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Revelations: Robert McCammon

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 31, 2019May 30, 2019RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations, Robert McCammon4 Comments

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

Author Robert McCammon

(Before we begin, a moment of shameless self-promotion: For a limited time, the ebook of my novella quartet, Through A Mirror, Darkly, is free on Amazon. That’s a price you can’t beat! Grab it while you can.)

I have friend and colleague Bob Ford to thank for introducing me to Robert McCammon’s work. I’m not sure exactly when I stumbled across his blog entry about Boy’s Life, but it must’ve been late summer or early fall 2010, because I read Boy’s Life for the first time not long after. And, I can say—without an ounce of hyperbole—that novel impacted me more than any novel I’ve ever read. It changed me, fundamentally, as a writer. I made me realize the limitless possibilities of speculative fiction. Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #212

Bev VincentMay 3, 2019May 2, 2019Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, castle rock, Columns, Creepshow, dark tower, Doctor Sleep, Duma Key, Eli Roth, Finders Keepers, Flight or Fright, Gwendy's Button Box, Gwendy's Magic Feather, In the Tall Grass, It, Joe Hill, Lisey's Story, Mick Garris, Mile 81, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, Rest Stop, Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, The Institute, The Outsider, The Stand, The Talisman, Throttle, Wizard and GlassLeave a comment

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of everything that’s going on in the Stephen King Universe. There are so many projects underway or about to get underway or that could possibly some day get underway that it boggles the mind. This is a new Golden Age for King, especially when it comes to the various adaptations of his work to screens large and small, silver and otherwise. I’m here to help you keep track!
Continue Reading

CD eBook Spotlight: The Girl Who Loved Animals by Bruce McAllister

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 1, 2019April 28, 2019Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooksBruce McAllister, Columns, Norman Prentiss, Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooks, The Girl Who Loved AnimalsLeave a comment

Cemetery Dance is famous for its long-running magazine and its impressive span of collectable print editions, but we’ve also been quietly building an extensive list of eBooks. We’ve started this column to draw attention to eBooks that some of you might have missed.

This installment is devoted to Bruce McAllister’s story collection, The Girl Who Loved Animals. Continue Reading

Dead Trees: Horror Show by Greg Kihn

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 26, 2019Dead TreesColumns, Dead Trees, Greg Kihn, Horror Show, Mark SieberLeave a comment

Yes, MTV used to show music videos.

Nearly everyone I knew professed to hate the network, but I don’t know many who didn’t watch MTV. It was perfect background fodder for the burnout generation. You could laugh at what you hated, but sooner or later something you wanted to see would air.

One of the mainstays of early MTV was Greg Kihn. Kihn had a few hits, rocking out with cheerfully depressing songs like “The Breakup Song” and “Jeopardy.” I neither loved nor hated Kihn. His stuff was harmless and rather pleasant, but I didn’t buy his records.

I don’t think anyone could have predicted that, out of the blue, Greg Kihn would publish one of the best horror novels of the ’90s. The perfectly titled Horror Show was an immediate favorite of fans everywhere.Continue Reading

Revelations: Norman Partridge

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 19, 2019April 18, 2019RevelationsColumns, Norm Partridge, Revelations1 Comment

Author Norman Partridge poses in the Nevada Desert. — Author Norman Partridge poses in Nevada.

I first heard Norman Partridge’s name when talking to Norman Prentiss at my second Borderlands Bootcamp in 2010. It came up by happenstance. During dinner, Norman was talking about how someone at the most recent World Horror Convention had mistaken him for Norman Partridge, because of their similar first names. Norman Prentiss‘ wistful response was, “I only wish I was Norman Partridge.”

Not only has Norman Prentiss been a wonderful friend and editor, he’s also been a trustworthy guide to powerful voices in the genre. His endorsement certainly put Norman Partridge’s name on my TBR list. So, the following Halloween, when folks started chattering about this Halloween novel which had been published a few years before—Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge—I figured it would be the perfect entry point. And, boy howdy…what an entry point it was. About the time I hit this beautiful block of prose, which snapped with the ferocity of high-voltage wire, I was hooked…Continue Reading

Video Visions: Why Slashers?

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 12, 2019April 4, 2019Video VisionsA Nightmare on Elm Street, April Fool's Day, Black Christmas, Columns, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Hunter Shea, Last House on the Left, Psycho, The Burning, The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Video VisionsLeave a comment

Any horror fan who grew their first pubic hairs during the golden age of the genre in the ’80s has a special place in their cold, dead hearts for slasher movies. How could we not? We were surrounded by game changing flicks like Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (a VHS darling in my neck of the woods), and A Nightmare on Elm Street. And then there were the likes of Maniac, The Burning, Madman, My Bloody Valentine, Prom Night and so many others, good and very, very bad. It seemed like every month there was a new villain hacking his way through scores of pot smoking, beer swilling, hormone raging teens and twenty-somethings. Continue Reading

Exhumed: “Markers” and “Scree”

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 15, 2019March 17, 2019ExhumedColumns, Exhumed, K. Edwin Fritz, Steve Rasnic TemLeave a comment

Exhumed is my humble attempt to read and review every short story and novel excerpt ever published by Cemetery Dance Magazine. In their 29 years of publication, that comes to over 550 pieces spread out over 76 issues. For a comprehensive list, you’ll want to check out Michael P. Sauers’ Cemetery Dance Magazine Index (Issues 1-75).

