Columns Archives - Cemetery Dance Online

Comic Creators on PROJECT: CRYPTID

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 13, 2023September 10, 2023Interviews, The Comic VaultAhoy Comics, Columns, Danica Davidson, Interviews, Project: Cryptid, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

AHOY Comics’ new anthology PROJECT: CRYPTID, which has its first issue debuting this month, offers up scares and silliness as different writers and artists take on creatures from legends. Seven of the anthology’s writers — Mark Russell, Paul Constant, Bryce Ingman, Melissa F. Olson, Jazzlyn Stone, Henry Barajas, and Alisa Kwitney — all spoke to Cemetery Dance about their creatures of choice, the process of mixing horror with humor, and what makes comics a good medium for scary stories.Continue Reading

Michael Schwartz on Stine, Comics, and Haunted Armor

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 12, 2023September 11, 2023Interviews, The Comic VaultArmored, Columns, Danica Davidson, Interviews, Michael Vault, R.L. Stine, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Screenwriter Michael Schwartz, a longtime fan of comics, has a live Kickstarter through Clover Press to launch his own comic, Armored. The horror comic follows Andy, who finds a haunted suit of armor and its ghost, Sir William. The comic is illustrated by Ismael Hernandez, and is set to have covers from Jae Lee, Nick Pitarra, Chrissie Zullo, Scott Kolins, Matthew Therrien, and Jeff Dickson. Schwartz spoke to Cemetery Dance about his love of comics, working on R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town, and what real-world influences led him to writing about haunted armor.Continue Reading

Interview: Anya Davidson on NIGHT AND DANA

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 8, 2023August 29, 2023Interviews, The Comic VaultAnya Davidson, Columns, Danica Davidson, Interviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Anya Davidson’s new graphic novel, Night and Dana, is being released on September 12 by Graphic Universe. It’s a coming-of-age story about horror-obsessed teens that also involves environmental activism. Davidson (no relation to the interviewer) spoke to Cemetery Dance about her long interest in horror, her influences, and how horror tales can tackle real-world issues.

Exclusive Excerpt: LIGHTS from Brenna Thummler and Oni Press

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 5, 2023September 2, 2023Book Excerpts, The Comic VaultBrenna Thummler, Columns, Danica Davidson, Excerpt, Lights, Oni Press, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Lights, the final graphic novel in the Sheets trilogy, is being released by Oni
Press on September 6. The stories follow Marjorie Glatt, ghost enthusiast
Eliza Duncan, and their ghost friend Wendell, who wants to know more about his past life.

As a special exclusive, Cemetery Dance is able to publish the following excerpt before publication day. Creator Brenna Thummler, who says that ghost stories were part of her daily routine growing up, said in an exclusive quote to Cemetery Dance, “Lights is the last step in the trilogy’s healing process, and proves that the best kind of self-growth is the lifting up of others rather than the lifting up of oneself.”Continue Reading

Jay Stephens Takes Readers Inside His DWELLINGS

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 14, 2023August 13, 2023Interviews, The Comic VaultColumns, Danica Davidson, Dwellings, Interviews, jay Stephens, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Dwellings #1, from Emmy Award-winning animator and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Jay Stephens, was published by Oni Comics on August 9, 2023. Don’t let the innocent, childlike art fool you — this is a horror series about a small town dealing with murder, possession and more. Stephens spoke to Cemetery Dance about his Harvey Comics influence, the pathway to getting Dwellings published, and what he hopes readers take away from the series.Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #232

Bev VincentAugust 11, 2023August 11, 2023Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, Bev Vincent, Christine, Columns, Gerald's Game, Holly, It, King on Screen, mike flanagan, News from the Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, Stephen King, The Boogeyman, The Dark Tower, The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Monkey, Welcome to DerryLeave a comment

It’s hot. Oh, so hot. Ever so effing hot. As many of you probably know, I live in Texas. Some years we get by without a single day with a temperature above 100°. This year, we’ve been “blessed” with almost nothing but triple-digit days, with “feels like temps” over 110°. It’s relentless.

So, while the world is melting down, what else should a person do but stay inside, with the A/C turned up high, reading and writing and watching television?
Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: The Swallows

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 4, 2023July 24, 2023Dark PathwaysColumns, Dark Pathways, Ken Brosky, Kristen Clanton, The SwallowsLeave a comment

Indie Horror is a real thing, folks. It’s so real, in fact, that it’s being talked about in Esquire Magazine, for cryin’ out loud! And what’s wonderful about it is you don’t have to look too hard to find some incredible indie presses putting out some fantastic books. One shining example is The Swallows by Kristen Clanton:Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Liliana Carstea

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 28, 2023July 10, 2023Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Liliana Carstea, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

“Strange Tales. Fairy Tales. Pluto in Furs and Romanian Folklore.”

author Liliana Carstea — Liliana Carstea

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed.

In this column I explore the phenomenon of Night Time Logic and other aspects of horror and dark fiction through in depth conversation with authors.

I delight in the strange and uncanny side of the genre particularly the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe.” My short story collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Robert Aickman’s strange tales. It can be found here.

Romanian Writer Liliana Carstea was a guest author at the New York Ghost story festival back in December 2020. You can see our conversation here.

