Cemetery Dance Online

Review: The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 12, 2021April 10, 2021Reviews, The Comic VaultAbby Howard, Columns, Iron Circus Comics, Joshua Gage, Reviews, The Comic Vault, The Crossroads at MidnightLeave a comment

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cover of The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard

The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard
Iron Circus Comics (February 2021)
320 pages; $18 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Abby Howard is a cartoonist whose interests include dinosaurs, horror, and Spoons, her beautiful cat. She’s been drawing comics since she first discovered there was such thing, eventually putting them online and gaining a following of over 30,000 fans. Her newest collection is The Crossroads at Midnight, a teen horror collection of five short comic stories.Continue Reading

Revelations: Kristi DeMeester

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 9, 2021April 4, 2021RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Kristi DeMeester, RevelationsLeave a comment

Banner for Revelations, the column written by Kevin Lucia for Cemetery Dance

photo of author Krist DeMeester — Kristi DeMeester

As many of you know, I began this column (almost five years ago, which is a little mind-blowing) with the intention of chronicling the writers who impacted me during a very transitional period in my writing career. Writers who exposed me to new things, new kinds of horrors and writing styles. However, a year or so ago I realized this column should evolve and start featuring newly discovered contemporary writers right alongside the masters of years gone by. The first of these newly discovered writers was Peter Laws. Today’s featured writer is Kristi DeMeester, author of the amazing, beautifully bleak novel Beneath, and the powerful short story collection Everything That’s Underneath.Continue Reading

Chart of Darkness by Kevin Quigley: Surprise In-Stock Limited Edition Already 90% Sold Out!

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 7, 2021January 11, 2022Breaking NewsLeave a comment

We’re extremely pleased to announce we’re publishing Chart of Darkness by Kevin Quigley as a “surprise in-stock” Limited Edition, and thanks to the booming market for all things Stephen King, this special edition is already 90% sold out!

About the Book:
Stephen King’s unprecedented career has yielded him more than thirty #1 New York Times bestselling books. He is the only writer to have ever reached the top slot of that list in five different decades. And in 1996, the Times changed their policies regarding bestsellers because King had too many at the same time. But how did it all happen? And why?

From Stephen King expert Kevin Quigley comes a fascinating journey through King’s unprecedented career by way of the charts that helped define it. Chart of Darkness is the first book that navigates King’s popular success through the odd and tempestuous world of The New York Times Bestsellers List.

What was King’s first novel to hit #1? (Hint: It wasn’t Carrie.) What happened when King went up against Harry Potter, and how did the showdown end? How did Joyland break King’s decade-long streak of no #1 paperbacks?

It’s all charted here in a fun, narrative look at the sweep of Stephen King’s amazing body of work!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

Review: The Wind in My Heart by Douglas Wynne

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 7, 2021April 4, 2021ReviewsCrystal Lake Publishing, Douglas Wynne, Janelle Janson, Reviews, The Wind in My HeartLeave a comment

cover of The Wind in My Heart by Douglas Wynne The Wind in My Heart by Douglas Wynne
Crystal Lake Publishing (January 2021)
362 pages; $8.75 paperback; e-book $3.99
Reviewed by Janelle Janson

Douglas Wynne’s The Wind in My Heart has a fun premise and is a quick read! This story kept me engaged with its touch of mystery and quirky characters.

Miles Landry is the private detective at Insight Detective Agency. Known around the local bar scene as “Dirty Laundry,” he tends to handle extramarital affairs. Immediately after a scorned woman shows up at his office to teach him a lesson, he receives a call for an unusual job. A Buddhist monk named Jigme Rinpoche wants to hire him to find a former student’s reincarnated soul. A series of murders against gang members have popped up in Chinatown, and he believes this former student is responsible. Even though Landry thinks this monk is wasting his time, he’s curious nonetheless and heads to the temple for the meeting.Continue Reading

