Columns Archives - Page 24 of 29 - Cemetery Dance Online

Go Indie or Go Home

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 13, 2017January 12, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road1 Comment

The third leg of the Farewell (But Not Really) Tour started off locally, at The Comic Store—an independently-owned comic book store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (where I was joined by Mary SanGiovanni). From there, it moved on to a pop-up signing in New Jersey, independently-owned bookstores in Rhode Island (where scholar Jack Haringa led a Q&A), and Vermont (where I was joined by Asher Ellis), before eventually circling back home again for a signing at a corporate-owned Books-a-Million chain store in Harrisburg.Continue Reading

Keene’s Eleven

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 6, 2017January 6, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the RoadLeave a comment

There was a long moment of stunned silence.

Then Dave asked, “Are you insane?”

“No,” I replied, suddenly feeling very foolish. “I mean, Mary experienced it, too.”

“I felt something in the bookstore that day,” she confirmed, “but I don’t know what I think about the rest of this.”

“Oh, I’ve no doubt you guys experienced something,” Dave said. “I’ve had my own encounters with the paranormal over the years. And who knows? Maybe you did make brief contact with Jesus. It’s possible.”

I frowned. “Then why do you think I’m insane?”

“Because you’re not talking about seeing his ghost. You’re talking about stealing his corpse!”Continue Reading

Charles L. Grant, Part 1: The Novels and Collections

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 4, 2017December 27, 2016RevelationsCharles L. Grant, Columns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations, Shadows, The Carousel, The Grave, The Orchard3 Comments

It was his Oxrun Station quartets which first drew me in.

It was March, 2011. We were spending Spring Break with family in Michigan. We’d visited the year before, and I’d wanted to visit a used bookstore there but hadn’t gotten the chance to because of our schedule. Fresh off my experience with Paul Wilson, Tom Monteleone and Stuart David Schiff, hitting Jellybean’s Used Books was a high priority on our next trip, to be sure. When I had some free time in our schedule, I scooted over to Jelly Bean’s, clutching cash in my grubby little fingers. To my delight, I found a sprawling bookcase full of horror. Wasn’t long before I was sitting on the floor next to a teetering stack of books.Continue Reading

The Year That Roared

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 30, 2016December 30, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, The Year That Roared1 Comment

“It’s hard to love, there’s so much to hate
Hanging on to hope, when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above, say it’s much too late
So, maybe we should all be praying for time…”

George Michael – ‘Praying For Time’

Welcome to the Videodrome!

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 28, 2016December 27, 2016Video VisionsColumns, David Cronenberg, Fangoria, Fisher, Hunter Shea, VCR, Video Visions, Videodrome6 Comments

There was no way of knowing how much that top loading Fisher VCR with wired remote control would change all of our lives. We were a family of movie addicts. We had a theater called The Kent two blocks away that showed double features and had a balcony where all sorts of shenanigans ensued, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. There was also the drive-in just ten miles away in Elmsford, a mecca for families and horny teens all throughout lower Westchester County.

But this VCR contraption, which my father brought home with a buzzing glee, was about to take us to a whole new level. Continue Reading

“Rock of Ages” and “Bad Luck”

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 21, 2016December 21, 2016ExhumedBad Luck, Columns, Exhumed, John Rosenman, K. Edwin Fritz, K.S. Clay, Rock of Ages2 Comments

*Humblebrag… I own all 75 issues. Took me 8 years to track ‘em all down. Just look at that collection!
(Photo Copyright 2016 K. Edwin Fritz)

Hello again, folks. This is the third installment of monthly double reviews studying the structure of great horror fiction published in our beloved Cemetery Dance.

Last time I reviewed David B. Silva’s “Fury’s Child” from CD #1 (1988) and Lisa Morton’s “The Rich are Different” from CD #74/75 (2016).

If you haven’t read either one, do check them out. The Silva story in particular is hard to find… of course. 😉

This month we’ve got another 2 stories from the same 2 issues…Continue Reading

The Dark Highway

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 16, 2016December 14, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the RoadLeave a comment

“Everybody thought it was a big joke… It was so funny, I just kept on going…Everybody thought I was just going to go on tweaking the Major’s balls to the very end. Which was what I did. Then one morning I woke up and I was in. I was a Prime Walker…So I guess it turned out the Major was tweaking my balls.” Stephen King, The Long Walk

Continue Reading

Cautionary Splatter

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 14, 2016December 12, 2016Horror Drive-InColumns, Horror Drive-In, Mark SieberLeave a comment

I’ve been in the process of moving over the past few months. As you may imagine, there are a lot of books, magazines, and other items to be gathered and transported. I’ve been taking it slowly, and looking over a lot of the items I have. Some of which I had almost forgotten about.