Since each Exhumed post covers just two pieces (one “old” and one “new”), I think I’m going to be doing this for a while. I sure hope you’ll join me along the way. Continue Reading

Revelations: The Repairman Jack Saga by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 8, 2019March 7, 2019RevelationsColumns, F. Paul Wilson, Kevin Lucia, Repairman Jack, Revelations5 Comments

As I’ve written this series, I’ve found it necessary to achieve a tenuous balance in my recommendations and recountings of the horror which has impacted me as a reader and writer. I’ve bounced a lot between the descriptions “fun and fast-paced” and “literate and full of substance.” The truth of the matter (as I’ve come to discover it) is this: good fiction and, even more importantly, a good reading diet, shouldn’t ever cater to one end of the spectrum exclusively. Stories should move us emotionally, they should make us ponder the world around us, our existence, and life in general. They should say something about the human condition. Continue Reading

Dead Trees: Dead White by Alan Ryan

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 1, 2019February 25, 2019Dead TreesAlan Peter Ryan, Alan Ryan, Columns, Dead Trees, Dead White, Mark Sieber1 Comment

Do you ever think back to times you spent with books? Reliving pieces of your life and the books that defined your existence? Yeah, so do I.

Lately I was thinking of a night back in the winter of 1986/1987. It was a cold year, and I was living in less than ideal accommodations. I was still pretty poor at the time. I had enough for the monthly bills, and I ate reasonably well. Books were a luxury. Well, new books anyway. I mostly did my reading purchases through the local used bookstores. Remember when they were everywhere?Continue Reading

Revelations: The Pines by Robert Dunbar

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 15, 2019February 10, 2019RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations, Robert Dunbar, The PinesLeave a comment

Several months ago I referenced a future column about Charles Grant’s Shadows and Tom Monteleone’s Borderlands anthologies, and that feature is coming, I assure you. However, this column tends to wander around a bit—much like my reading tastes, and my short attention span (ask any student or former student)—and this month, I’d like to talk about Robert Dunbar’s The Pines.Continue Reading

What I Learned from Stephen King: IT & Other Childhood Demons

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 8, 2019February 8, 2019What I Learned from Stephen KingColumns, It, Jason Sechrest, What I Learned from Stephen King1 Comment

Tim Curry as Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

No book has had a more profound impact on me than Stephen King’s It.

For one thing, It is the book that introduced me to Stephen King. In 1990, I was 10 years old, and like many kids my age, I was entranced by the clown in the storm drain I’d seen on prime time television. You can bet your fur that every kid at school was talking about Stephen King’s It the night after it aired, but like most things that captured our imagination as children, it faded from the periphery of playground conversation within a day or so, only to be replaced by more common maintains like debating who should be the villain in the next Batman movie, or when we would get another Gremlins or Ghostbusters. Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #210

Bev VincentFebruary 1, 2019February 4, 2019Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Bill Thompson, castle rock, Columns, Doctor Sleep, Finders Keepers, Firestarter, Flight or Fright, In the Tall Grass, It Chapter 2, Joyland, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, Squad D, The Blue Air Compressor, The OutsiderLeave a comment

The Comic Vault: Hellboy Turns 25

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 18, 2019January 17, 2019The Comic VaultBlu Gilliand, Columns, Hellboy, Mike Mignola, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

After a couple of false starts, The Comic Vault returns to Cemetery Dance just in time to celebrate a milestone anniversary of one of the greatest horror comic characters of all time: Mike Mignola’s blue collar demon, Hellboy.Continue Reading

Video Visions: Embrace of the Holidays

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 21, 2018December 20, 2018Video VisionsAlyssa Milano, Columns, Embrace of the Vampire, Hunter Shea, Nosferatu, The Nosferatu Diaries, Video VisionsLeave a comment

This will be my sixth Christmas without my father. I miss the son of a bitch something fierce, but the hurt always gets a little more tender during the holidays.

What gives me comfort, especially at night after a long day, is the video shelf of movies he bought for me every Christmas. He was a huge movie buff and liked to pick out offbeat “classics” he knew I would enjoy like The Rounders or Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation. He would spend the year curating special movies for the family, but I don’t think anyone enjoyed his staff picks as much as I did. Continue Reading

Revelations: Short Stories

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 14, 2018December 11, 2018RevelationsColumns, Cutting Edge, Horror Hall of Fame, Kevin Lucia, Metahorror, Prime Evil, Revelations, The Boneyard, The Horror ShowLeave a comment

When I first conceived of this column, my intent was to focus on authors and how their body of work influenced me during a specific period in my development. After several columns, I realized that while maybe an author’s entire body of work didn’t necessarily impact me, one or two of their novels had—hence my previous column about Don’t Take Away the Light, by J. N. Williamson, and The Reach by Nate Kenyon and The Pines, by Robert Dunbar (subjects of future columns). Continue Reading

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