Review: There Comes a Midnight Hour by Gary A. Braunbeck

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 5, 2021March 30, 2021ReviewsDave Simms, Gary Braunbeck, Reviews, There Comes a Midnight HourLeave a comment

cover of There Comes a Midnight Hour by Gary A. Braunbeck There Comes a Midnight Hour by Gary Braunbeck
Raw Dog Screaming Press (March 2021)
226 pages; $17.95 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Gary Braunbeck is back! Many horror and dark fantasy fans have been anticipating this day for a long time. Raw Dog Screaming Press, a stellar entity, rarely misses on producing something special for readers. There Comes a Midnight Hour is one of their greatest achievements, from the stunning (and warped) cover to the arrangement of stories which first grasps the reader by the hand with the apocalyptic “We now pause for station identification” to the stylish closer “Down in darkest Dixie where the dead don’t dance.”Continue Reading

Review: The Writing Life: Reflections, Recollections, and a Lot of Cursing by Jeff Strand

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 2, 2021March 28, 2021ReviewsJeff Strand, Kevin Lucia, Reviews, The Writing LifeLeave a comment

cover of The Writing Life by Jeff Strand The Writing Life: Reflections, Recollections, and a Lot of Cursing by Jeff Strand
Independently Published (December 2020)
276 pages; $11.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia

If you’re a horror writer or even just a Stephen King fan, you’ve probably read his treatise on the writing biz, On Writing, multiple times. And for good reason, because it’s one of the best books on writing there is, imparted in that casual storyteller way only King has mastered. If I were to recommend only three writing books to prospective writers, On Writing would be the first book I’d recommend. A close second would be Zen in the Art of Writing, by the venerable Ray Bradbury.Continue Reading

Review: Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 31, 2021March 30, 2021ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Clay McLeod Chapman, Quirk Books, Reviews, Whisper Down the LaneLeave a comment

cover of Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman
Quirk Books (April 6, 2021)
307 pages; $19.99 hardcover; $11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

It’s the early 1980s, and Satan is everywhere. He’s lurking in the lyrics of heavy metal music. He’s hiding among the marshmallows in your Lucky Charms. He’s capering through our neighborhoods, our basements, or churches, our schools.

Welcome to the era of Satanic Panic.Continue Reading

Dissonant Harmonies by Bev Vincent and Brian Keene: New Surprise In-Stock Trade Paperback!

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 29, 2021January 11, 2022Breaking NewsLeave a comment

Dissonant Harmonies
by Bev Vincent and Brian Keene
New Surprise In-Stock Trade Paperback!

We’re extremely pleased to announce we’re publishing the world’s first trade paperback edition of Dissonant Harmonies by Bev Vincent and Brian Keene, and our copies will be arriving this week, so this is a “surprise in-stock” announcement!

About the Book:
Inspired by specially curated mixtapes, Bev Vincent and Brian Keene present two new spine-chilling novellas…

As a blizzard descends upon the sleepy town of Bayport, Rhode Island, brothers Joey and Frank Shaw investigate the mysterious disappearances of several townsfolk. After the discovery of strange tunnels, tunnels that only Joey can see, the trio suspect something is lurking beneath the snowbound town. Something burrowing. Something hungry. And it looks like Joey might be next in The Dead of Winter.

Did you imagine the world vanishing to a flood or a comet, the hand of God or nuclear war? What if it started with something as innocuous as the Berenstain Bears, and something known as the Mandela Effect? Barricaded in a seedy motel room, one man makes sense of love, loss, and life as the end of the world looms. Do you see what he sees? Do you know what he knows?

Special Note for Readers:
There’s a Spotify playlist featuring many of the songs that inspired this book. The first 24 tracks are the songs Bev Vincent gave to Brian Keene (plus his B-sides), although there are a few substitutions because not all the songs Bev Vincent picked are on Spotify. The last 16 tracks are the ones Brian Keene sent to Bev Vincent.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

Video Visions: We’re in the Band – Charles Band, King of the Video Store

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 29, 2021March 28, 2021Video VisionsCharles Band, Columns, Hunter Shea, Video VisionsLeave a comment

Black background with spooky lettering that says Hunter Shea Video Visions and the Cemetery Dance logo

We Irish like to think of March as our month. Sure, St. Paddy’ Day is just on the 17th, but I’ve always felt March, with Spring slipping in, is a great time to be green and tipsy. More so this year, considering the miles of shit we’ve had to trudge through just to get here.

