gets spilled, something ancient notices. Something malevolent. Something ravenous.

Their only hope is the youngest Moore, teenager Rueben, outside and unseen when James and his gang arrive. It’s up to Rueben to get help and save his family, but the influence of the ancient evil is taking a toll on him as well…Continue Reading

Review: Hellweg’s Keep by Justin Holley

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 5, 2024June 4, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, Flame Tree Press, Hellweg's Keep, Justin Holley, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Hellweg's Keep Hellweg’s Keep by Justin Holley
Flame Tree Press (November 2023)
256 pages; $16.77 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Horror in space has always held a special place in many readers’ hearts. However, for the most part it’s been more prevalent on the screen than on the page. Thankfully, the subgenre has been making a comeback in the past few years, striking a fine balance between science fiction and dread.

Justin Holley has added an interesting entry into this canon with Hellweg’s Keep. a novel that brings to mind several elements of well-known and well-loved stories, including The Thing, the worlds of Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft — all while keeping it grounded, no pun intended.Continue Reading

Dead Trees: The Nightrunners

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 3, 2024May 19, 2024Dead TreesColumns, Dead Trees, Joe R. Lansdale, Mark Sieber, The NightrunnersLeave a comment

banner reading Dead Trees by Mark Sieber

cover of Twilight Zone Magazine from October 1988 The October 1988 issue of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone Magazine had a big feature about Splatterpunk authors. Editor Tappan King was reportedly trying to create a movement.

There were photos of authors from a convention who were purported to be Splatterpunks: John Skipp, Craig Spector and David J. Schow, of course. R.C. Matheson and Ray Garton. I can buy all of that, but Joe R. Lansdale was proclaimed to be one of the Splat Pack. Even more ridiculously, so was Robert McCammon.Continue Reading

Review: Ink Vine by Elizabeth Broadbent

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 31, 2024May 19, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, Elizabeth Broadbent, Ink Vine, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Ink Vine Ink Vine by Elizabeth Broadbent
(April 2024)
118 pages
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The horror novella can be a powerful entity. When handled properly, it’s a gut punch, a blade twist to the heart, and a mind screw all at the same time. Elizabeth Broadbent has penned one of those stories here in Ink Vine, a tale that is deeper and more dangerous than the swamp she created within. At 118 pages it hits hard, managing to build an effective setting in a South Carolina that reeks of the dank water, humidity, and scent of the trees which smother visitors who dare to enter. The story manages to be a strong character study with a taut element of horror, yet is so much more.

Labeled by many as a sapphic horror tale, which is true, it’s also an entertaining, quick read that begs to be savored slowly.

Review: My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 29, 2024May 19, 2024ReviewsHaley Newlin, Johanna Van Veen, My Darling Dreadful Thing, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of My Darling Dreadful Thing My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen
Poisoned Pen Press (May 2024)
384 pages
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen exceptionally invokes gothic tropes such as unearthing buried secrets at a dire cost, and relics of her predecessors to craft a chilling, sapphic love story that is possessive, haunting, and beautiful.Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: Of Headless Men and Estranged Brothers

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 27, 2024May 16, 2024Dark PathwaysColumns, Dark Pathways, In the Valley of the Headless Men, Ken Brosky, L.P. HernandezLeave a comment

Dark Pathways

cover of In the Valley of the Headless Men If you haven’t already, make sure you put In The Valley of Headless Men by L.P. Hernandez on your “to-read” list. It’s a tight, well-paced novella that hits right in the gut. Here’s the blurb:

Nahanni National Park is one of the last truly wild places on earth. Accessible only by plane, and only when the weather cooperates, it’s the perfect place for estranged brothers Joseph and Oscar to have an adventure following the death of their mother. Gillian, Joseph’s first love, invites herself along in the spirit of friendship. The park is much more than beautiful. It’s mysterious, with legends of giants and hidden, prehistoric animals. And among its few visitors, an outsized number of violent deaths inspire its second, more seductive name.

Review: The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories by David Small

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 23, 2024May 22, 2024Reviews, The Comic VaultColumns, Danica Davidson, David Small, Reviews, The Comic Vault, Werewolf at DuskLeave a comment

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cover of The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories by David Small
Liveright (March 2024)
192 pages
Reviewed by Danica Davidson

The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories is a haunting triptych of tales about “the dread of things internal.” Done in an illustrated format, it’s kind of like a picture book for adults, and it shows the depth and artistic aesthetics possible in graphic storytelling. This is a book to stay with readers long after they’ve finished the last page, and I’ve never seen anything else quite like it.Continue Reading

David Small and The Werewolf at Dusk

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 22, 2024May 13, 2024The Comic VaultColumns, Danica Davidson, David Small, Interviews, The Comic Vault, Werewolf at DuskLeave a comment

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Author and illustrator David Small’s latest book, The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories, contains three yarns — “The Werewolf at Dusk,” “A Walk in the Old City,” and “The Tiger in Vogue” — all connected by the theme “the dread of things internal.” Two are based on short prose stories by other authors, and one is largely based on a dream Small had. Small spoke to Cemetery Dance about how the stories came together, his approach in writing and illustrating The Werewolf at Dusk, and what he would like readers to take away from the book.Continue Reading

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