Columns Archives - Page 7 of 28 - Cemetery Dance Online

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

banner that reads The Comic Vault

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

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“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

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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

Dark Pathways

cover of The Hollow Kind 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

banner reading Dead Trees by Mark Sieber

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

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“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

Video Visions: The Drive-In

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 12, 2023May 7, 2023Video VisionsColumns, Hunter Shea, Video Visions1 Comment

Black background with spooky lettering that says Hunter Shea Video Visions and the Cemetery Dance logo

Over the thousand years I’ve been writing Video Visions, I’ve waxed poetic about my days walking those aisles crammed with garish VHS boxes, the smell of popcorn wafting in the air. This time around, I’m going to do something of an evolution chart, only with a surprise ending and no missing links, so there’s no questioning my impeccable logic.

Review: Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 5, 2023May 4, 2023The Comic VaultColumns, Grendel Kentucky, Jeff McComsey, Joshua Gage, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards
Upshot (March 2021)
96 pages; $9.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey is an incredible graphic novel that takes the Beowulf saga and modernizes it. The story focuses on Marnie, who leads the all-women biker gang The Harlots. She’s called back to her hometown of Grendel for the funeral of her adoptive father, Clyde, who was supposedly killed by a bear. When she finds out the truth, which is much worse, she seeks vengeance for her father and learns about what it means to be a family and what it means to hold on to family secrets.Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Justin Burnett

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 28, 2023April 1, 2023Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Justin Burnett, Night Time LogicLeave a comment

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Horror and weird fiction is the labyrinth.”

photo of Justin Burnett — Justin Burnett

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

In this column, which shares a name with my New York based reading and discussion series, I explore the phenomenon of Night Time Logic and other aspects of horror fiction by diving deep into the stories from award winning authors to emerging new voices.

I have an interest in strange tales, the kind of story one might call “Aickman-esqe” and like to discuss them here and look at stories through that lens when I can. My first short story collection is titled The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales in homage to the lineage of Robert Aickman’s strange tales. The new Cemetery Dance Publications trade paper back edition of the book can be found here. It discusses strange tales in the all-new story notes and features a full essay on one of Aickman’s tales.

In my previous column I spoke with Ray Cluely about ghost stories, settings in his fiction, his strange tales and more. In today’s column I speak with Justin Burnett about “leaving knots tied,” the uncanny, doppelgangers, music, labyrinths and more.

We begin with a discussion about his debut fiction collection The Puppet King and Other Atonements.Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: That Special Scary Friend

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 14, 2023April 3, 2023Dark PathwaysBeulah, Christi Nogle, Columns, Dark Pathways, Ken BroskyLeave a comment

Dark Pathways

cover of Beulah Christi Nogle’s Beulah is an absolute banger of a horror novel. The Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel puts a classic ghost story inside an old schoolhouse being renovated by a family desiring a new start, and it’s narrated by a young woman named Georgie. Narrated incredibly well. Georgie is perceptive and intelligent, clearly at qualms with her mother, distant around others, protective of her little sister Stevie. And she’s deeply honest with us, the readers, allowing us inside her thoughts. All this comes through in the tight prose:Continue Reading

Dead Trees: Midnight Movie by Tobe Hooper

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 7, 2023March 26, 2023Dead TreesColumns, Dead Trees, Mark Sieber, Midnight Movie, Tobe HooperLeave a comment

banner reading Dead Trees by Mark Sieber

Tobe Hooper was not a man. He was a God who walked the Earth for too few years.

Hooper did a lot of things in his time here, but he will always be remembered, be cherished, for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. TCM is a strong candidate for the greatest horror movie ever made. It’s the Crown Jewel of the 70’s exploitation era. No other film can touch it.Continue Reading

Night Time Logic with Ray Cluley

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 31, 2023March 26, 2023Night Time LogicColumns, Daniel Braum, Night Time Logic, Ray Cluely, The Night MarchersLeave a comment

Night Time Logic with Daniel Braum

“Ghosts of the Sea. Strange Tales. And Coping With Loss.”

cover of All That's Lost Night Time Logic is the part of a story that is felt but not consciously processed.

In my previous column we visited with UK author and editor James Everington about strange tales and his anthology of liminal sea-side stories. In today’s column I talk with Ray Cluley about ghost stories and more. Ray’s stories not only feature a wide range of setting-forward fiction he also writes strange tales so it is easy to see why they quickly captured my attention.

We begin our discussion with a look at a trio of stories from his latest short story collection.Continue Reading

Review: Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse by Christopher ~cliff~ Reichard

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 20, 2023March 18, 2023Reviews, The Comic VaultAngels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse, Christopher ~cliff~ Reichard, Columns, Joshua Gage, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

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Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse by Christopher ~cliff~ Reichard
Self-Published via Kickstarter
191 pages; $21.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Chris ~cliff~ Reichard is the writer and creator of the Angels of Hell comic book and poetry series. Their dark writing style has been influenced by various horror, Gothic and religious media that has only been darkened further from the worldly experience of being a combat veteran and a social activist. They successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign to get the comic series started. Chris is a simply, complicated person that lives and breathes in his Midwest American roots, the Greater St. Louis area of Missouri. Their newest collection is Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse. Continue Reading

Review: Dead Dudes by Christopher Sebela and Ben Sears

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 10, 2023March 5, 2023Reviews, The Comic VaultBen Sears, Christopher Sebela, Columns, Dead Dudes, Joshua Gage, Oni Press, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

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cover of dead dudes Dead Dudes written by Christopher Sebela, illustrated by Ben Sears, colored by Ryan Hill and Warren Wucinich, lettered by Crank!
Oni Press (September 2020)
126 pages; $19.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Trev, Kent, and Brian, collectively known as Ghostbros, are three struggling television paranormal investigators. Their show is about to be cancelled due to low ratings. Their competitors, Parawarriors, are stealing their audience with their new gadgets and their ability to not just investigate ghosts, but actually fight them. To save their show, Trev forces Kent and Brian to go to the most haunted place he can imagine: Edgeway Penitentiary in rural Montana. The team gets there and, within hours, discover that not only are ghosts real, but they are willing to kill. That’s when the problems really being in the young adult graphic novel, Dead Dudes.Continue Reading

Dark Pathways: Through the Monster’s Eyes

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 3, 2023February 25, 2023Dark PathwaysColumns, Dark Pathways, Larry Hinkle1 Comment

Dark Pathways

One of the short-listed nominees for the Bram Stoker Award in Short Fiction caught my eye this week: “That’s What Friends are For” by Larry Hinkle, published in volume 16 of Dark Recesses Press. I really liked it. Sometimes, when you’re in a good reading groove you can lose yourself in a short story, eschewing all distractions (and never once checking Twitter!) “That’s What Friends Are For” did that for me.Continue Reading

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