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Review: 'I Will Rot Without You' by Danger Slater

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 13, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Danger Slater, Featured, I Will Rot Without You, ReviewsLeave a comment

I Will Rot Without You by Danger Slater
Fungasm Press (February 8, 2016)
143 pages
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I Will Rot Without You is not a book I would have sought out on my own. I’ve never read anything by the author, other than some of the reviews he’s written on Goodreads. I’ve never read anything from the small press responsible for its publication, although I have read a number of short stories from John Skipp, the owner of Fungasm Press.

I Will Rot Without You was sent to Cemetery Dance for review and when I saw it on the list of books offered this month, I recognized the name from Goodreads and thought this might be interesting. I love it when I’m right.Continue Reading

Review: 'Dark City: A Novella Collection' by Brian Hodge and Gerard Houarner

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 6, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Brian Hodge, Dark City: A Novella Collection, Featured, Gerard Houarner, Reviews1 Comment

Dark City: A Novella Collection by Brian Hodge and Gerard Houarner
Necro Publications (August 2015)
240 pages; $11.95 paperback/$3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Dark City is a collection of three novellas with varying takes on the apocalypse and the times following such a catastrophic event. The book features one longer piece from Brian Hodge and a couple of smaller novellas by Gerard Houarner.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Strange Crimes of Little Africa' by Chesya Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 4, 2016ReviewsAnton Cancre, Chesya Burke, Featured, Reviews, The Strange Crimes of Little Africa1 Comment

The Strange Crimes of Little Africa by Chesya Burke
Rothco Press (December 2015)
201 pages; $17.99 paperback/$2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

I’ve been a fan of Chesya Burke’s short stories for years. “The Unremembered” from the Dark Faith anthology floored me, and her collection Let’s Play White is pure fire. Given that, I was extremely excited when she decided to write a novel, but The Strange Crimes of Little Africa had some fairly big boots to step into.

Ostensibly, Strange Crimes is a mystery. Anthropology student Jaz Idawell’s cousin is arrested for the murder of her uncle several years before, but she knows he didn’t do it. With the help of the one and only Zora Neal Hurston, she is determined to find the truth, no matter what it costs her. Of course, like all of the best mysteries, the case isn’t really the point. Jaz’s search becomes a search for her own identity and her own history.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Children's Home' by Charles Lambert

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 30, 2015ReviewsCharles Lambert, Featured, Jonathan Reitan, Reviews, The Children's Home1 Comment

The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert
Scribner (January 5, 2016)
224 pages; $24 hardcover/$11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Jonathan Reitan

Writer Charles Lambert’s name may not be immediately recognizable by horror aficionados, but in early 2016 the genre will get his first sampling, and it’s a name you won’t soon forget.

Lambert’s previous releases have included a memoir, an award-winning short story collection and psychological thriller novels. In the British author’s latest, The Children’s Home, Lambert offers us a delightful work of parts dark fairy tale and literary horror. Continue Reading

Review: 'Sour Candy' by Kealan Patrick Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 28, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Featured, Kealan Patrick Burke, Reviews, Sour CandyLeave a comment

Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke
Published by Author (November 2015)
67 pages; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

We’ve all been there: standing in the aisle of a store, trying to hurry up and get the stuff on your list so you can get done and get out. There’s a hundred other places you’d rather be, and you’re already annoyed because it was hard to find a parking place and you can barely get down the aisle because there’s so many people there, many of whom apparently came for the sole purpose of standing in your way and chit-chatting with the neighbor or friend they happened to run into.

