Cemetery Dance Online

Review: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 24, 2019July 21, 2019ReviewsKiersten White, Mother Horror, Reviews, Sadie Hartmann, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth FrankensteinLeave a comment

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
Delacorte Press (September 2018)
304 pages; $8.27 hardcover; $19.99 paperback; $10.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

What a treat that a signed hardback copy of this book showed up in my mailbox just a few weeks before I learned that Kiersten White had won the 2018 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a YA Horror novel. Hearing such glowing reviews made me eager to read this popular retelling of a classic, horror favorite. Continue Reading

Review: Doorways to the Deadeye by Eric J. Guignard

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 22, 2019July 21, 2019ReviewsDave Simms, Doorways to Deadeye, Eric J. Guignard, JournalStone, ReviewsLeave a comment

Doorways to the Deadeye by Eric J. Guignard
JournalStone (July 26, 2019)
328 pages; $18.95 paperback
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Novels about riding the rails have always been exhilarating journeys if left in the right hands. Eric J. Guignard is fresh off his Bram Stoker win for best fiction collection (That Which Grows Wild), so he has the skills to terrify his audience. Luke Thacker is a victim of the Great Depression, scraping by to survive on the dangerous rails of America. Along the way, he learns many secrets to staying alive, one of them being a code left by other hobos, often warning them of strangers who would sooner leave them bleeding in a ditch, or indicating a friend ready to help out a guy in need, through symbols carved into trees. When he discovers one odd symbol, an infinity sign, he learns that reality is a bit broken.Continue Reading

Eight dust jackets for the DARK TOWER SERIES COVER COLLECTION from the Overlook Connection!

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 19, 2019Breaking NewsLeave a comment

We’re pleased to report we’re getting some sets of the DARK TOWER SERIES COVER COLLECTION from the Overlook Connection! These sets feature all eight Dark Tower covers with original wrap-around Dust Jacket paintings by Glenn Chadbourne. Each cover is signed and numbered with the same number, and has text written by Dark Tower Graphic novel series co-author, Robin Furth.

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

My First Fright featuring Gemma Amor

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 19, 2019July 18, 2019My First FrightColumns, Cujo, Gemma Amor, John Brhel, My First Fright, Stephen KingLeave a comment

What was your gateway to Stephen King? The Shining? It? Pet Sematary? These are a few of the more common examples, but being that King has written approximately fifty thousand books, it’s not that unlikely to get into the author through some of his less-famous (though, really still quite-famous) works.

For author Gemma Amor, it wasn’t The Losers’ Club’s adventures that sparked her love for King, nor was it Jack Torrance’s escapades at the Overlook Hotel. It was a gnarly, rabid St. Bernard named Cujo. In fact, the 1981 book had such an impact on Amor that it inspired her to pursue character-driven horror and short stories. Continue Reading

Review: In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 18, 2019July 17, 2019ReviewsBlu Gilliand, In the Shadow of Spindrift House, Mira Grant, Reviews, Subterranean PressLeave a comment

In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant
Subterranean Press (June 2019)
200 pages; $31.71 hardcover; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

I love haunted house stories where the house is a central character. The Overlook Hotel, Hill House…those are places where malevelonce seems to rise not only from the characters that inhabit(ed) them, or from the actions that took place within their walls, but from the very brick and mortar itself. Mia Grant opens her short novel In the Shadow of Spindrift House with a spooky welcoming chapter that paints her own seaside creation in much the same light.Continue Reading

Review: Castle of Sorrows by Jonathan Janz

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 17, 2019July 14, 2019Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Castle of Sorrows, Jonathan Janz, Mother Horror, Reviews, Sadie HartmannLeave a comment

Castle of Sorrows by Jonathan Janz
Flame Tree Press (July 25, 2019)
288 pages; $24.95 hardcover; $14.95 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

“The Sorrows is a wonderful example of a place exercising its influence over its occupants. Gothic horror at its finest.”—Frank Errington for Cemetery Dance

This review is dedicated to Frank who would have loved to read and review the sequel to The Sorrows. I miss my friend.Continue Reading

Review: Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 15, 2019July 14, 2019ReviewsAnton Cancre, Choke Back the Devil, Donna Lynch, ReviewsLeave a comment

Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch
Raw Dog Screaming Press (July 17, 2019)
98 pages; $13.95 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

This collection opens with a four line poem. A simple, unintimidating sentence:

Demons come in many forms Some with teeth and some with horns But none so vicious as the hordes That came to be when you were born.

