The Cemetery Dance Interview: Barry Hoffman revisits Ray Bradbury with Phoenix 451

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cover of Phoenix 451 by Ray Bradbury (Gauntlet Press edition)Founder of Gauntlet Press Magazine, which dealt with many controversial topics of its time, Barry Hoffman is also the Bram Stoker Award-winning publisher of Gauntlet Press, a specialty publication focused on signed, limited books both classic and modern. Through Gauntlet Press, Hoffman has published some of the most acclaimed writers in dark culture such as Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, Jack Ketchum, Ray Bradbury and so many others.

Most recently, Gauntlet Press published a massive book titled Phoenix 451 by Ray Bradbury, available in three collectable editions. Weighing in at over eight-hundred pages, the publisher has claimed this could be their last signed Bradbury title. If so, what a way to go considering the enormous effort and amount of content which went into this book, including various drafts of Bradbury’s timeless classic novel, Fahrenheit 451, various scripts and plays of the novel, personal letters to and from Bradbury, plus several of Bradbury’s drawing and photos from his home presented here for the first time.  

A literary treasure, a celebratory work of art, an important achievement in culture and entertainment; all these and so much more, this is a book I was eager to sit down and discuss with Barry Hoffman, who was kind enough to open up about his time publishing the work of Bradbury and getting to know the man behind the words we’ve all come to cherish.Continue Reading

Review: Delevan House by Ruthann Jagge and Natasha Sinclair

cover of Delevan HouseDelevan House by Ruthann Jagge and Natasha Sinclair
Independently Published (February 2023)
240 pages; $21.95 hardcover; $14.95 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Folk horror tends to be an intriguing subgenre. It runs deep in our veins and roots in our DNA, no matter what the setting. Collaborative novels are always a mixed bag as the stylistic mix between two minds walks the artistic tightrope.

Yet these two authors forge something special here, as Ruthann Jagge and Natasha Sinclair — the former a Texan/NY hybrid, and the latter hailing from Scotland — have produced a story that is both gorgeous and vicious. The mystery surrounding the story is intoxicating as the question is posed: what is Delevan House? The answer to that is labyrinthine in construction.Continue Reading

Review: Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff

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cover of Skull Cat and the Curious CastleSkull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff
IDW Publishing (February 21, 2023)
112 pages; $14.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Scully the Cat’s father was injured hunting gold on a mountain, so Scully has to get a job with a local garden crew. His first job is at Le Dark Chateau, a haunted mansion rumored to have a hidden treasure, but it’s protected by unknown evil. When Scully’s new crew goes missing and he catches the lady of the manor drinking red liquid from a mug, surely she has murdered everyone and is drinking their blood! Will he have the same courage as his father? Will he find the treasure of Le Dark Chateau, or will he find a different type of treasure, instead?Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: In the Dead of Winter

Dark Pathways

cover of Bleak MidwinterFor those looking for a great collection of horror stories, please for the love of God look no further than Bleak Midwinter: The Darkest Night. Editors Damon Barret and Cassandra L. Thompson just knocked this collection out of the park. It’s fantastic. It’s scary. And the stories are of an exceptional quality. I want to talk up one in particular for this post, because I just re-read it while delayed at the airport and I’m more convinced than ever that I’m in love. There are few things scarier than missing a flight … and this particular story is one of them.Continue Reading

Review: This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

cover of This is Where We Talk Things OutThis Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau 
Dark Lit Press (September 2022)
114 pages; paperback $13.00; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Imagine that every event in your life is unwound, beaten down to bones, and restructured from top to bottom. The funereal routine repeats again and again until you can’t tell your truth from the rescript. That’s how life was for Miller — growing up with a narcissistic mother who was MIA most of the time and emotionally manipulative whenever present.  Continue Reading

Review: The Drift by C.J. Tudor

cover of The Drift by C.J. TudorThe Drift by C.J. Tudor
Ballantine Books (January 31, 2023)
352 pages; $28 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

It’s always a wonderful thing when readers discover a talented new writer whose every offering is rock solid, the quality high yet never failing to break out of comfort zone. C.J. Tudor has become something of a superstar in the thriller and darker tales in the past five years. From the most recent The Burning Girls, an almost folk horror thriller, to her debut The Chalk Man, one of the best thrillers in recent memory, Tudor has played it small, meaning the settings have centered around small, claustrophobic towns and characters who are anything but what readers expect them to be. With The Drift, the author goes big. High concept, end of the world scenario, and a situation that’s horrific, weaving in terror that would find itself familiar in tales of that guy from Maine.

