Haley Newlin Archives - Cemetery Dance Online

Interview: Del Sandeen on These Walls Remember and Gothic and Historical Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 13, 2026August 13, 2026InterviewsDel Sandeen, Haley NewlinLeave a comment

Del Sandeen is the author of This Cursed House and her highly anticipated upcoming release, These Walls Remember. Sandeen is becoming a fan-favorite in the genre, praised for her expertly crafted, unputdownable gothic and historical horror stories. Her work has appeared in FIYAH: Speculative Literary Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Nightlight Podcast, and Gay Magazine. She can be found on Instagram @DelSandeen.

Sandeen sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss her new gothic and historical horror novel, These Walls Remember, the haunted history of Savannah, Georgia, erasure efforts in U.S. history, and grief horror.

(Interview conducted by Haley Newlin) Continue Reading

Review: These Walls Remember by Del Sandeen

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 12, 2026ReviewsDel Sandeen, Haley NewlinLeave a comment

These Walls Remember by Del Sandeen
Berkley (August 18, 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Del Sandeen became a horror author to watch after her previous release, This Cursed House, which was a personal favorite of mine among 2024 horror book releases. With her new release, These Walls Remember, Sandeen has further established herself as a master of gothic horror. The way she utilizes historical details and settings to reflect grief and trauma is effective and evocative. Perhaps this is why I find her work so profound and unforgettable. Continue Reading

Interview: Cynthia Gómez on Muñeca and Gothic Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 30, 2026InterviewsCynthia Gomez, Haley NewlinLeave a comment

Cynthia Gómez is the author of the story collection The Nightmare Box and Other Stories, and a Tin House and VONA alumn whose short fiction has published in Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, Pseudopod, Nightmare Magazine, and numerous anthologies.

Gómez’s new release, Muñeca, is a queer, Latine novel set in 1968 Oakland about a working-class witch who sets out to save a bespelled heiress and explores misogyny, racial hierarchy, classism, and the power of female friendship and community.

Book Riot called Muñeca one of the best horror books of 2026 so far. It also appeared on lists such as “15 Books Our Critics Can’t Wait for This Summer” from NPR, and Buzzfeed’s “Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2026.”

Gómez sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss her new gothic horror release, Muñeca, the author’s early experiences reading classic gothic horror, additional influences such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Isabel Cañas, and the creepy doll trope. Continue Reading

Review: Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 18, 2026ReviewsE.L. Chen, Haley NewlinLeave a comment

Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen
Crown (June 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Slasher Summer is a blood-soaked whodunnit made for fans of slasher horror films like Friday the 13th and Scream. E.L. Chen’s horror expertise, not just in references and nods to iconic horror flicks like Psycho and Get Out, but in the execution of tropes and rules of survival, rivals even the most die-hard fans and know-it-all characters we love, like Scream’s Randy Meeks.Continue Reading

Review: Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 10, 2026ReviewsClay Cane, Haley NewlinLeave a comment

Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane
Dafina (January 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

With recent reads like The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond, I have found that there is so much information and empathy to be gained from reading historical horror books. So, when I saw Clay Cane’s Burn Down Master’s House at a local bookstore, I knew that I had to read it. It’s a historical retelling of four individuals’ experiences in the Antebellum South.

With an emphasis on collective opposition to oppression in Burn Down Master’s House, Cane offers an unforgettable look into so much American history that has been rewritten, falsified, or omitted entirely. This is one of the most important books you’ll ever read. Continue Reading

Review: She Waits Where Shadows Gather by Michelle Tang

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 27, 2026ReviewsHaley Newlin, Michelle Tang, ReviewsLeave a comment

She Waits Where Shadows Gather by Michelle Tang
Poison Pen Press (May 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

He came back from the dead, but he didn’t come alone.

She Waits Where Shadows Gather is a haunted house story with spine-chilling Filipino folklore and lush gothic imagery that will appease fans of Mike Flanagan’s hit Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, as well as horror books such as Daphne Fama’s House of Monstrous Women and Amanda Jayatissa’s Island Witch. Continue Reading

Interview: Neena Viel on I’ll Watch Your Baby and Social Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 12, 2026InterviewsHaley Newlin, Interviews, Neena VielLeave a comment

Neena Viel is a Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of supernatural and social horror books, including her acclaimed debut Listen to Your Sister and her new release, I’ll Watch Your Baby.

Viel sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss I’ll Watch Your Baby, the author’s love of horror icon and scholar Tananarive Due, looking at horror through a social and historical lens, and crafting fiercely complex characters.Continue Reading

Review: I’ll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 11, 2026ReviewsHaley Newlin, Neena Viel, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel
St. Martin’s Press (May 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Somehow, I missed Neena Viel’s debut, and Bram Stoker-nominated novel, Listen To Your Sister. After reading Viel’s new supernatural and historical horror novel, I’ll Watch Your Baby, I can’t fathom being a horror fan and not experiencing her work. It’s sharp, poignant, and terrifically terrifying.

