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My First Fright featuring Grady Hendrix

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 26, 2018January 24, 2018My First FrightColumns, Grady Hendrix, John Brhel, My First Fright, Paperbacks from HellLeave a comment

If you’ve read Paperbacks from Hell, you know that Grady Hendrix is an expert on horror fiction, most specifically mass-market paperbacks produced during the boom of the ’70s and ’80s, with their often eye-popping—some might say “garish”—cover art. What, you might ask, inspired such a fascination for weird, macabre books? In Hendrix’s case, it was a lot of things, but it certainly had something to do with a strange book he discovered while living abroad in England in the late ’70s. A book not intended for kids.

Grady Hendrix is a writer and public speaker based in Manhattan. Along with the aforementioned Paperbacks From Hell (2017), he is the author of the novels Horrorstör (2014) and My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2016). He is currently working on a new novel. Continue Reading

Revelations: T.M. Wright

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 19, 2018January 18, 2018RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations, T.M. Wright3 Comments

At one time, T. M. Wright was like Alan Peter Ryan, Charles L. Grant and so many others—just another name I’d heard here and there, most often in a quote from Ramsey Campbell (also, at that point, just another name), which said: “T. M. Wright is a one-man definition of quiet horror.”Continue Reading

Exhumed: “Better Than Breadcrumbs” and “Pelingrad’s Pit” by Ronald Kelly

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 12, 2018January 1, 2018ExhumedColumns, Exhumed, K. Edwin Fritz, Ronald KellyLeave a comment

Welcome to Exhumed, my humble attempt to read and review every story and novel excerpt ever published in Cemetery Dance magazine.

Each month I’ll summarize and analyze a pair of related works. Usually this means comparing one “older” and one “newer” piece by the same author.

In their 29+ years of publication, CD has already printed 560 pieces, spread out over 75 issues. I think I’m going to be doing this for a while…Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #204

Bev VincentJanuary 5, 2018January 5, 2018Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1922, Bev Vincent, castle rock, Columns, Finders Keepers, Gerald's Game, Hulu, It, Mr. Mercedes, netflix, News from the Dead Zone, Owen King, Reading Stephen King, Sleeping Beauties, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Outsider1 Comment

The Year in Review and a 2018 Preview

Last year was been a banner year in the Stephen King Universe, particularly with respect to the diverse cinematic adaptations of his novels. Let’s take a look back at the various treats we received during 2017, and a peek ahead to what we can look forward to in 2018.
Continue Reading

Doc Savage Forever!

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 15, 2017Horror Drive-InColumns, Doc Savage, Horror Drive-In, Mark Sieber4 Comments

I often tell people that the first book I ever read was (Robert) Heinlein’s Have Space Suit-Will Travel. It’s sort of true, and it sort of isn’t true. In one sense Space Suit is the first novel I read, yes, but that does not count Doc Savage books.Continue Reading

My First Fright featuring Edgar Cantero

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 8, 2017November 29, 2017My First FrightColumns, Edgar Cantero, John Brhel, Meddling Kids, My First Fright1 Comment

I saw Edgar Cantero’s new book Meddling Kids pretty much everywhere I looked this year. On Instagram, Twitter, displayed prominently in both Barnes & Noble locations and independent bookstores (just look at that stunning cover!) The book is often described as, get this, “Scooby-Doo meets H.P. Lovecraft.” That’s some pitch—simple, with recognizable inspirations. I mean, who doesn’t love Scooby-Doo? So with that in mind, I probably should have seen the answer a mile away when I asked him, “What was your ‘first fright’?”

Edgar Cantero is a writer and cartoonist from Barcelona, Spain. He is the author of the punk dystopian thriller Vallvi (2011), The Supernatural Enhancements (2014), and the aforementioned Meddling Kids (2017), which, as of this writing, was nominated for a 2017 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror.Continue Reading

Brian Keene’s History of Horror Fiction, Chapter Two: Thurg Life

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 30, 2017January 4, 2018Brian Keene's History of Horror FictionBrian Keene, Columns, History of Horror Fiction5 Comments

In the opening sentence of his seminal 1927 essay Supernatural Horror in Literature, H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.”

Decades later, in the Introduction to 1982’s Prime Evil anthology, Douglas E. Winter wrote, “Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror is an emotion.”

In his posthumously released 1993 song “Thug Life,” 2Pac (Tupac Shakur) rapped, “Thinkin’ of dead niggas that I knew that died young. Is there a heaven for a nigga up to no good, or is it another fuckin’ hood?”

Three seemingly disparate quotes, connected only tenuously, and yet all speaking to one universal truth that is as old as humankind itself. Three quotes that serve to interpolate the work of the Upper Paleolithic era’s version of Stephen King—an artist known as Thurg.Continue Reading

Revelations: Paul F. Olson

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 17, 2017November 13, 2017RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Paul F. Olson, Revelations2 Comments

For the most part, this column travels in semi-chronological order, chronicling the writers I’ve discovered the last few years who’ve had an impact on me as a writer. I will, however, occasionally stray from this chronological path, simply because, well, I feel like it. This is one of those cases, as we discuss writer Paul F. Olson.Continue Reading

Exhumed: “Four-in-Hand” and “Life of the Party”

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 3, 2017November 3, 2017ExhumedColumns, Exhumed, K. Edwin Fritz, William Relling Jr.2 Comments

This is Exhumed’s 12th installment.