And then, the screaming starts.Continue Reading

Review: 'Christmas Horror Volume 1' edited by Chris Morey

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 23, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Chris Morey, Christmas Horror Volume 1, Cody Goodfellow, Dark Regions Press, Featured, J.F. Gonzalez. Joe R. Lansdale, Jeff Strand, John Skipp, Mark Rainey, Nate Southard, Reviews, Shane McKenzie, William MeikleLeave a comment

Christmas Horror Volume 1 edited by Chris Morey
Dark Regions Press (November 2015)
134 pages; $15.00 paperback/$5.00 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

‘Tis the season…for horror? You betcha. Why should Halloween have all the fun? Editor Chris Morey and the team at Dark Regions Press put together an Indiegogo campaign earlier this year and the result is Christmas Horror Volume 1, a wonderfully enjoyable collection of horror stories for this horror fan’s second favorite holiday, right behind Halloween.Continue Reading

Review: 'Sacrificing Virgins' by John Everson

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 21, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Featured, John Everson, Reviews, Sacrificing Virgins, Samhain PublishingLeave a comment

Sacrificing Virgins by John Everson
Samhain Publishing (December 2015)
282 pages; $16.99 paperback/$5.00 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

First let me say I am ashamed I have never read anything from John Everson before. Why didn’t someone tell me about this guy? Wow. Sacrificing Virgins is Everson’s fourth collection and contains twenty-five of the darkest, most sexually perverse stories I’ve ever read, and I mean that as a complement. Continue Reading

Review: 'Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel' by Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 18, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Featured, Jaws, Jaws 2, Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel, Louis R. Pisano, Michael A. Smith, Nonfiction, Reviews1 Comment

Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel by Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith
BearManor Media (September 2015)
362 pages; $34.95 hardcover/$23.02 paperback/$9.95 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Jaws2 As sequels go, Jaws 2 had one of the hardest acts to follow in cinema history: Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which stands today as one of the most revered movies of all time, a near-perfect blend of casting, acting and visual storytelling that wears its 40-years-and-counting quite well.

Likewise, Louis A. Pisano and Michael A. Smith’s book, Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel, has a big mountain to climb. Spielberg’s classic has spawned a couple of excellent making-of books: The Jaws Log, a bird’s-eye-view recounting of the film’s production from Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb; and Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard, Jim Beller and Matt Taylor’s lushly illustrated, exhaustively researched account of the filming as told by the residents of the small New England island Spielberg and company took over.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two' edited by S.T. Joshi

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 14, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Alan Dean Foster, Brian Stableford, Cody Goodfellow, Donald Tyson, Erik Bear, Featured, Greg Bear, Jason C. Eckhardt, Jonathan Maberry, Karen Haber, Kevin J. Anderson, Laird Barron, Mark Howard Jones, Nancy Kilpatrick, Reviews, S.T. Toshi, Steve Rasnic Tem, The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two, Titan Books, William F. Nolan1 Comment

The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two edited by S.T. Joshi
Titan Books (2015)
304 pages; $13.01 paperback/$8.69 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

From the intro to The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two – “If there is a dominant theme in this volume and its predecessor, it is that of alien incursion, the notion that ‘we are not alone in the universe.'” For me, it’s all about the stories and in this anthology the stories are, for the most part, excellent.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Sandman: Overture' by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 9, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Comics, DC Comics, J.H. Williams III, Neil Gaiman, Reviews, The Sandman, The Sandman: Overture, VertigoLeave a comment

The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman (writer), J.H. Williams III (illustrator), Dave Stewart (colors), Todd Klein (lettering), and Dave McKean (original series covers)
DC Comics/Vertigo (November 2015)
224 pages; $14.99 hardcover/$14.24 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Overture When a series reaches the level of fan adoration and critical acclaim that Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman has, there’s always going to be a clamoring for more. Yes, it has been nearly 20 years since the 75th and final issue of the comic series was published by DC, but the work has aged magnificently, standing even now as a testament to what the medium is capable of, and as a standard which is rarely equaled.