I bet you think I’m going to talk about Leprechaun movies? Too easy. However, Leprechauns are diminutive creatures, kind of like talking dolls or toys, which brings me to…Continue Reading

Interview: Dave Rash and Dominic Stefano take us to The Outer Limits

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 26, 2021March 26, 2021InterviewsDave Rash, Dominic Stefano, From the Inner Mind to...The Outer Limits, Gauntlet Press, Interview, Joseph Stefano, Rick Hipson, ScriptsLeave a comment

banner graphic that says Cemetery Dance Interviews 1963 would prove to be a historical year for lovers of science fiction and monsters alike with the introduction of the now iconic television show, The Outer Limits (originally titled Beyond Control). For one hour at a time, television sets across the nation would be controlled by the transmissions of show runners Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano. Season one in particular would leave a mark destined to echo across generations to come. The original show enjoyed a run of two seasons (thirty-two episodes and seventeen episodes respectively) before being revived in 1995 until its final airing to date in 2002.Continue Reading

Review: The Gulp by Alan Baxter

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 24, 2021March 21, 2021ReviewsAlan Baxter, Janelle Janson, Reviews, The GulpLeave a comment

cover of The Gulp by Alan Baxter The Gulp by Alan Baxter
Independently Published (January 2021)
316 pages; paperback $14.25; e-book $4.99
Reviewed by Janelle Janson

Alan Baxter is a relatively new author for me, but I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve read so far. His newest short story collection, The Gulp, is most certainly my favorite book to date. With five novellas all woven together within a common setting, this collection delighted as much as it intrigued me.Continue Reading

Review: You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife edited by Kel McDonald and Andrea Purcell

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 22, 2021March 15, 2021Reviews, The Comic VaultAn Anthology of the Afterlife, Andrea Purcell, Iron Circus Comics, Joshua Gage, Kel McDonald, Reviews, The Comic Vault, You DiedLeave a comment

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cover of You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife

You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife edited by Kel McDonald and Andrea Purcell
Iron Circus Comics (March 31, 2021)
260 pages, $20 Paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

In her introduction to You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife, Caitlin Dougherty compares the anthology to a medieval memento mori. This is a fitting comparison. This book is both a reminder, to the reader, that they will die, but also about the equanimity of death. Everyone will die, and once they’re dead, there’s nothing in this world that they can do about it. This anthology confronts these facts head on, and in a way, helps the reader confront their own deaths as well as the deaths of those they love.Continue Reading

Horror Drive-In: To Vomit or Not to Vomit

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 19, 2021March 18, 2021Horror Drive-InColumns, Horror Drive-In, Mark SieberLeave a comment

banner reading Horror Drive-In and Mark Sieber and Cemetery Dance

I’m a member of the Books of Horror Facebook page. They are mostly a good crowd of modern readers, but I have been feeling alienated. Out of touch with the new trends. There is so much talk of grossout fiction. People crave disgusting, perverted, vomit-inducing horror stories.

I’m not pointing fingers. How can I?Continue Reading

Review: Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 18, 2021March 16, 2021ReviewsCradleland of Parasites, Joshua Gage, Reviews, Sara Tantlinger, Strangehouse BooksLeave a comment

cover of Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger
Strangehouse Books (October 2020)
89 pages; $14.95 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Sara Tantlinger is a phenom when it comes to horror poetry. Author of three poetry collections, including the award-winning The Devil’s Dreamland, Tantlinger is one of the vibrant new voices in horror poetry. Her newest collection, Cradleland of Parasites, is no exception, and this take on the Black Death is a brilliant and chilling book of poetry.Continue Reading

Review: In Nightmares We’re Alone by Greg Sisco

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 17, 2021March 19, 2021ReviewsGreg Sisco, In Nightmares We're Alone, Mother Horror, Off Limits Press, Reviews, Sadie HartmannLeave a comment

In Nightmares We’re Alone by Greg Sisco
Off Limits Press (March 2021)
260 pages; $16 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

As far as introductions to an author’s work goes, I can’t think of a better offering than a collection of three, novellas differing in style and substance but sharing the same universe and characters.

All three tales in In Nightmares We’re Alone are told from a first person POV. Greg Sisco takes readers through a character’s own, personal nightmare as they are living it. . .alone. But they’re not really alone, are they? We are with them.Continue Reading

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