I came upon the Footsteps Press chapbook edition of Douglas E. Winter’s Splatter: A Cautionary Tale. I had not read the story in many years, and it has always been a favorite of mine. So I propped up the pillows, climbed under the warm blankets, and read this chilling short story.Continue Reading

God and Country

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 9, 2016December 7, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road3 Comments

End of the Road

The audience in Morgantown, West Virginia was small—easily the smallest since Albuquerque—but the dozen or so people who showed up were enthusiastic and engaged. One guy, Jarod Barbee, had traveled all the way from Texas. It is December as I write this, recounting events that occurred at the end of July, and I’ve been going back through these columns, collecting them into manuscript format so Cemetery Dance can eventually publish them as a book. Many recurring things jump out at me as I re-read them. Continue Reading

Dickens’s Ghosts

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 2, 2016November 30, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road1 Comment

End of the Road

“The allegorical nature of A Christmas Carol leads to relatively simplistic symbolism and a linear plot. The latter is divided into five Staves, each containing a distinct episode in Scrooge’s spiritual re-education. The first Stave centers on the visitation from Marley’s ghost, the middle three present the tales of the three Christmas spirits, and the last concludes the story, showing how Scrooge has changed. The Ghost of Christmas Past represents memory. The Ghost of Christmas Present serves as the central symbol of the Christmas ideal—generosity, goodwill, and celebration. Appearing on a throne made of food, the spirit evokes thoughts of prosperity, satiety, and merriment. Within the allegory, the silent, reaper-like figure of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come represents the fear of death, which refracts Scrooge’s lessons about memory, empathy, and generosity, insuring his reversion to an open, loving human being.” – Spark Notes

“Fury’s Child” and “The Rich Are Different”

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 23, 2016November 22, 2016ExhumedCemetery Dance #1, Cemetery Dance #74/75, Columns, David B. Silva, Exhumed, Fury's Child, K. Edwin Fritz, Lisa Morton, The Rich Are Different4 Comments

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Hello again, folks. This is the 2nd installment of “Exhumed”—monthly double reviews studying the structure of great horror fiction published in our beloved Cemetery Dance.

Last time I reviewed Steve Rasnic Tem’s “The Double” from CD #1 (1988) and Michael Wehunt’s “The Inconsolable” from CD #73 (2016). If you didn’t catch that one, do check it out. Both stories are well worth your consideration.

Let’s see what we’ve got on the docket for this month… Continue Reading

Scares That Care (Part 2)

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 18, 2016November 17, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road2 Comments

End of the Road

You ever heard of a crowd being described as “an ocean of people”? That’s what the third annual Scares That Care Weekend Charity Event was like—an ocean of horror movie and television celebrities and their fans, filmmakers and their fans, authors and their fans, publishers and their customers, haunt professionals and enthusiasts, comic book creators and their fans, paranormal investigators and their fans, make-up and special effects artists and their fans, cosplayers, and everyone else—all descending upon the convention hotel in Williamsburg, Virginia, to raise money for burn victims and children and women with cancer.

I was exhausted, but I had no choice but to cast myself into that ocean, to dive into that sea of humanity and hope I wouldn’t drown. Continue Reading

Scares That Care (Part 1)

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 11, 2016November 10, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road, Scares That CareLeave a comment

End of the Road

Scares That Care is an IRS approved 501 (c)(3) horror-themed charity that I donate my time and name to. We fight real monsters of childhood illness, cancer, and more by financially helping families experiencing these overwhelming hardships. Each case is unique. We provide money, toys, utilities, and other items to help sick children and their families. We do the same for women fighting breast cancer. And we also partner with actor Kane Hodder (the Friday the 13th series) to aid children who have suffered serious, life-altering burn injuries.Continue Reading

Introducing ‘Revelations’

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 8, 2016November 7, 2016RevelationsColumns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations4 Comments

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thegrave Over the span of my thus far short writing career, I’ve been fortunate to experience several moments of clarity; moments which have changed me as a writer and a person. One of them came in the form of my first actual critique from an editor, regarding the first short story I ever submitted. The critique stung with its stark, unflinching truthfulness, but it forced me to face my writing weaknesses head on, and showed me the immeasurable value of honest feedback. It set the tone for how I approach editorial critique, to this day.Continue Reading

Time Bubble

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 4, 2016November 5, 2016Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road1 Comment

End of the Road

And thus began the most grueling part of the book signing tour since Tod Clark and I had driven across the American West—John Urbancik and I spent five days in mid-July crisscrossing Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. That no doubt sounds romantic and adventurous to some of you. Hell, up until a few years ago, it would have sounded romantic and adventurous to me, as well. It would have been my idea of fun. Sadly, it’s not so fun when you’re approaching fifty. Continue Reading

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