Since then she has gone on to publish in a range of anthologies and magazines. Carstea is an author of strange tales and we begin our conversation with a question about that term.Continue Reading

Horror Drive-In: Talking About Clay McLeod Chapman’s MOTHER

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 14, 2023July 9, 2023Horror Drive-InClay McLeod Chapman, Columns, Horror Drive-In, Mark Sieber, Reviews, What Kind oF MotherLeave a comment

Clay McLeod Chapman writes without a net.

His stories defy easy categorization. The bare bones of the books may sound like typical generic plots, but he always goes in unexpected directions. Chapman doesn’t seek the easy, commercial way to publishing success. Instead he is carefully, skillfully, creating a body of bold, uncompromising fiction unlike anyone else.

The latest book, What Kind of Mother, is perhaps his most audacious to date. On the surface it’s another domestic thriller, perhaps tinged with the supernatural. It is so much more than that.Continue Reading

Horror/Western Hybrid THE SIXTH GUN Rides Again

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 3, 2023June 29, 2023The Comic VaultBrian Hurtt, Columns, Cullen Bunn, Danica Davidson, Kickstarter, Oni Press, The Comic Vault, The Sixth GunLeave a comment

There is a lot of stuff going on with Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s comic series The Sixth Gun, including a Kickstarter for deluxe hardcover omnibus editions. This is the longest running creator-owned series released by Oni Press, and it mixes horror, fantasy and Westerns into a unique and popular story form. Both Bunn and Hurtt spoke to Cemetery Dance about their Kickstarter campaign, their upcoming Sixth Gun comics, and what it is they like about writing and drawing in the horror genre.Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Kathe Koja

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 30, 2023June 29, 2023Night Time Logic, Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooksColumns, Daniel Braum, Kathe Koja, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

“Velocity. The Nature of Ghosts. Life. Existence and Extremities.”

portrait of Kathe Koja by Rick Lieder — Kathe Koja
(Portrait by Rick Lieder)

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed.

This column explores Night Time Logic and other aspects of horror and dark fiction through conversation with authors ranging from favorites and award winners to underexposed talents and new comers.

I delight in exploring the strange, weird and uncanny in fiction particularly the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe.” My short story collection is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Robert Aickman’s strange tales. The new Cemetery Dance Publications trade paperback edition of the book can be found here. Included are all-new story notes discussing strange tales and an essay exploring one of Aickman’s own.

In my previous column I spoke with Matthew Cheney about strange tales, Robert Aickman, and more. In today’s column Kathe Koja and I speak about ghosts. Life. Existence. Her short story collection Velocities, and more. We begin with a road trip.Continue Reading

Eric Palicki Returns to Black’s Myth with The Key to His Heart

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 21, 2023June 19, 2023The Comic VaultBlack's Myth, Columns, Danica Davidson, Eric Palicki, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Black’s Myth: The Key to His Heart, a new punk rock horror comic from writer Eric Palicki and artist Wendell Cavalcanti, is debuting this month from AHOY Comics. It stars a werewolf PI and a djinn assistant working in Los Angeles’ supernatural underground, and Palicki spoke to Cemetery Dance about its connection with Black’s Myth, his influences, and where people can find out more about his various comics.

Dark Pathways: When Nature is the Monster

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 16, 2023June 13, 2023Dark PathwaysAndy Davidson, Columns, Dark Pathways, Ken Brosky, The Hollow KindLeave a comment

The first thing that stands out about Andy Davidson’s The Hollow Kind is the exceptional writing. It’s as if Henry Thoreau went out into the woods, was captured by demonic trees whose roots bit into his flesh, and then wrote about the experience. What I’m trying to get at here is that Davidson’s great novel is freaking scary. Imagine something like Poltergeist, only it takes place on a Georgia estate and there’s something evil lurking underground that demands blood sacrifices. Oh, and there’s also a creepy guy who actually wants to live on the property.Continue Reading

Dead Trees: Crucifax Autumn

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 9, 2023May 20, 2023Dead TreesColumns, Crucifax Autumn, Dead Trees, Mark Sieber, Ray GartonLeave a comment

It’s in vogue for horror novels to take place in the 1980s. Fans rightly revere it as the Golden Age of the genre, both for film and fiction. The genre has a long history, but the building blocks of modern horror were laid in the eighties.

Naturally I am fond of the trend. I was an unabashed fan then as I am now. However I am all-too-often disappointed in current horror fiction set in the ’80s.Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Matthew Cheney

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 26, 2023May 7, 2023Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Matthew Cheney, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

“Magic Tricks. Nightmares. Ambiguities and Confessions”

photo of Matthew Cheney — Matthew Cheney
(Photo by Amy Wilson)

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed.

In this column I explore the phenomenon of Night Time Logic and other aspects of horror and dark fiction through in depth conversation with authors about their stories.

I have an interest in discussing and exploring the strange, weird and uncanny side of the genre, particularly the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe.” My short story collection is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Robert Aickman’s strange tales. The new Cemetery Dance Publications trade paperback edition of the book can be found here. Included are all-new story notes discussing strange tales and an essay exploring one of Aickman’s own.

In my previous column I spoke with Justin Burnett about “leaving knots tied”, the uncanny, and labyrinths. In today’s column Matthew Cheney and I speak about his new book The Last Vanishing Man from Third Man Books and discuss the horror genre, Robert Aickman, strange tales and ambiguity, and much more. We begin…“after the end.”Continue Reading

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