Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager 
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
Dutton Books (June 2022)
386 pages; $17.47 hardcover; $24.95 paperback; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Drowning.
Murder.
Poison.
If it weren’t for all the wicked haunted house scenes and terrifying entities in Home Before Dark, I’d say Riley Sager’s latest release, The House Across The Lake, is my new favorite of his. Continue Reading
Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend by Alys Arden and Jacquelin de Leon
DC Comics (July 26, 2022)
208 pages; $16.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Alys Arden was raised by the street performers, tea-leaf readers, and glittering drag queens of the New Orleans French Quarter. She cut her teeth on the streets of New York and has worked all around the world since. The Casquette Girls, her debut novel, garnered over one million reads online before it was acquired by Skyscape.
Jacquelin de Leon is an illustrator and comics artist currently located in San Jose, California. She graduated with a BFA in illustration and entertainment design from Laguna College of Art and Design. Since graduating in 2015 she has become an illustration brand, self-publishing multiple books and working full-time to produce for her online shop and her YouTube channel. When not working on major projects, her favorite subjects are vivid and magical mermaids, sultry witches, and tattooed punk girls with colored hair. Their most recent graphic novel is Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Review: Recursion’s End by Emma Groom
Recursion’s End by Emma Groom
U-26 Comics (July 2022)
189 pages; $15.00 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
By day, Emma Groom is an undergrad biologist. She’s an entrepreneur specializing in aquaponics and exotic plants/animals with prior work experience in prairie restoration. By night, however, Groom is a comic book artist, and her newest graphic novel is the epic Recursion’s End. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule 
The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule
Berkley Books (January 2022)
295 pages; paperback $10.99; e-book $8.99;
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
He had it all: eye-catching good looks, an impressive educational transcript, and a reputation as a star athlete. But, like most criminals, that wasn’t enough for NFL draftee Randall (Randy) Woodfield, aka “The I-5 Killer.”
On a spring night in Portland, Oregon, Woodfield stalked the dark streets, hungry for an unsuspecting woman. Woodfield could already visualize her shock. He even thought that the woman might be honored by his attack because of his athletic build and strong jawline — what he knew to be “handsome features.”
He grabbed the woman and held a knife to her throat. Woodfield felt her pulse beneath the blade. His body surged with what was, to him, the pleasure of all pleasures, a helpless woman in his grasp. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham
Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham
Henry Holt and Co. BYR Paperbacks (July 19, 2022)
304 pages; $24.99 hardcover; $17.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Jeannette Arroyo was born and raised in New Mexico but recently relocated to the rainier Seattle area. She has done freelance in animation and children’s book illustrations. A huge fan of the horror genre, Jeannette likes to mix in some lighthearted spooky elements in her work.
Ren Graham is a fiction writer and illustrator currently residing in the rainy Pacific Northwest. They have B.A. in Art History and a graduate studies certificate in Science Illustration, so biology, world mythology, and natural elements tend to influence and reappear in their work. Ren is interested in spooky stories, chilly hikes in the woods, and the ways in which art and science intersect. Co-created, Blackwater is their debut graphic novel. It’s a fabulous horror story geared towards a teen audience.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Dark PathwaysLeave a comment on Dark Pathways: A Ghostly Reckoning 
Stoker Award nominee LaTanya McQueen has incredible storytelling skills. Her book, When the Reckoning Comes, is obviously scary (that’s why we’re here!), but what stood out to me while I was reading it is the pure talent. This book goes down smooth. It’s the literary equivalent of a one-story beer bong–you open the spigot and enjoy.
OK, so maybe that analogy is a little pointed. Let me try to explain it another way: I’ve read a lot of books that force me to stop and start — a bad paragraph here, a pointless chapter there — and it requires moments of slog. You slog through it because the book is very good (not great), so you accept that sometimes the writing is iffy. McQueen’s novel is not like this. Every page flows. She’s a master of narrative.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi 
Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi
Titan Books (July 19, 2022)
448 pages; $15.99 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
When an evil once thought vanquished rears its ugly head again, a group of childhood friends reunite to confront it, hoping to put an end to it — and to some raging personal demons of their own — once and for all.
That’s the premise of Ronald Malfi’s new novel Black Mouth, and if you think it sounds familiar, you’re right. Serious Stephen King vibes permeate this book, from the obvious parallels to IT to the overtones of “The Man in the Black Suit” that color the Magician character. However, while Malfi is treading familiar ground here, he’s carving his own path, and it’s a journey well worth taking with him.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Night Time LogicLeave a comment on Night Time Logic with Venita Coehlo 
Night Time Logic is the part or parts of a story that are felt but not consciously processed. Those that operate below the conscious surface. Those that are processed somewhere, somehow, and in some way other than… overtly and consciously. The deep-down scares. The scares that find their way to our core and unsettle us in ways we rarely see coming…
In this column, which shares a name with my New York-based reading series, I explore this phenomenon, other notions of what makes horror tick, and my favorite authors and stories, new and old with you.
