Exclusive Excerpt: The Harrowing by Rye Hickman and Kristen Kiesling

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cover of The HarrowingOn April 16, Abrams Fanfare will publish the genre-bending graphic novel thriller The Harrowing by illustrator Rye Hickman and writer Kristen Kiesling. This stylish, surprising, suspenseful, and unsettling book follows a psychic teen who hunts potential killers — until she discovers the boy she loves is her next target.

Abrams Fanfare has supplied Cemetery Dance with the following exclusive excerpt. Before you dive in, the comic’s creators offer some insight about this part of the story.

“It’s a vision time warp,” said Kiesling. “Up to this point, Rowan believes the serum will prevent her from losing her mind. We learn in this scene that like many of the medications currently on the market, the unintended side effects are useful. It’s not a diabetic drug used for weight loss but it does possess unexpected, yet beneficial side effects. Rowan’s mother discovered the medication protects Harrows’ minds but also grants them the ability to manipulate their visions. Having this opportunity sets up Jackie’s motives.”

Hickman adds: “There’s actually a delightful amount of synchronicity here in what Rowan is learning how to do (move through time inside the killer’s spree) and what the art must do in order to take the reader along on the ride. Anchors, in comics, are objects and people that appear consistently from panel to panel in order to help the reader understand movement in space. But here in The Harrowing, movement/space is secondary to time, so the people and objects on the train are performing a slightly different little trick.”

Enjoy the excerpt, and order your copy of The Harrowing today!Continue Reading

Exclusive Excerpt: The Serpent’s Shadow by Daniel Braum

cover of The Serpent's Shadow by Daniel BraumI delight in stories that deliver more than meets the eye at first glance. I love to read them and I love to write them. In films and shows such as It Follows and The Twilight Zone and in the work of Robert Aickman things are often very much more than they first appear. The Serpent’s Shadow is also one of those kinds of stories.

It is Christmas week. In Mexico, 1987. At first glance all might appear as a slasher set up or a horror tale with familiar tropes. There are teens in peril. “Ugly Americans” are where they should not be. A killer is on the loose.

Wander a little further along the road and you might find these tropes you spied are taking on new iterations, or are even being subverted.Continue Reading

Exclusive Excerpt: LIGHTS from Brenna Thummler and Oni Press

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cover of LightsLights, the final graphic novel in the Sheets trilogy, is being released by Oni
Press on September 6. The stories follow Marjorie Glatt, ghost enthusiast
Eliza Duncan, and their ghost friend Wendell, who wants to know more about his past life.

As a special exclusive, Cemetery Dance is able to publish the following excerpt before publication day. Creator Brenna Thummler, who says that ghost stories were part of her daily routine growing up, said in an exclusive quote to Cemetery Dance, “Lights is the last step in the trilogy’s healing process, and proves that the best kind of self-growth is the lifting up of others rather than the lifting up of oneself.”Continue Reading

Cover Reveal and Exclusive Excerpt: Michael J. Seidlinger’s ANYBODY HOME?

Cemetery Dance is proud to join our friends at CLASH Books to reveal the cover of Michael J. Seidlinger’s upcoming home invasion novel, Anybody Home?

cover of Anybody Home? by Michael J. Seidlinger

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