That’s right, peeps, it’s been a full year of digging up and examining great old stories from the bowels of Cemetery Dance.

Wow.

What an honor it’s been thus far. Continue Reading

Brian Keene’s History of Horror Fiction: Chapter One: Not the Man for the Job

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 31, 2017November 1, 2017Brian Keene's History of Horror FictionBrian Keene, Columns, History of Horror Fiction21 Comments

Hi. My name is Brian Keene. You might remember me from my previous Cemetery Dance column, End of the Road. Or perhaps you know me from the many novels and comic books and short stories I’ve written—too many, if you ask some critics. Or maybe you know me from my popular podcast, The Horror Show with Brian Keene. Or, it’s possible you don’t know me at all—or know me only by reputation (and if it’s the latter, then don’t believe everything you read online). Regardless of how you ended up here, welcome to History of Horror Fiction, a new monthly column brought to you by Cemetery Dance.Continue Reading

Michael Myers Death Mask

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 27, 2017October 19, 2017Video VisionsColumns, Halloween, Hunter Shea, John Carpenter, Michael Myers, Video Visions4 Comments

I was ten years old when Halloween hit theaters. My friends and I trudged the three blocks to the Kent Theater on an October Saturday afternoon and had our tiny minds blown. The good thing about 1978 was no one cared who went in to see a movie, even if it was four ten-year old boys. Continue Reading

‘The Land of Laughs’ by Jonathan Carroll

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 20, 2017October 18, 2017Dead TreesColumns, Dead Trees, Jonathan Carroll, Land of Laughs, Mark Sieber2 Comments

I’m only just getting started, but I am already enjoying this column. Reading books from a time before cell phones. When people stopped their cars and jumped into a phone booth to make a call. When they went to libraries to do research. When damned near everything and everyone wasn’t available right at your fingertips. A time when people got up and out of the house to buy books at stores. Before we all (yes, I am guilty as charged) had our faces perpetually locked into electronic pacifiers.

A better time? I like to think so. Some will disagree, claiming that we are armed with information at our fingertips at all times. There may be some truth to that, but I think that all too often real information is drowned in misinformation, distortion, misdirection, propaganda, and outright lies.Continue Reading

My First Fright featuring Michael Wehunt

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 13, 2017October 9, 2017My First Fright'Salem's Lot, Columns, John Brhel, Michael Wehunt, My First Fright, Stephen KingLeave a comment

Usually, I avoid stuff that gives me nightmares; I’m funny like that. I don’t get much sleep as it is (father of two little ones) and when I do, I prefer to sleep soundly, my dreams free of terrifying imagery.

Michael Wehunt apparently doesn’t value his sleep. He watches movies that give him nightmares and keeps going back for more! But perhaps that unbridled enthusiasm for the macabre helped lead to his success as a writer?

Wehunt is an Atlanta-based author. His debut collection, Greener Pastures, was shortlisted for the Crawford Award and a Shirley Jackson Award finalist. His short fiction has appeared in publications like Shock Totem, Innsmouth Magazine and, yes, Cemetery Dance.Continue Reading

Review: ‘Hap and Leonard: Savage Season’ adapted by Jussi Piironen

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 9, 2017October 8, 2017Reviews, The Comic VaultBlu Gilliand, Columns, Hap and Leonard, Joe R. Lansdale, Jussi Piironen, Reviews, Savage Season, SST Publications, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Hap and Leonard: Savage Season adapted and illustrated by Jussi Piironen
Short, Scary Tales Publications/IDW (October 2017)
124 pages; £39.95 signed, numbered hardcover; $17.99 paperback; $7.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Joe R. Lansdale’s “Hap and Leonard” series isn’t the first thing that comes to my mind when considering what books would benefit from being adapted in graphic novel form. Lansdale’s series, about a couple of blue collar buddies whose keen sense of right and wrong gets them into escalating amounts of trouble with bad guys and good guys alike, is elevated by the author’s sharp dialogue and natural storytelling ability—two things which could easily be lost in translation when moving to the more visual medium of comics.Continue Reading

“The Sanctuary” and “In the Room”

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 29, 2017September 28, 2017ExhumedBentley Little, Columns, Exhumed, K. Edwin Fritz1 Comment

In its illustrious 29*-year print run, Cemetery Dance magazine has published no less than 560 short stories and novel excerpts in 75** issues. As the super fan that I am, Exhumed is my humble attempt to read and review them all in monthly double reviews.

*and counting!

**there were also two “double issues” (#17/18 in 1993 and #74/75 in 2016), each of which squeezed twice as much content into a single magazine.

Last time I reviewed two Steve Vernon stories…

“In Loving Memory” from Cemetery Dance #2 (1989), and
“A Wiggle of Maggot, a Curl of Bacon” from Cemetery Dance #59 (2008).

Something very interesting happened with that publication. Mr. Vernon himself read and commented! Woo-hoo! Do check it out if you haven’t already, if for no other reason than to see what he thought. 😉

This month is the 11th installment of Exhumed and, as promised last month, I’ll be reviewing two Bentley Little stories.

Let’s get to it…Continue Reading

The Year in Review and a 2018 Preview

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