I’ll Watch Your Baby is an informative and evocative horror novel for fans of Tananarive Due, Catriona Ward, and Victor LaValle. It’s a thrilling reimagining of the story of Linda Taylor, aka the original “Welfare Queen,” whose media portrayal and extensive coverage affected generations of black women and fed an apathetic narrative that still exists today. In her new novel, Viel conjures a wicked and unforgettable plot of vengeance for this oppression.Continue Reading

Interview: Johanna Van Veen on Bone of My Bone and the Convergence of Religious, Historical, and Folk Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 27, 2026InterviewsHaley Newlin, Interviews, Johanna Van VeenLeave a comment

Johanna Van Veen’s debut Gothic horror novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing, was a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and her sophomore novel, Blood on Her Tongue, became an instant USA Today Bestseller. Both journey into historical settings, as does her latest release, Bone of My Bone, set in Germany during the ruthless Thirty Years’ War. It explores the convergence of three horror subgenres: folk, historical, and religious. As well as the effects of war on everyday people.

Author Johanna Van Veen — Johanna Van Veen

Johanna Van Veen sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss her new release, Bone of My Bone.

Review: Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 26, 2026May 26, 2026ReviewsHaley Newlin, Johanna Van Veen, ReviewsLeave a comment

Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen
Poisoned Pen Press (May 26, 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen

One saint. One sinner. One skull.

Horror readers, rejoice. Bram Stoker Award-nominee and USA Today bestseller Johanna Van Veen is back with another haunting, sapphic, and terrifically terrifying tale of wickedry in Bone of My Bone. For fans of Robert Eggers’ The Witch and Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy, Bone of My Bone unveils the brutality of the Thirty Years’ War and the demented depravity of man. Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the ruins of her convent, and Elsebeth, a headstrong and scrappy farmhand, form an alliance and move through the Bavarian forest in hopes of appeasing the spirit of a saint contained within a fragile holy relic they carry—a skull. A dying man tells the women of its secret: reunite the skull with the saint’s body, and a wish will be granted.

Interview: A. Rushby on Slashed Beauties and Feminist Body Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 27, 2026InterviewsA. Rushby, Haley Newlin, Interviews, Slashed BeautiesLeave a comment

A. Rushby (also writing as Allison Rushby and A.J. Rushby) has published more than thirty books. Whether writing for junior and middle grade readers or adults, Rushby is known for her love of all things dark and peculiar. Sometimes she writes about Victorian death photography and installation art. Sometimes it’s haunted houses or kittens who have midnight tea parties.

In Slashed Beauties, Rushby’s adult body and feminist horror novel, she writes about bewitched anatomical wax models, cursed lockets, and women’s never-ending fight for autonomy.

Rushby sat down with Cemetery Dance to discuss, Slashed Beauties, Anatomical Venuses, her favorite feminist/body horror books, and her next release, All Her Beautiful Deaths.

You can connect with her on Instagram @allisonrushbyauthor and at allisonrushby.com

Review: Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 24, 2026April 29, 2026QuoteReviewsA. Rushby, Haley Newlin, Reviews, Slashed BeautiesLeave a comment

Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby
Berkley (September 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“I am the mistress of my own fate.”

Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby is a sophisticated gothic feminist horror novel laced with rage and history told through dual timelines: Alys, an antique dealer in present day who is related to Eleanor–one of the Venuses–and Eleanor, an eighteenth-century sex worker taken in by a beautiful and powerful courtesan, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s previous recruitment, Emily. Eleanor believes she has found her savior at last but things never come easy to women. Being a woman means fighting tooth and nail for agency and peace only to have it stolen again and again. And for this, in this story, anyway, men will burn.

Review: Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 2, 2026February 22, 2026ReviewsCatriona Ward, Haley Newlin, Nowhere Burning, ReviewsLeave a comment

Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
Tor Nightfire (February 2026)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Of all of Catriona Ward’s books, Nowhere Burning might be the most unputdownable. Ward is known for her rich, gothic, atmospheric horror that turns readers around and around, only to reveal that the story on the surface is far more complex than they could’ve imagined. In Nowhere Burning, Ward delivers another character-driven psychological horror narrative that presents the terrifying possibility that we don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do.Continue Reading

Interview: Kristi DeMeester on Dark Sisters

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 17, 2026February 10, 2026InterviewsDark Sisters, Haley Newlin, Interviews, Kristi DeMeesterLeave a comment

banner graphic that says Cemetery Dance Interviews

photo of author Kristi DeMeester — Kristi DeMeester

Kristi DeMeester is the author of Dark Sisters, Such a Pretty Smile (which was selected as a Georgia Author of the Year finalist) and Beneath. Her short fiction has appeared in publications such as The Dark, Black Static, multiple volumes of The Year’s Best Horror, Year’s Best Weird Fiction, and in her short fiction collection Everything That’s Underneath. She lives, writes, and makes horror-themed candles in Atlanta, Georgia.

She is represented by Stefanie Lieberman at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. She is at work on her next novel.

DeMeester sat down with Cemetery Dance to talk about her new folk and religious horror novel, Dark Sisters, what it’s like growing up in a mega church, the increasing demand for feminist and pink horror, and book recommendations within the subgenre. Continue Reading

Review: Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 16, 2026February 10, 2026ReviewsDark Sisters, Haley Newlin, Kristi DeMeester, ReviewsLeave a comment

Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester
St. Martin’s Press (December 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“And from their blood we will prosper.”

If there was ever a time for a rally cry of a read, one that holds a mirror up to the misogyny in our world, it’s now. Kristi DeMeester delivers just that with snarling fury and unflinching realism in her latest novel, Dark Sisters. It’s folk, historical, and feminist horror interwoven like a three-strand braid and is told through three women’s perspectives across centuries. Dark Sisters is a brilliant criticism of patriarchal structures used to control women’s bodies and beliefs and the damage inflicted upon generations to come. Continue Reading

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