Review: The Fervor by Alma Katsu

cover of The FervorThe Fervor by Alma Katsu
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (April 2022)
319 pages; $27.00 hardcover
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Sometimes a book comes along that is so special, it moves rather than frightens the reader, and gives a history lesson that likely won’t be found in anything we experienced in school.

When that same book also is relevant to society today, especially in the past few years within this country, it makes for an event that transcends genre.

The Fervor is that book.Continue Reading

FREE FICTION: “The Canyon of Terrible Lizards” (Part 3) by Norman Prentiss

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Dinosaur Farm signHaunted Attractions with your Other Father by Norman Prentiss is the sequel to his Odd Adventures with your Other Fatherand continues the horror/fantasy road trip adventures of Jack and Shawn as they fight monsters and homophobia in the ’80s. Cemetery Dance is proud to publish this new novel (with an e-book version now on sale at Amazon for 0.99!), and to celebrate we’re serializing a new novella featuring the characters from the books!

When we last saw Jack and Shawn, they were visiting a roadside attraction that promised lizards (and dinosaurs!). By projecting a distracting illusion into his partner’s mind, Jack was able to help Shawn win a bet with the proprietor, securing free tickets to the “dinosaur safari” tour.Continue Reading

Review: Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

cover of HelpmeetHelpmeet by Naben Ruthnum
Undertow Publications (May 24, 2022)
94 pages; $11.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Naben Ruthnum is the author of A Hero of Our Time, and Curry: Eating, Reading, and Race. He lives in Toronto and also writes thrillers as Nathan Ripley. His newest horror novella is Helpmeet.

“Helpmeet” is an outdated term for a spouse. Updated to “help mate,” it’s defined as “a helpful companion or partner, especially one’s husband or wife.” In this novella, Dr. Edward Wilk is dying of a disease that’s rotting him from the inside out. His wife, Louise, is there to support and help him until his dying breath, but she realizes that his ailment is not actually a disease, but merely a transformative phase leading to something far darker or insidious than readers could possibly imagine. Continue Reading

FREE FICTION: “The Canyon of Terrible Lizards” (Part 2) by Norman Prentiss

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Haunted Attractions with your Other Father by Norman Prentiss is the sequel to his Odd Adventures with your Other Fatherand continues the horror/fantasy road trip adventures of Jack and Shawn as they fight monsters and homophobia in the ’80s. Cemetery Dance is proud to publish this new novel (with an e-book version now on sale at Amazon for 0.99!), and to celebrate we’re serializing a new novella featuring the characters from the books!

When we last saw Jack and Shawn, they were visiting a roadside attraction that promised lizards (and dinosaurs!). The proprietor directed them to a back curtain, and proposed an unusual wager. Continue Reading

Review: Silk Hills by Brian Level and Ryan Ferrier

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cover of Silk HillsSilk Hills by Brian Level and Ryan Ferrier
Oni Press (May 24, 2022)
176 pages; $24.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Brian Level is a cartoonist, tattooer,  and a writer who has contributed to premiere comic books including Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man, Avengers and Deadpool. Ryan Ferrier is a Canadian comic book writer, published by every major North American comics company, and best known for his original comic series such as Kennel Block Blues, Death Orb, I Can Sell You A Body, the highly celebrated D4VE trilogy, and the acclaimed graphic novel Criminy. Ryan has also written for some of pop culture’s most beloved properties, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel’s Deadpool, DC’s Batman, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, and Planet of the Apes. Their newest graphic novel is Silk Hills, a really strong paranormal horror story that is sure to entertain readers.Continue Reading

Review: Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel

cover of Just Like MotherJust Like Mother by Anne Heltzel
Tor Nightfire (May 17, 2022) 
320 pages; hardcover $26.99, e-book $13.99
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

The Stepford Wives meets Rosemary’s Baby in Anne Heltzel’s adult debut Just Like Mother. 

On a GoodReads list, “Get Creeped Out With These 33 New and Upcoming Horror Novels,” I discovered Just Like Mother.

Heltzel’s novel became a haunting, inescapable image in my brain, with a wonderfully lurid cover featuring…. a baby doll. Continue Reading

FREE FICTION: “The Canyon of Terrible Lizards” (Part 1) by Norman Prentiss

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cover of Haunted Attractions with your Other FatherHaunted Attractions with your Other Father by Norman Prentiss is the sequel to his Odd Adventures with your Other Father, and continues the horror/fantasy road trip adventures of Jack and Shawn as they fight monsters and homophobia in the ’80s. Since CD is publishing the new novel (with an e-book version now on sale at Amazon for 0.99!), we thought we’d catch up with the author to hear a little bit about the new book, and learn why he’s serializing a novella-length adventure for free. (Keep reading after this brief interview to begin the free story!)Continue Reading

Review: Dance Among the Flames by Tori Eldridge

cover of Dance Among the FlamesDance Among the Flames by Tori Eldridge
Running Wild Press (May 24, 2022)
404 pages; $19.99 paperback; $9.49 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

I love when a novel not only exceeds expectations but expands the limits of what’s expected. Dance Among the Flames is a story that demands a reader’s attention and exquisitely opens the mind to descriptions and concepts not found in books typical of this genre — or genres, as this combines elements of horror, historical, fantasy, and thriller novels into a dangerous, yet delicious concoction. It asks the reader to kick back, put their feet up and bleed their imagination into the fiction.

