We’ve all met those tiresome people who scoff at intense grieving over a pet. “It’s a cat!” they sneer, never realizing the total and encompassing love we have for our nonhuman family members. How would they feel if they knew how deeply some of us grieve when we say goodbye to characters in book we love?Continue Reading
Tag: Columns
Alisa Kwitney is Ready to HOWL
Alisa Kwitney’s new five-issue comic series Howl has a title that references the Allen Ginsberg poem that became a Beat generation anthem — and the alien howl given by the pod people in the 1978 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Kwitney spoke to Cemetery Dance about her new science fiction horror story, the influence of her mother Ziva and science fiction writer father Robert Sheckley, and about her time as an editor at DC Comics.Continue Reading
Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #237
I should start off by saying Happy New Year. We can hope it will be happy anyway. And why not? For the first time in a while, we know not only what King’s next book is going to be, but also what he’s currently working on for the book after that, assuming inspiration continues to flow in his direction. Or, as he so colorfully put it, that the “red thread that comes out of a mousehole in the ground” doesn’t break. And there will be at least six adaptations hitting screens of various sizes during 2025.
Exhumed: “Diary” and “The Left Behind”
Hi there. I’m Keith, or “K. Edwin” if you prefer. I’m a middle school English teacher, a writer, and like any perfectly normal fan of horror these days, another random guy who is totally obsessed with Cemetery Dance Magazine. Ok, maybe I take it a bit further than most… I actually own every single copy (but that’s a story for another post).
Exhumed is my humble attempt to read and review every short story and novel excerpt ever published by CD. In their 35+ years of publication, there have been 577 pieces spread out over 79 issues featuring no less than 283 different authors. That’s a lot of scares! But since each Exhumed post covers just 2 stories (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. So grab your shovel and dig in. There’s no telling what we’ll unearth together. Continue Reading
Mike Mignola Goes BOWLING
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is ushering in 2025 with a brand-new anthology of folklore-inspired stories, Bowling with Corpses. Labeled as “weird, wicked and whimsical” by publisher Dark Horse Comics, this collection sees Mignola writing and illustrating stories featuring sorcerers, pirate girls, the undead and more. Mignola is joined on the project by long-time collaborator Dave Stewart on colors, along with letterer Clem Robins.
Mignola answered a few questions for Cemetery Dance about the new project. Stick around afterwards for a few pages from Bowling with CorpsesContinue Reading
Review: Shadowplay (Book 1): Midnight School by Samuel Fonseca
Shadowplay (Book 1): Midnight School by Samuel Fonseca
Top Shelf Productions (February 11, 2025)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Sam Fonseca has been drawing comics since he discovered that the anime he watched on TV as a child came from manga — and that it was possible to create all that stuff by himself using paper and pencil (still his tools of choice). Nowadays, he alternates duties between art direction, storyboard art, script writing for animation and TV projects, and creating comics. His comic project Age of Rust was nominated three times for the HQMix Prize, and his other title, Dynamite & Laser Beam, won in the “best webcomic” category. Sam also has the strange hobby of creating soundtracks for his comics. His newest collection is the dystopian nightmare, Shadowplay. Continue Reading
Night Time Logic with Laird Barron
“Messy and Mysterious”, the “Indiscernible, Unknowable, and Ambiguous,” and a “Destabilization of Perceptions”

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance and over on my YouTube channel.
Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.
My short story collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Aickman and his kind of stories that operate this way. It can be found here.
I spoke with Laird Barron in early December 2024 about his latest short story collection titled Not A Speck of Light. You can watch our conversation here.
Our conversation for the column contains topics and stories we did not cover for the YouTube show. We began our talk about the opening quote for the book.Continue Reading
Night Time Logic with Bess Lovejoy
“Borderlines of the Uncanny, Polysemy, and a Hunger for the Mysterious”

