Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven by Jessica McHugh 
Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven by Jessica McHugh
Raw Dog Screaming Press (June 14, 2018)
220 pages, $15.95 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre
You know what I was just thinking we don’t have nearly enough of? Hyper-violent, dystopian, post-apocalyptic sword and sandals-style fantasy with a hefty seasoning of Shakespearean drama. Luckily, we have Jess McHugh’s Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven swooping in to pluck out our eyes.Continue Reading
And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste
JournalStone (April 2017)
210 pages; $15.95 paperback; $3.95 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Remember this name. Gwendolyn Kiste will one day rule the world of dark short fiction if there’s any justice. Every once in a while, a new voice emerges and takes the genre by storm. Several have broken the surface lately and shown tinges of greatness to be, but rarely is one “born” with a style and substance this mind-boggling.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Hunger by Alma Katsu 
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (March 2018)
384 pages; $16.00 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
The release of Alma Katsu’s new historical horror novel brings with it comparisons to The Terror by Dan Simmons, even including both of them in social media ads. Do not be fooled. Yes, both authors bring impeccable research to fine stories and put you right there in the moment with ease. Both examine the human condition and how people can easily be turned to embrace their shadow selves, the monsters within the person.
Yet, there are a couple of major differences. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Like Jagged Teeth by Betty Rocksteady 
Like Jagged Teeth by Betty Rocksteady
Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing (April 2017)
118 pages, $11.95 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre
Betty Rocksteady appears to be a bit of a newcomer on the scene. I hadn’t seen her name or work prior to this year. However, if Like Jagged Teeth is anything to go on, she’s kicking the door right off its hinges.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Reviews2 Comments on Review: Stirring the Sheets by Chad Lutzke 
Stirring the Sheets by Chad Lutzke
Bloodshot Books (April 2018)
130 pages; $8.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Read enough horror, and you start feeling like you can predict where a book or story is going to go within a few pages or chapters. I’m not saying that all horror is predictable or formulaic; just that enough of it is that some reviewers (like me) might find themselves getting a little cocky after a few successful predictions. Then someone like Chad Lutzke comes along with a novella like Stirring the Sheets, and gleefully knocks you off your high horse.Continue Reading
Author Bev VincentPosted on Categories Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead Zone2 Comments on Bev Vincent Reviews The Outsider by Stephen King 
Reviewed by Bev Vincent
One of the themes of Stephen King’s 1986 novel It was the notion that adults lose the ability to believe in the kinds of things they embraced as children. Mike Hanlon contemplates this issue when he’s planning to summon his childhood friends back to Derry to confront the monster they defeated but did not destroy nearly three decades earlier. He wonders if they’re up to the task because their former ability to believe in the power of certain talismans gave them the strength to hurt Pennywise.
The inability to believe plays a major part in The Outsider. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Blood Standard by Laird Barron 
Blood Standard by Laird Barron
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (May 29, 2018)
336 pages; $26.00 hardcover; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
While The Godfather Part III is not the most revered entry in that series, that Al Pacino line is one of the franchise’s most memorable quotes. The idea behind it—the notion that people play certain inescapable roles in their life, no matter how hard they may try to change—is the basis for quite a bit of crime fiction, and it forms the backbone of Laird Barron’s new novel, Blood Standard.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry 
Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Press (March 2018)
352 pages; $20.19 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Those fans who are hoping to find the swashbuckling heroics of the Joe Ledger novels or the zombified madness of the Rot and Ruin series will be in for a big surprise with Glimpse. Maberry has penned a decidedly different book here, a thriller that delivers for that genre yet still hits on the edges of reality, stretching the imagination in a manner that is utterly human, but entrenched in a Twilight Zone-type story.Continue Reading
“Ghost EVP in Buckner Building, Whittier, Alaska”
Funemployment Radio podcast (April 2018)
Reviewed by Robert Brouhard
Greg Nibler and Sarah X Dylan with Funemployment Radio may not be totally household names, but Sarah’s art has appeared on the cover of Cemetery Dance magazine, and their great and funny podcast with over 2,000 episodes is a must-listen.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Sharkwater Beach by Tim Meyer 
Sharkwater Beach by Tim Meyer
(May 2017)
180 pages; $9.99 paperback; ebook $2.99
Reviewed by Peter Tomas
When a shark breaks out of a sketchy underwater research facility, the seas surrounding Sharkwater Beach suddenly grow ice-cold as the prehistoric predator begins her reign as “Queen of the Ocean.”
Our protagonist, a sarcastic and rather realistic woman by the name of Jill McCourty, finds herself stranded on Key Water Island, on which Sharkwater Beach resides, along with a small group of friends, strangers, and a particularly interesting trio of rough-around-the-edges men. Together, they must collaborate and fight for their lives against their massive oceanic captor until help arrives, but eventually they come to realize that, even on land, they aren’t safe.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke 
Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke
CreateSpace (September 2017)
80 pages; $6.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington
I love the tagline on the cover of Kealan Patrick Burke’s new novella, Blanky: “The gift that keeps on living.”
And then there’s the opening, one that immediately draws the reader into the story:
You say you can’t imagine what it must be like to lose a child.
Let me make it easy for you.
It’s the beginning of the end of your world.
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Changeling by Victor LaValle 
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
Spiegel & Grau (March 2018)
448 pages; $12.30 paperback; $10.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
There are relatively few new authors in the horror/speculative field today who can make a reader both disappear into a book and later sit back in awe of the pure storytelling and the ease in which the language flows in such an enthralling, dark manner. John Langan is one. Sarah Pinborough is another. Victor LaValle ranks near the top of the list.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne 
The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (June 2017)
320 pages; $15.42 hardcover; $12.39 paperback; $11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
This breakout novel has been hailed as the book of 2017. Karen Dionne decided to leave the high concept science thriller behind (the wonderful Freezing Point and Boiling Point) in favor of something much more organic and disturbing. The Marsh King’s Daughter succeeds on all levels because of what it sets out to do—simply tell a story without all the bells and whistles. Dionne’s writing features a songstress’ voice and rhythm, yet doesn’t overwhelm the reader with the love of language. It embraces the feel of the setting and story, pulling the reader deep into the marsh’s realm, only relenting when the final page is turned.Continue Reading
Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews edited by Sam Weller
Hat and Beard Press (2018)
224 pages; $45 hardcover; $200 limited edition
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia
I’ll speak more at length about this when I discuss the influence Ray Bradbury has had on me in a future edition of my column Revelations, but suffice to say: I discovered his work late in life. I’m sure I was assigned several of his short stories in junior high and high school—probably the oft-assigned “All Summer in a Day,” “Soft Rains Will Come” or maybe even “The Fun They Had”—but I never had a teacher really bring me to Ray Bradbury. This is probably why—as most of my former and present students will attest—I’ve made it my personal mission to ensure that all my students experience the work of Ray Brabdury while they’re in my class. Whether they love his work, are ambivalent toward it, or don’t like it, they’ll never be able to say they don’t know who Ray Bradbury is, or what his place is in American Literature. Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Roam by Erik Therme 
Roam by Erik Therme
Self-Published (January 2017)
244 pages; $9.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Josh Black
Roam, Erik Therme’s third novel, begins in deceptively typical fashion. A broken down car, and a couple of kids with no cell reception. Continue Reading
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