Review: The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale

The Sky Done Ripped by Joe R. Lansdale
Subterranean Press (December 2019)
296 pages; $95 signed limited edition hardcover; $40 trade edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I think that, sometimes, in the midst of all the discussion about craft and theme and structure, we—meaning writers and readers and reviewers—forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun. It’s so refreshing, then, when an author like Joe R. Lansdale comes along, manuscript in hand and shit-eating grin on his face, to remind us of that very fact.Continue Reading

Gwendy’s Magic Feather Trade Paperback and eBook Editions Coming Soon!

For those who missed out on the hardcover edition of Gwendy’s Magic Feather, the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling novella by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, there will be Trade Paperback and eBook editions published later this month!

“Something evil has swept into the small Maine town of Castle Rock on the heels of the latest winter storm. Sheriff Norris Ridgewick and his team are desperately searching for two missing girls, but time is running out…”

GMF

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

Save At Least 50% Off Your Cemetery Dance Publications Orders!

We’re very pleased to announce the Cemetery Dance Automatic Store Credit Plan for 2020, the new our very popular savings program we re-launched last year to great acclaim from collectors!

For those of you on a budget or who just enjoy saving big on your collectible book purchases, this special offer will help you to build a huge collection at a fraction of the retail price. Whether you’re a general reader or a hardcore collector or general reader or a big Stephen King fan, this is the deal you really cannot afford to miss!

We’re only selling a limited number of these Cemetery Dance Automatic Store Credit Plan memberships and they will NOT last long, so please visit the product page on our website for complete details and to place your order!

Cemetery Dance Automatic Store Credit Plan For 2020

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

FREE AND DISCOUNTED eBOOKS FOR A VERY LIMITED TIME ONLY!

Our eBook editor, Norman Prentiss, has some of his own books on sale or reduced to promote his incredibly fun Apocalypse-a-Day Desk Calendar eBook series.

Volume 3 and Volume 4 of the series were just released this week, and Volume 1 is currently free (last day!), with Volume 2 reduced to 99 cents for a limited time. Here’s a link for all 4 books in the series!

eBook Set

In addition, his mini-collection THE BOOK OF BABY NAMES, which sold out as a limited edition hardcover, is a free eBook for the next few days!

And, IN THE BEST STORIES, AND OTHER UNEASY HORRORS, a 4-story collection featuring the Bram Stoker Award-winning short, “In the Porches of My Ears,” is also free for a limited time!

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

Review: The Last Ghost and Other Stories by Marie O’Regan

The Last Ghost and Other Stories by Marie O’Regan
Luna Press Publishing (April 2019)
148 pages; $11.99 paperback; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by R.B. Payne

O, modern reader, do you think you are too sophisticated to fear a wistful Gaussian blur hovering above your bed in the dead of night? You tell yourself it doesn’t exist. It can’t. Surely just a retinal trick in dim light.

Then why pay attention to the rustling beneath the bed? Or the persistent scratch at the door? (Look! The cat is sleeping soundly at your feet.) Too late, perhaps, an unseen hand coldly brushes your cheek or grasps your throat. Continue Reading

Review: Trouble at Camp Still Waters by Eddie Generous

Trouble at Camp Still Waters by Eddie Generous
Severed Press (July 2019)
134 pages: $9.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

Ben Ray Collins is a serial killer fanboy who gets caught trying to execute a copycat murder. By some stroke of luck, he manages to escape prison and finds himself at Camp Still Waters, but the waters are anything but still. Some kind of natural phenomenon is happening there and a team of scientists head out to learn more.Continue Reading

Review: The Last Christmas: A Repairman Jack Novel by F. Paul Wilson

The Last Christmas: A Repairman Jack Novel by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroads Press (September 2019)
370 pages; $25.94 hardcover; $18.06 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia

It can be a dicey thing when an author brings back one of their beloved series characters after closing off that character’s series with such a satisfying conclusion. In the back of your head, as a reader, you’re thinking, “I just want one more adventure with one of my favorite literary characters.” And yet, when that does happen…there’s enough anxiety to give you pause. Maybe the story just won’t read the same as the others. Maybe it won’t have that same snap the other installments had, or, if the author is creating a new adventure in the middle of an already completed series, maybe the story will cause too many continuity errors to be thoroughly enjoyable. Continue Reading

Review: Ghoster by Jason Arnopp

Ghoster by Jason Arnopp
Orbit (October 2019)

496 pages; $12.50 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

I think it’s important to tell readers straight away that Jason Arnopp writes modern horror stories like nobody else in this industry. His books are written for horror lovers alive today, in this cultural moment. Ghoster is for me, you and us—right here, right now.Continue Reading

Review: Writing as Life by William F. Nolan

Writing as Life by William F. Nolan
Dark Regions Press (October 2019)
$75 limited edition hardcover; $20 paperback; $6 e-book
Reviewed by Michael Furlong

William F. Nolan’s collected essays, Writing as Life, examines how Nolan views popular culture, the business of writing, other writers and influences on his creative process. Nolan’s writing and accomplishments are prodigious, and in this volume, he shares a life relating back to his artistic influences.Continue Reading

Muse by James Renner: Signed Limited Edition Hardcover In-Stock!

Some collectors didn’t realize we still have copies of Muse by James Renner, a compulsive page-turner by the author of The Man from Primrose Lane, in-stock and ready to ship right now, so here’s a reminder for those of you who might have missed one of the sneaky best novellas of the year!

Muse

Read more or place your order while our supplies last!

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

Review: Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows adapted by Nathan Carson and Sam Ford

Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows by Nathan Carson
Floating World Comics (November 2019)
72 pages; $12.95 paperback
Reviewed by Chris Hallock

Algernon Blackwood’s name doesn’t permeate today’s pop culture landscape like his contemporary (and admirer) H.P. Lovecraft, but Britain’s great supernaturalist holds a significant place in the pantheon of weird literature. As one of horror fiction’s preeminent contributors, his chilling works have influenced many of the world’s best fantasy writers, and astounded readers with a sublime melding of paralyzing suspense, mysticism, and otherworldly terror. Despite their plentiful virtues, Blackwood’s tales have been somewhat overlooked as an avenue for adaptation, with infrequent dips into Blackwood’s formidable catalog, mostly as television and radio plays, some dating back far enough to be narrated by Blackwood himself (he died in 1951). Continue Reading

Revelations: Peter Straub

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

Author Peter Straub
Peter Straub

As an aspiring writer, you often don’t realize the influences certain authors have over your developing style and voice. You’re busy reading books and stories which really excite you, writing away in your own little world, and in many ways, you can’t see the forest for the trees.

I’ve been especially prone to that over the years. I tend to read many books simultaneously at frenzied paces (I’ve often said I read like other people breathe), and it’s sometimes hard to keep track of where I draw my inspirations from. It was once said Rod Serling was the same. When Ray Bradbury actually accused Serling of stealing his work for The Twilight Zone, some said Serling could never completely deny it, because he’d read so many things so quickly, he always had difficulty attributing a source to his story ideas.Continue Reading

Still Time For A Personalized Christmas Gift!

There’s still time to receive signed and inscribed copies of Gwendy’s Magic Feather for Christmas, but don’t wait too long because supplies are limited!

REMINDER: If you purchase the hardcover on Amazon.com, be sure to email [email protected] for a signed bookplate for your book! Supplies are almost gone!

GMF

Read more or place your order for a 1st Edition/1st Printing while our supplies last!

You can also order on Amazon.com while their supplies last!

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

Review: Hollow Heart by Ben Eads

Hollow Heart by Ben Eads
Crystal Lake Publishing (November 2019)
156 pages; $11.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by R.B. Payne

If you like your horror fast and furious and your gameplay unrelenting, then Hollow Heart by Ben Eads will suit your fancy. In this telling of the birthing of a cosmic horror, the subtext is minimal, the text is visceral, and the hypertext feels like a drug rush when everything simultaneously makes sense and no sense at all.Continue Reading