My previous column back in October 2021 with author Inna Effress concluded with an examination of evil, and crime, and the point of view of bad men as Inna mentioned. Bad men, and crime, and evil are all present in the work of Venita Coehlo, even though most are half a world away. In her short story collections Venita gives us feminist stories and stories arising from and intersecting with the headlines in India Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Review: Black Mass Rising by Theo Prasidis and Jodie Muir
Black Mass Rising by Theo Prasidis and Jodie Muir
TKO Studios (May 2022)
170 pages; $19.99 paperback; $7.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Theo Prasidis is the author of The Doomster’s Monolithic Pocket Alphabet (Image Comics), Black Mass Rising (TKO Studios), and Swamp Dogs: House of Crows (Black Caravan). A fantasy devotee and cult media specialist by degree, he’s a zealous propagator of the magical and the mystical, the nostalgic and the psychedelic, the pulp and the weird. He lives a rather undramatic life in his hometown Drama, Greece, with his wife and two sons, heirs to a kingdom of horror books, heavy metal vinyl, and more band t-shirts than any sane person should ever be allowed to own. Jodie Muir is a freelance illustrator, based in the UK. Having previously worked in comics (Marvel, TKO) and concepting, she is currently an illustrator on Magic: The Gathering. Their newest book is Black Mass Rising, a sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Garden of Earthly Bodies by Sally Oliver 
Garden of Earthly Bodies by Sally Oliver
Harry N. Abrams (June 2022)
320 pages; $26.00 hardcover; $9.99 ebook
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Sally Oliver’s Garden of Earthly Bodies is a visceral vortex of blood and trauma.
In a uniquely elegant literary style, Oliver’s novel follows Marianne, whose life has become tense and overgrown with the weeds of trauma and enmeshment. Marianne’s younger sister, Marie, falls deathly ill and experiences heavy mood dips, frequent exhaustion, and severe depression — the three settling in as her reformed default personality. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Jacked: A Crime Anthology edited by Vern Smith 
Jacked: A Crime Anthology edited by Vern Smith
Run Amok Books (July 1, 2022)
242 pages; $18.99 paperback
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Jacked: A Crime Anthology features stories that cover a wide swath of the crime genre, giving readers the chance to indulge in their favorites while also discovering some new approaches to classic crime tropes.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories InterviewsLeave a comment on Interview: James Aquilone on Shakespeare Unleashed 
Shakespeare Unleashed, edited by James Aquilone, is the follow-up to Classic Monsters Unleashed and is currently being funded on Kickstarter. While the word “horror” might not be initially associated with Shakespeare, a quick read through his plays shows many horrific incidents. Aquilone spoke to Cemetery Dance on turning The Bard’s work into a horror anthology, how it will take on Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, and what stories are already lined up. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories EssaysLeave a comment on Coming-Of-Age Tales (Books on the Darker Side) by Del Howison 
“Coming-of-age” is generally perceived as taking place over the period when an adolescent makes the mental and emotional leap to adulthood. But very often that is not the case, especially in certain genres, such as horror, when the emotionally stunted individual can just as easily be an adult. In literature, like a summer’s end, youth is over after one great adventure that comes too quickly, and the adults that emerge from that traumatic season are many times filled with their own emotional trauma that will never go away. That’s good for the reader but bad for the character. If handled incorrectly Coming-of-Age can be soapy and boring. But in the hands of a skilled ink slinger, it is an exciting and breathtaking journey filled with emotional intensity. Even a misspent youth has a learning curve, and these stories take you through it. I’m going to mention a few of my favorites that I hope you will read if you haven’t already.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment on Review: Blood on the Tracks Volumes 1-4 by Shuzo Oshimi
Blood on the Tracks Volumes 1-4 by Shuzo Oshimi
Vertical Comics (2020)
$12.95 paperback
Reviewed by Danica Davidson
The covers of Blood on the Tracks show a loving mother and son. They don’t look like horror covers. But Blood on the Tracks is a truly amazing psychological horror manga series that simmers and unsettles.
The main character Seiichi is 13-years-old, and he wakes from a nightmare about finding a dead cat that he had been going up to pet, thinking it was alive. When he tells his mother about it, she explains that this was actually a very early memory of his. It’s not clear what happened to the cat, but it sets the stage for things to at first look sweet and cuddly, and then when you come up close, you discover something horrible.Continue Reading
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