Continue Reading

The Cemetery Dance Interview: The Homegrown Horror of Elizabeth Massie

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Elizabeth Massie
Elizabeth Massie

Elizabeth Massie is a modern master of horror, thrillers, and all things spooky, not to mention just about every other genre known to mankind. With her new collection of short stories, Madame Cruller’s Couch and Other Dark and Bizarre Tales, she reminds fans how a forty-year career is still improving. Yes, she’s won a pair of Stoker Awards, one for Best First Novel (Sineater) and Novella (Stephen), but she’s always gone beyond the expected, spinning her tales with a homegrown voice. She’s an eighth-generation Virginian and has incorporated an Appalachian flavor to many of her stories. While many of her tales hail from the Shenandoah region, she is familiar with many an era and local folklore. Novels such as Hell Gate and her Young Founders series, not to mention her new historical The Great Chicago Fire display her love for the the past.

Yet it is her success of the Ameri-Scares series, which focuses on folklore horror from a different state in every book, that shows the breadth of her love for dark tales for all ages. Optioned by Warner Bros, the series embraced fascinating stories while educating young readers.
When she was a little kid in Waynesboro, she wanted to be either a writer, actress, or horse when she grew up. The last two didn’t pan out (although she did perform in a variety of local theater shows back in the day and she could cut loose with a fine whinny), but the first finally came true. She juggled teaching middle school life science during the day and typing (no computers for her until the mid-1990s) books and stories at night for nine years before taking the scary plunge into full time writing.
Now Beth juggles writing and life with her wonderful husband, illustrator Cortney Skinner (she tried juggling him, too, but…), in their country home in Augusta County. She’s had more than 30 novels and collections published as well as countless short stories in anthologies and magazines and is constantly bombarded by ideas for new tales. She and Cortney like to place and find geocaches, spend time at Starbucks, and drive around, seeking roads they’ve never traveled before. Beth is fascinated by abandoned amusement parks, hospitals, and houses and always keeps an eye out.

Continue Reading

Story Origin: The Eater of Gods by Dan Franklin

Dan Franklin’s The Eater of Gods is out soon, and we’ve got an exclusive video with the author, who discusses the origins of his terrifying new thriller. Check it out below, then head over to our site to order your copy!

Nothing really dies if it’s remembered, his wife had told him.

In the dying village of Al Tarfuk, lost among the war-stained dunes of eastern Libya, professor Norman Haas learns the location of the tomb that had been his wife’s life pursuit. The final resting place of Kiya, the lost queen of Akhenaten, whose history had been etched from the stone analogues of history for her heresies against the long absent pantheon of Egyptian gods.

He never expected to discover that the tomb was the final resting place to more than the dead. And as his team of researchers find themselves trapped inside the ancient tomb, Norman realizes all too soon that his wife was right—

Nothing really dies if it’s remembered…

But some things are best forgotten.

Dan Franklin’s debut supernatural thriller is a tale of grief, of loneliness, and of an ageless, hungry fury that waits with ready tooth and claw beneath the sand.

Review: Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror edited by P L McMillan and Solomon Forse

cover of Howls from the Dark AgesHowls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror edited by P L McMillan and Solomon Forse
Joshua Mortensen (May 12, 2022)
352 pages; $19.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

HOWL Society, located on Discord, is the most active horror book club on the web. With hundreds of members, the club offers readers the chance to join a supportive community where they can enjoy books alongside other horror-lovers while engaging in meaningful discussions and forming long-lasting friendships. Aside from serving as an organized platform for discussing books, HOWL Society is also home to a tight-knit group of horror writers. Additionally, members can participate in tangential conversations about horror films, horror games, and much more. Because the club aims to provide equal access to all readers and writers around the world, membership is 100% free. Occasionally, HOWL Society publishes anthologies, and their most recent is Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror.Continue Reading

Review: What Flies Want by Emily Pérez

cover of What Flies Want by Emily PerezWhat Flies Want by Emily Pérez
University of Iowa Press (May 11, 2022)
96 pages; $19.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Emily Pérez is an English and gender studies instructor and grade-level dean at Colorado Academy. She is the author of What Flies Want, winner of the Iowa Prize; House of Sugar, House of Stone; and the chapbooks Backyard Migration Route and Made and Unmade. She lives in Denver, Colorado. What Flies Want, her newest collection, is a dark collection of poems that deals with very real traumas — mental health, marriage difficulties, self-harm, etc. — and their very real consequences.Continue Reading

Review: Spirit by Helle Gade

cover of SpiritSpirit by Helle Gade
Butterdragons Publishing (May 10, 2022)
94 pages; $14.99 hardcover; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Helle Gade lives in Denmark. She is a book blogger, poet, photographer, nocturnal creature, avid reader and chocolate addict. She has been writing poetry since 2011 and published four poetry collections since then. She has been fortunate to work with a bunch of brilliant authors and photographers on The Mind’s Eye series. Her book Nocturnal Embers won the Best Poetry Collection with eFestival of Words. Her newest collection is Spirit, a series of dark and painful poems about feeling lost.Continue Reading

Review: Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

covered by Hidden PicturesHidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
Flatiron Books (May 10, 2022)
384 pages; $25.19 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Chris Hallock

Jaded readers may approach new fiction with skepticism; however, Jason Rekulak’s eerie new work Hidden Pictures proves that the genre is ever-evolving. Rekulak’s latest character-driven work (following up his Edgar-nominated debut The Invisible Fortress) benefits largely from an isolated setting, clever twists, and a compelling protagonist who finds herself ensnared in a tragic supernatural mystery. The author layers his ghostly tale with intriguing psychological and cultural components that enrich its taut narrative, while exposing the sinister underbelly of its suburban setting. Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: Goddesses, Filth, and Inciting Incidents

Dark Pathways

In the first ten pages of V. Castro’s Stoker-nominated The Goddess of Filth, a young woman is violently possessed. The moment is so jarring and powerful that I found myself going back to make sure I hadn’t accidentally started the book on the wrong chapter! But upon confirming I had, in fact, started the book on the correct page, I decided to just go with it. “I trust Castro,” I said to myself. “Let’s dive right in.”Continue Reading