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Review: The Spite House by Johnny Compton

cover of The Spite HouseThe Spite House by Johnny Compton
Tor Nightfire (February 7, 2023)

272 pages; hardcover $27.99; e-book $14.99
Reviewed by David Niall Wilson

The Spite House, the debut novel from Johnny Compton, is a very complex story. There are a lot of well-developed characters, and each of them has secrets, and stories, things they are keeping to themselves and things they want to share. And, of course, there’s that house.Continue Reading

John Mantooth takes the HOLY GHOST ROAD to Bloody Good Reads

Bloody Good ReadsFrom our friends at the Bloody Good Reads podcast:

This week on the podcast we chat to John Mantooth, author of Shoebox Train Wreck, about his latest book Holy Ghost Road and the re-release of this first book Year of the Storm. John also shares his three Bloody Good Reads!

Take a listen to the episode right here.Continue Reading

Rafflecopter Giveaway: IN THE SCRAPE by James Newman and Mark Steensland

Wanna win a $20 Cemetery Dance gift certificate? Simply retweet the .99 sale for In the Scrape by James Newman and Mark Steensland through Raffelcopter for a chance to win

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Review: Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer: A Krampus Story by M. Rickert

Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer: A Krampus Story by M. Rickert
Tordotcom (September 2022)
108 pages; $13.69 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

The holiday season screams merriment and cheer, a time for friends and family, and a time to compartmentalize evil. But what if something far more sinister than an old family spat is at work? We’ve heard its name and feared its wicked horns, obscene tongue, and fiendish fangs: Krampus.Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #231

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and pleasant holiday season. I know a lot of people had travel issues, so I hope none of you are still stuck in an airport somewhere (if you are, Mr. King and I have an anthology to help you pass the time) or trying to track down your luggage.

Will 2023 be a good year? Hard to say, but I know one thing for sure: we have a new King book to look forward to in September and a movie adaptation that has the studio’s confidence.
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Review: How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

cover of How to Sell a Haunted HouseHow to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix 
Berkley (January 2023) 
432 pages; $19.60 paperback; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Grady Hendrix’s new release, How To Sell A Haunted House, looms over the haunted house trope with puppets, gore, and restless spirits, but the family lies and sheer shock of how it unfolds will make readers eat this story up right down to the bone.Continue Reading

Review: Marla by Jonathan Janz

cover of Marla by Jonathan JanzMarla by Jonathan Janz
Earthling Publications (October 2022)
SOLD OUT Limited Edition; $TBD Lettered Edition
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Another year, another home run for Earthling, this time thanks to the magic of Jonathan Janz. This offering is no different than any of the other great stories Paul Miller has unleashed unto the world of horror.
MARLA is a fascinating read that can be devoured quickly, but shouldn’t, especially if intriguing writing and deep characterization is your thing. In a year full of quality horror, it takes a massive work of art to stand out from the crowd. 

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HUGE Production Update: THE STAND, Cemetery Dance #78, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, and Much More!!

Busy start to the New Year in the Cemetery Dance warehouse, and it’s only going to get busier as 2023 goes along. Stacks of grab bags, mystery boxes, and Later slipcases headed out the door, as well as new titles from Gauntlet Publications, Borderlands Press, and Thunderstorm Books. Next week, we’ll start shipping the SST UK limited edition of Gwendy’s Final Task (an entire pallet of them!), soon to be followed by Robert McCammon’s latest Matthew Corbett novel and Bentley Little’s The Store, both from Lividian Publications

two Graveyard Edition books
New editions in our Graveyard Series.

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Review: All Hallows by Christopher Golden

cover of All Hallows by Christopher GoldenAll Hallows by Christopher Golden
St. Martin’s Press (January 24, 2023)
336 pages: $22.99 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Christopher Golden sets us up for what sounds like a perfect Halloween night in the opening chapters of his novel All Hallows…and then viciously, gleefully rips it all apart.

It’s 1984 in Coventry, Massachusetts. The kids on Parmenter Road are looking forward to a night of trick-or-treating; the adults are looking forward to the party that starts once the trick-or-treating is done; and everyone is looking forward to a visit to the Haunted Woods, one family’s tradition that’s grown into a much-anticipated annual event. On the surface, things are great. But behind that thin veneer of neighborly civility, things are coming to a boil.Continue Reading