Reviews Archives - Cemetery Dance Online

Review: Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own by Maxwell I. Gold

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 8, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsJoshua Gage, Maxwell I. Gold, Reviews, Songs of Enough An Inferno All My OwnLeave a comment

Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own by Maxwell I. Gold
Hippocampus Press (September 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Maxwell I. Gold is a Jewish-American prose poet, author, and editor, with an extensive body of work comprising over 300 poems since 2017. His writings have earned a place alongside many literary luminaries in the speculative fiction genres and his work has garnered nominations for multiple awards including the Pushcart Prize, the Eric Hoffer Awards, Rhysling Awards, and the Bram Stoker Awards. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies such as Weird Tales Magazine, Startling Stories, the recent Horror Writers Association anthology Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology, Chiral Mad 5, and many more. His newest collection is Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own, an epic prose poem based on his Cyber Gods mythos.Continue Reading

Review: Dancing Before Azathoth by Darrell Schweitzer

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 6, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsDancing Before Azathoth, Darrell Schweitzer, Joshua Gage, poetry, ReviewsLeave a comment

Dancing Before Azathoth by Darrell Schweitzer
Hippocampus Press (November 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

For more than half a century, Darrell Schweitzer has been contributing poems of fantasy, horror, and the supernatural to countless venues. Dancing Before Azathoth is a major retrospective of Schweitzer’s verse over the past two or three decades, selecting the best poems from earlier collections — including Groping Toward the Light (2000) and Ghosts of Past and Future (2008) — with uncollected poems that have appeared in Weirdbook, Spectral Realms, Asimov’s, Space and Time, and other periodicals.Continue Reading

Review: Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 1, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsEden Royce, Psychopomp & Circumstance, Reviews, Rowan B. MinorLeave a comment

cover of Psychopomp & Circumstance Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce
Tordotcom (October 2025)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Eden Royce, a Shirley Jackson Award winner, is a writer and member of the Gullah-Geechee nation from Charleston, South Carolina, who is now living in Southeast England. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including: Nightmare, Strange Horizons, The Horn Book Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and Western Colorado University. Her debut middle grade novel, ROOT MAGIC, is a Walter Award honoree, a Nebula Award finalist, a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner, and an Ignyte award winner for outstanding children’s literature. In 2024, Royce was the joint winner of the Middle Grade Bram Stoker Award for her third YA book, The Creepening of Dogwood House. Her debut adult fiction horror novella, Psychopomp & Circumstance, was released in October 2025. Continue Reading

Review: Monumental by Adam L.G. Nevill

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 30, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsAdam L.G. Nevill, Dave Simms, Monumental, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Monumental Monumental by Adam L.G. Nevill
Ritual Limited (April 2, 2026)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Adam Nevill is a force of writing that combines the literary aspects of Ramsey Campbell and Peter Straub with the approachability of Tim Lebbon or Michael Marshall Smith. Monumental is a “big” novel in that its reach stretches beyond the folk horror he has mastered but also returns to his deep, dark dive into characterization that transforms what could be just another entry into the cultish, elder god culture into something modern and relevant.Continue Reading

Review: Decomposition Book by Sara Van Os

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 27, 2026February 22, 2026ReviewsDecomposition Book, Elizabeth Broadbent, Reviews, Sara Van OsLeave a comment

Decomposition Book by Sara Van Os
HarperCollins (May 19, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

Loneliness and desperation ooze from Sara van Os’s Decomposition Book: A Novel. Os paints a compelling, bleak, and darkly humorous portrait of two women in crisis: Ava, hopelessly lost in the Adirondacks during a weekend hiking trip with two work friends, and Savannah, a Gen Z college student desperate to call herself “on a break” from school. Holed up in a secluded lake house after the stunning betrayal of her best friend, Savannah finds Ava’s corpse during a walk in the woods. Continue Reading

Review: The Curse of Hester Gardens by Tamika Thompson

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 25, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsElizabeth Broadbent, Reviews, Tamika Thompson, The Curse of Hester GardensLeave a comment

cover of The Curse of Hester Gardens The Curse of Hester Gardens by Tamika Thompson
Erewhon Books (March 31, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

Tamika Thompson’s The Curse of Hester Gardens is an urgent novel. Set in the Michigan projects, it’s a novel about gun violence, and if you suspect that makes for a rough emotional ride, you’d be right. It’s a novel about poverty, and it’s a novel about racism.