Revelations: Reverend Peter Laws

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 12, 2019July 11, 2019RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations, Reverend Peter Laws2 Comments

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

Portrait of Reverend Peter Laws — Reverend Peter Laws

When I proposed “Revelations” to the fine folks at Cemetery Dance, my intent was to examine writers I’d encountered during a specific period in my career. Writers’ whose work had impacted me on a profound level, changed the way I thought about horror, and changed the way I wrote. Never once did I imagine I’d stumbled onto something profound or unheard of. Continue Reading

Review: Boomtown by James A. Moore

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 11, 2019July 11, 2019ReviewsBoomtown, James A. Moore, Kevin Lucia, Reviews, Twisted Publishing1 Comment

Boomtown by James A. Moore
Twisted Publishing (April 2019)
354 pages; $30 hardcover; $18 paperback; $7.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia

Though I’ve heard a lot about Jim Moore’s recurring character Jonathan Crowley, I’ve never read him. Now that I have, I can add another recurring character (joining F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack and Peter Laws’ Matthew Hunter) to my list of “must read characters.” Boomtown is a fast-paced, smooth-reading weird western which hits all the right notes, and now I want to find every Crowley story and read them, yesterday.Continue Reading

Review: The Buzzard Zone by Ronald Kelly

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 11, 2019July 11, 2019ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Macabre Ink, Reviews, Ronald Kelly, The Buzzard Zone, Thunderstorm Books1 Comment

Book cover showing a zombie eating flesh The Buzzard Zone by Ronald Kelly
Macabre Ink (November 2018)
272 pages; $85 limited edition; $13.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Right out of the gate, Ronald Kelly makes a point about zombies I’d never thought of before—wherever a pack of rotting corpses roams, a kettle of buzzards is sure to follow. Makes sense, just as it makes sense that savvy survivors would watch for buzzards, using their presence as a signal to avoid areas of potential trouble.Continue Reading

Review: Spirits by Sheri Sebastian-Gabriel

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 9, 2019ReviewsDave Simms, Haverhill House Publishing, Reviews, Sheri Sebastian-Gabriel, SpiritsLeave a comment

Spirits by Sheri Sebastian-Gabriel
Haverhill House Publishing (July 22, 2019)
210 pages; $30 hardcover; $7.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Spirits come in many forms, and some say that those in the liquid form can lead to those of the demonic sort. Newcomer Sheri Sebastian-Gabriel rocks this debut that not only tackles but beats the everloving snot out of alcoholism. This is a novel that delves into the horrors that can come out of falling prey to a crippling disease that affects so many.Continue Reading

Our Annual 4th of July Special Offer Starts Early This Year!

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 3, 2019July 2, 2020Breaking NewsLeave a comment

SOLD OUT!

Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 3, 2019June 30, 2019ReviewsChad Lutzke, Grady Hendrix, My Best Friend's Exorcism, Reviews1 Comment

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Quirk Books (July 2017)
336 pages; $10.19 paperback; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Chad Lutzke

Let’s skip the synopsis. The title and the cover say it all. And it was the cover that sold me.

Is the ’80s retro VHS/tattered book cover thing a dead horse? Not for me. I love nostalgia. I’m all about it. The ’70s, the ’80s. Anything that takes me back to carefree days, void of responsibility. Give me extra helpings please.Continue Reading

Review: The Seven Deadliest edited by Patrick Beltran and D. Alexander Ward

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 2, 2019June 30, 2019ReviewsCutting Block Books, D. Alexander Ward, Kevin Lucia, Patrick Beltran, Reviews, The Seven Deadliest1 Comment

The Seven Deadliest edited by Patrick Beltran and D. Alexander Ward
Cutting Block Books (May 2019)
232 pages; $13.38 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia

Normally, an anthology based on the seven deadly sins would get a bit of a side-eye from me. I hate to say this, but my thoughts would immediately leap to contrived and cliched attempts to take “sins” and turn them into horror stories built out of shock value, nothing more. Continue Reading

Review: Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 1, 2019June 30, 2019Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Flame Tree Press, Melissa Prusi, Reviews, Steven Hopstaken, Stoker's Wilde1 Comment

Editor’s Note: Our friend and colleague Frank Michaels Errington passed away on May 31. Since then, it’s been our honor to continue to run, with the gracious permission of Frank’s family, the reviews Frank had filed with us before his death. Today, it’s with great sadness and great pride that we run our final Frank Michaels Errington review. We miss you, buddy.

Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi
Flame Tree Press (May 30, 2019)
288 pages; $16.48 hardcover; $10.37 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Stoker’s Wilde is the first novel by the writing team of Steven Hopstaken & Melissa Prusi. At first look, readers may be tempted to skip this book—after all, the authors are relatively unknown. It’s written entirely in journal entries, letters, and various articles, a format I generally find off-putting. And then there’s the subject matter: Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde fighting werewolves and vampires.Continue Reading

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