Tyrone Finch hails from Cleveland, Ohio. What? That’s not enough? Okay, his favorite color is blue, he’s not fond of green olives and he doesn’t understand maraschino cherries. He loves Earth, Wind and Fire and he will make you love them too. Tyrone likes to write all kinds of stuff. TV stuff. Movie stuff. Short story stuff. Shopping list stuff. For more info on the stuff Tyrone likes to write, just catch him on the street and ask him. His newest graphic novel is Swine, a revenge horror narrative based on a Biblical story that’s funny, clever, and really fun to read.Continue Reading
I read all kinds of fiction. Horror new and old, classic science fiction, modern domestic suspense, mainstream, whatever suits my fancy. There’s a special place in my heart of hearts for small town horror. The good stuff from the late seventies and early eighties. Charles L. Grant and his Oxrun Station stories come most immediately to mind. There’s Rick Hautala’s Maine. Matthew J. Costello and his early paperbacks. Peter Straub and the Chowder Society. Alan Ryan, Lisa Tuttle, Chet Williamson, A.R. Morlan, Al Sarrantonio, and T.M. Wright all set stories in cozy small towns. Let’s not forget Mr. King and his Castle Rock fiction.Continue Reading
“Too much power makes a woman dangerous. And that was her project, creation and power.” — Rachel Yoder
Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch is a horrifically brilliant mirage of Jekyll and Hyde meets the estranged relationship of women and society. The story follows a stay-at-home mother, aka Nightbitch (we never get her real name), who spends her days resenting the role she feels trapped in as a constant caregiver. She longs for the simplest of things — a shower, a glass of wine, to return to her artwork. Instead, Nightbitch plays trains with her son, cleans up his strand of messes in the house, and deals with his tantrums.
On top of it all, Nightbitch develops a thick coat of hair at the base of her neck, not to mention a matching tail.
In her transformation, Nightbitch finds an animalistic, protective connection to her son — who she begins to see as a pup — she hadn’t had before, and an odd sense of individuality.
Nightbitch is one of the most bizarre books I’ve ever read. And yet, it’s among the most intelligent stories, alluding to the style of Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, and Franz Kafka.
Without outright belonging to the horror genre, Yoder lines the pages of Nightbitch with bloodthirst and an unsettling craving for carnage. And the best part, these animalistic qualities are all woman, or, rather, a grim and poetic depiction of the unspoken rage, exhaustion, and longing crashing the joys of motherhood.
While reading, I constantly felt torn between liberation and questioning Nightbitch’s sanity — a complicated and wildly entertaining tug-and-pull.
Nightbitch is certainly not for everyone, and it has a heavy philosophical weight. Though I enjoyed the literary qualities, I’d definitely have to be in the mood for such an interpretive read.
I wish more universities, particularly those studying feminist literary theory, would share this book with students. It’s a hell of a metaphor for modern femininity and the accompanying pressures.
I recommend Nightbitch for readers who enjoy literary fiction with dark fantasy and horror elements, such as monsters or the combination of lore and philosophy.
Cackle by Rachel Harrison is a mixed bag of emotions. The story centers on Annie Crane, a woman looking for a fresh start after her boyfriend moves their relationship into the friendzone. She leaves the city for a quaint, little rental in a small town.
Things do not go well. Annie is consumed with her feelings about the break-up and her new job at the local high school is only adding to her lack of self-esteem. None of her new co-workers make her feel welcomed and the students in her class are not cooperative.
Then she meets Sophie and everything begins to change.Continue Reading
Horror is happening right now in the UK and women are right there on top of the book charts. I was honored to chat to two absolute icons, Catriona Ward and CJ Tudor, and find out if it is all heaving bosoms and beguiling men in cloaks or if these British babes are breaking the mold?
We’re pleased to announce Dancing with Tombstones by Michael Aronovitz, a surprise new trade paperback that is in-stock and will be shipping very soon!
About the Book:
This new book from critically acclaimed genre author Michael Aronovitz collects some of his greatest stories that celebrate the beauty of the darkness in the world.
In the section titled GIRLS, you’ll learn “How Bria Died,” and will also meet “The Sculptor” in the story that inspired Aronovitz’s full-length serial killer novel of the same name.
In the section featuring PSYCHOS, you’ll feel the chill of the Anti-Christ in “Quest for Sadness,” and fall prey to the most frightening circus creature on the face of the earth in “The Exterminator.”