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance and over on my YouTube channel.
Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.
My short story collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Aickman and his kind of stories that operate this way. It can be found here.
I spoke with Bess Lovejoy in early November 2024 about her latest short story titled “Internal Theft” which appeared in the most recent issue of the acclaimed ‘zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, the work of Robert Aickman, and much more. We began our conversation about her death-related non-fiction work and publications.Continue Reading
Night Time Logic with Ian Rogers
“Noir, Supernatural Noir, and The Black Lands”

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance and over on my YouTube channel.
Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.
My short story collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Aickman and his kind of stories that operate this way. It can be found here.
I spoke with Ian Rogers in early October 2024 about his new novel from Cemetery Dance, Sycamore. Our conversation is available on YouTube.
We begin our conversation today catching up with some of Ian’s 2024 publications before diving into Sycamore and the Black Lands.Continue Reading
Meet Marco Finnegan’s Undead Detective
Cartoonist Marco Finnegan’s love of film noir and pulps led him to creating Calavera, P.I., about an undead murdered detective who comes back on Dia de los Muertos. Not only will Detective Juan Calavera have to solve a new crime, he also needs to find out who killed him. Finnegan spoke with Cemetery Dance about the use of Mexican folklore in the graphic novel, his horror influences, and what he would like people to take away from his newest work.Continue Reading
Kolchak Kickstarted Again! Kolchak Meets the Classic Monsters

After successfully Kickstarting Kolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel and Jeff Rice’s original novel Kolchack: The Night Stalker, editor James Aquilone is back with a Kickstarter campaign for Kolchak Meets the Classic Monsters from Moonstone Books. Cemetery Dance spoke with Aquilone, along with writers Rodney Barnes and Steve Niles, both of whom are contributing stories, about this latest project in the world of Kolchak. Continue Reading
Review: Leviathan Volume 1 by Shiro Kuroi
Leviathan Volume 1 by Shiro Kuroi
Abrams Comic Arts (October 29, 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Shiro Kuroi is a rising star manga author who lives in Toyko, Japan. Leviathan is his first international serialized work, which has been published simultaneously in France and Japan. Highly praised for his character writing and illustration, Leviathan went on to become one of the top 10 bestselling new manga titles in France, and he has already received international attention online from manga fans hoping for an English release of his work. Fortunately, the wait is over, as Leviathan, Volume 1 has finally arrived. Continue Reading
Night Time Logic with Brian Evenson
“MU-TH-UR, Overlapping Nets, and Productive Ambiguity.”

Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed. It is also the name of this interview series here at Cemetery Dance and over on my YouTube channel.
Through in-depth conversation with authors this column explores the night time part of stories, the strange and uncanny in horror and dark fiction, and more.
My short story collection with Cemetery Dance is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to Aickman and his kind of stories that operate this way. It can be found here.
I spoke with Brian Evenson in September 2024 about his new short story collection Good Night, Sleep Tight. Our conversation is here on YouTube.
We begin our conversation today with a look at “crossing over” in fiction and a discussion of the first two stories in the new book.Continue Reading
Review: Invasive by Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, and Federico Sabbatini
Invasive by Cullen Bunn (Author), Jesús Hervás (Illustrator), Federico Sabbatini (Illustrator)
Oni Preess (October 22, 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Cullen Bunn is the writer of comic books such The Sixth Gun, Shadow Roads, The Damned, and Helheim for Oni Press. He has also written titles including Harrow County (Dark Horse), Uncanny X-Men, and Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe (Marvel). Cullen claims to have worked as an alien autopsy specialist, rodeo clown, pro wrestling manager, and sasquatch wrangler. He has fought for his life against mountain lions and performed on stage as the world’s youngest hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime and he’ll tell you all about it. His newest graphic novel is Invasive, illustrated by Jesús Hervás and Federico Sabbatini.Continue Reading
Comics legends Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones resurrect Dracula
Dracula: Book II — The Brides by writer Matt Wagner and artist Kelley Jones is the sequel to Dracula: Book I — The Impaler, and is currently on Kickstarter. Grendel writer Wagner and Jones had been meaning to work together for a while, and finally found an opportunity with the world’s most famous vampire. Cemetery Dance spoke to Wagner and Jones about what went into this comic, how it builds on the first book, and their process for working together.Continue Reading