The Curse of Hester Gardens is a novel about America.Continue Reading

Review: Artificial by Maria Llovet

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 23, 2026February 22, 2026Reviews, The Comic VaultArtificial, Columns, Joshua Gage, Maria Llovet, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

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Artificial by Maria Llovet
Image Comics (April 28, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Maria Llovet is a comics author and Illustrator from Barcelona. As a complete author, she has published numerous graphic novels in Europe and the US, such as Luna, Loud, Heartbeat, Eros/Psyche or Porcelain, among others. As an artist, she has collaborated with Brian Azzarello in Faithless for Boom! Studios and with James Tynion IV in Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country and Thessaly for DC. Her newest graphic novel is Artificial.Continue Reading

Review: Things Are As They Should Be and Other Words to Die For by P.M. Raymond

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 20, 2026February 22, 2026ReviewsElizabeth Broadbent, P.M. Raymond, Reviews, Things Are As They Should Be and Other Words to Die ForLeave a comment

cover of Things Are As They Should Be and Other Words to Die For Things Are As They Should Be and Other Words to Die For by P.M. Raymond
Uncomfortably Dark Horror (April 26, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

As a fellow Southern author, I read P.M. Raymond’s Things Are As They Should Be and Other Words to Die For with particular relish. An interconnected book of short stories with recurring characters, families, and settings? Give it to me in the vein. Southern Gothic horror fans buckle up: this is the kind of collection you won’t want to miss. Continue Reading

Review: Bury My Heart Under the Martian Sky by Juan Manuel Pérez

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 18, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsBury My Heart Under the Martian Sky, Joshua Gage, Juan Manuel Perez, poetry, ReviewsLeave a comment

Bury My Heart Under the Martian Sky by Juan Manuel Pérez
Interstellar Flight Press (April 6, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Juan Manuel Pérez, a Mexican-American poet of indigenous descent and the current Poet Laureate for Corpus Christi, Texas (2019-2020), is the author of Another Menudo Sunday (2007), O’ Dark Heaven: A Response to Suzette Haden Elgin’s Definition of Horror (2009), WUI: Written Under the Influence of Trinidad Sanchez, Jr. (2011), Live From La Pryor: The Poetry of Juan Manuel Perez: A Zavala Country Native Son, Volume 1 (2014), Sex, Lies, and Chupacabras (2015), Space In Pieces (2020), and Screw The Wall! And Other Brown People Poems (2020), as well as, the co-editor of The Call Of The Chupacabra (2018). He is the 2011-2012 San Antonio Poets Association Poet Laureate and the Lone Star State’s only El Chupacabras Poet Laureate (For Life). The former Gourd Dancer for the Memphis Tia Piah Big River Clan Warrior Society is also a Pushcart Prize Nominee as well as a SEATTAH Scholar (Striving For Excellence And Accountability In The Teaching Of Traditional American History) through the University Of Dallas. His newest collection is Bury My Heart Under the Martain Sky.Continue Reading

Review: The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 16, 2026February 22, 2026ReviewsElizabeth Broadbent, Gwendolyn Kiste, Raw Dog Screaming Press, Reviews, The Haunted Houses She Calls Her OwnLeave a comment

cover The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste
Raw Dog Screaming Press (April 14, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

Raw Dog Screaming Press releases another banger with Gwendolyn Kiste’s The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own. Containing the Bram Stoker Award-winning “The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westerna’s Diary),” it’s a feminist howl of a collection that takes a hard look at the ways family and society can trap women. Continue Reading

Review: The Undertaker Volume 1: The Gold Eater & Dance of the Vultures by Xavier Dorison and Ralph Meyer

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 13, 2026February 22, 2026Reviews, The Comic VaultColumns, Joshua Gage, Ralph Meyer, Reviews, The Comic Vault, The Undertaker Volume 1, Xavier DorisonLeave a comment