In TOOLS & TECH, you’ll find out the dark secret of “The Tool Shed,” and will also experience the full-length ghost-novella, “Toll Booth.”
And finally, in MARTYRS & SACRIFICIAL LAMBS you’ll experience hell on earth in “The Echo,” and unwittingly release the darkest force of the forest in “The Falcon.”
With Dancing with Tombstones, the author of Alice Walks and The Sculptor deliciously thrusts us down the twisted avenues deep inside the haunt of our most secret repressions.
The combination of horror and fantasy is a partnership I am completely enamored with. The notion that you can connect with a character set in a fantastical world, who might not even be human, with added terrifying elements, creates a thrilling read. These authors keep creating gorgeous, remarkable stories that fill you with both sadness and wonder.Continue Reading
Gwendy’s Final Task
by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar Cemetery Dance Publications eBook Now Available For Preorder!
Hi Folks!
The official Cemetery Dance eBook of Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, which will be published on February 15, is now available for preorder on Amazon.com. (Other stores will follow soon!)
Right now, there’s a second eBook listed because Simon & Schuster will be taking over electronic sales on May 31, but if you want to read the eBook before then, you’ll need to order our eBook, which is also less expensive! (S&S is working to remove their listing to prevent confusion, and there’s a chance any orders already placed for their eBook might be canceled. We’re not sure how the stores work.)
Order the official Cemetery Dance eBook of Gwendy’s Final Task today, so you can begin reading the thrilling conclusion to Gwendy Peterson’s story the moment it is released!
Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!
It’s publication day for Kevin Lucia as Crystal Lake Publishing releases October Nights, his collection of Halloween-themed short stories. To celebrate, Cemetery Dance is proud to share “Ballad of the Broken Hearts at the Danse Macabre,” a Halloween-themed short story that is NOT included in October Nights. Think of it as a bonus story, a companion to Lucia’s collection (which he discussed with us in a Q&A right here.)
This October, Kevin Lucia fulfills a dream with the release of a new collection of Halloween-themed short stories, October Nights. Crystal Lake Publishing will be releasing the collection on October 22, so this seemed like the perfect time to ask the author a few questions about his work, and to pick his brain about his — and our — favorite holiday, Halloween.
I love the smell of burning candy corns in the morning. It smells like…Halloween!
If you’re like me, you’ve entered into the all-horror, all-the time-zone. I know I watch and read a ton of all things creepy throughout the year, but October (or as I call it, Horrortober) is when folks like us take it up to thirteen. Fuck eleven. That’s for poseur rock bands. Continue Reading
We’re very pleased to announce we’ll be publishing The Eater of Gods by Dan Franklin, an extremely exciting debut that is already very deep in production and will be published early next year!
About the Book:
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.
After a long, COVID-prompted delay, Michael Myers is set to once again stalk movie (and television! ) screens in Halloween Kills, the sequel to the 2018 reboot/sequel Halloween.
Being the literary types that we are here at Cemetery Dance, we’re just as excited for the novelization of Halloween Kills as we are for the film. I reached out to author Tim Waggoner, the man tapped by Titan Books to pen the novelization, to see if he’d take us inside the process of bringing the Boogeyman to life on the page, and he was glad to oblige.Continue Reading
The year was 2000. It was date night and a young couple sat in a sold-out movie theatre waiting to see if the feature, something called Final Destination, would live up to the awesome looking trailer…
Of course it did, and it remains one of my Top Ten horror movies of all time, also being my favorite franchise. I will never forget the collective oohs and ahhs, jumps and indeed screams in the cinema. It was possibly the best atmosphere of any film I’ve seen on the big screen.
Cue 21 years later and somehow, I find myself chatting with the star of that movie and many, many more since, Devon Sawa. Having followed his career, I have always been impressed by how into horror he seems to be and now I get the chance to find out more just in time for two new big releases.Continue Reading
Stephen Graham Jones is to slashers what peanut butter is to jelly. Separately they are still awesome, but together they are perfection. With the popularity of the genre on the rise again due to movies such as Fear Street and the new Halloween Kills, and books from powerhouses such as Grady Hendrix, I got to sit down to chat with Stephen about his own latest release, My Heart is a Chainsaw.
Swine by Tyrone Finch and Alain Mauricet
After a long, COVID-prompted delay, Michael Myers is set to once again stalk movie (and television! ) screens in Halloween Kills, the sequel to the 2018 reboot/sequel Halloween.