Gaiman has demonstrated on more than one occasion that he’s not opposed to revisiting his creation if he’s got a good story to tell. He wrote The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, and a handful of stories for the Endless Nights anthology, and now he’s come back again with a prequel to the original series. The Sandman: Overture was a six issue limited series that began in 2013, and is now collected in its entirety in a beautiful hardcover edition.Continue Reading

Review: 'Lost in the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories' by Joe Mynhardt

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 4, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Crystal Lake Publishing, Featured, Joe Mynhardt, Lost in the Dark, ReviewsLeave a comment

Lost In the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories by Joe Mynhardt
Crystal Lake Publishing (2012)
200 pages; $6.99 paperback/$0.99 ebook
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Joe Mynhardt is a South African writer of horror with more than 50 published short stories to his credit. He is also the owner and operator of Crystal Lake Publishing, publishers of horror and dark fantasy.

Lost In the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories contains a dozen examples of Joe’s writing covering a wide variety of horror tropes.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Unhinged' by David Bernstein

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 2, 2015ReviewsDamon Smith, David Bernstein, Featured, Reviews, Samhain Publishing, The UnhingedLeave a comment

The Unhinged by David Bernstein
Samhain Publishing (November 2014)
226 pages; $14 paperback; ebook $5.50
Reviewed by Damon Smith

Unhinged In some ways reading David Bernstein’s The Unhinged reminded me a lot of Brian Keene’s The Rising; not in themes or setting, but in terms of emotions the book got out of me. I felt emotionally drained after finishing The Unhinged. While Keene’s zombie magnum opus earned that emotional drainage on me with character development and interesting plotting and twists in its respective genre, The Unhinged is merely an unpleasant slog at best.Continue Reading

Review: 'Hot Blood' by Tony Richards

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 20, 2015ReviewsFeatured, Hot Blood, Joshua Gage, Reviews, Samhain Publishing, Tony RichardsLeave a comment

Hot Blood by Tony Richards
Samhain Publishing (September 2014)
362 pages, e-book $6.50, paperback $17.42
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Hot Blood is the story of Tanya Merrit, a Ykraal. Ykraal are night based creatures who burn in the sunlight and require the blood of human beings for strength. They are not, however, vampires. Ykraal have a more symbiotic relationship with their victims, and Tanya is often seen seducing and making love to her victims before drinking their blood, mesmerizing them in the process so there is no pain or fear. When Tanya’s girlfriend, Kathy, is stolen away by a true, parasitic vampire, Wolkran, the novel follows Tanya as she chases Wolkran across the globe in an attempt to stop him and get Kathy back.

For readers looking for an international adventure story, Hot Blood delivers. Continue Reading

Review: 'At the Lazy K' by Gene O'Neill

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 19, 2015ReviewsAt the Lazy K, Featured, Gene O'Neill, Reviews, W.D. Gagliani, Written BackwardsLeave a comment

At the Lazy K by Gene O’Neill
Written Backwards (May 2015)
162 pages; $10.00 paperback
Reviewed by W.D. Gagliani

All the best storytellers get it done without verbal fireworks. In fact, too much style can easily get in the way of the story – in part sparseness is what makes hardboiled fiction still work so well decades after it was written. While it’s not in the hardboiled vein, Gene O’Neill’s novella At the Lazy K is a good example of the simple art of storytelling. It’s not as easy to do as it looks, but when it works it should look easy. O’Neill always does well with common man narrators and/or characters, presenting events from their perspective with an old-fashioned street-smart approach that’s winningly convincing.Continue Reading

Review: 'Dead Ringers' by Christopher Golden

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 16, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Christopher Golden, Dead Ringers, Featured, Reviews, St. Martin's PressLeave a comment

Dead Ringers by Christopher Golden
St. Martin’s Press (November 20150
320 pages, e-book $12.99 , hardcover $17.76
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

DeadRingers Christopher Golden adds another quality horror/thriller to his immense body of work with Dead Ringers, a tale of supernatural dopplegängers tormenting a small group of colleagues and friends.

Some authors lay all their cards on the table at the beginning of the story and let readers watch how everything plays out. In this book, Golden chooses to reveal details to us as he reveals them to his characters, making for a much more immersive and, at times, disorienting experience. This approach, coupled with Golden’s solid character work and relentless pacing, makes Dead Ringers a thoroughly enjoyable read.Continue Reading

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