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The Undertaker Volume 1: The Gold Eater & Dance of the Vultures by Xavier Dorison and Ralph Meyer
Abrams ComicArts (March 31, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Xavier Dorison was born in 1972. He is a prolific author known for his immersive narratives across multiple genres. He started a comics festival while in college, and within a few years he had become a pillar of that very scene, thanks to series like Long John Silver. Dorison continues to shape modern comics with his high-energy storytellingContinue Reading

Review: Cracking Spines by Jason Cavallero

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 11, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsCracking Spines, Dave Simms, Jason Cavallero, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Cracking Spines Cracking Spines by Jason Cavallero
Cracking Spines (September 2025)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Guides to horror books are great. Sometimes they’re a little cute, fancy, or obviously biased towards the freshest faces in the genre. All are fine, and some are incredibly done. This reviewer has gone through most of them and many are entertaining, sometimes, readers need a no-frills approach to their book addiction searches.

Jason Cavallero is a different beast entirely. Besides performing in a heavy metal band and playing drums for the New Orleans Saints, he lives and breathes horror fiction. It’s not something he picked up because it was cool or to help friends. Horror is IN his DNA. He devours over 200 books a year, but that’s likely an understatement.
The key thing is: he does this so the average horror fan doesn’t have to.Continue Reading

Review: The Hive by Ronald Malfi

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 9, 2026March 8, 2026ReviewsReviews, Ronald Malfi, The HIve, W.D. GaglianiLeave a comment

cover of The Hive The Hive by Ronald Malfi
Titan Books (April 14, 2026)
Review by W.D. Gagliani

Ronald Malfi (author of The Fall of Never, The Narrows, Bone White, December Park, Small Town Horror, Little Girls, Come With Me, and numerous others) knows that deep down, most of us fear — or at least distrust — the small-town dynamic…unless we grew up with it, and even then the American Way is often to leave the small town behind. In the horror tradition, it’s probably a cliché to say that Stephen King rewrote the book on small town horror, and folks like Ray Bradbury had been there before. But there’s nothing wrong with echoing those voices with a current-day vibe, and that’s what Malfi gives us with The Hive.Continue Reading

Review: Requiem: Tales of the Undead edited by Lisa Mangum with Wendy Christensen

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 6, 2026March 1, 2026ReviewsLisa Mangum, Requiem, Reviews, Rowan B. Minor, Wendy ChristensenLeave a comment

cover of Requiem: Tales of the Undead — Version 1.0.0

Requiem: Tales of the Undead edited by Lisa Mangum with Wendy Christensen
WordFire Press (February 2026)
Reviewed by Rowan B. Minor

Requiem: Tales of the Undead is a brand new horror anthology edited by Lisa Mangum with Wendy Christensen. Mangum’s first anthology, One Horn to Rule Them All, was released by WordFire Press in August 2014. Since then, she has edited several other anthologies, including Weird Wilderness: A Cryptid Bestiary (2025). Requiem: Tales of the Undead is Mangum’s tenth anthology with WordFire Press. This collection features nineteen uniquely horrifying short stories that center around the undead, including innovative spins on ghost, zombie, and vampire tropes. What makes this anthology more creative than the average horror anthology isn’t just the titular theme, but the subtheme of music throughout. Continue Reading

Review: Oversight: Erasure Poetry by Carina Bissett and Lee Murray

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 4, 2026March 8, 2026ReviewsCarina Bissett, Elizabeth Broadbent, Lee Murray, Oversight: Erasure Poetry, poetry, ReviewsLeave a comment

Oversight: Erasure Poetry by Carina Bissett and Lee Murray
Running Wild Press (March 8, 2026)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Broadbent

Poetry is a difficult beast. We authors often say that it’s harder to write a great short story than a good novel. If that’s true, great poetry is more difficult by far. Not only does condensation of theme and economy of language winnow to the level of a single word, but the limits of theme and the necessity of rhythm further force the writer’s hand. Good poetry is hard. Great poetry is a life’s work. Continue Reading

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