Interviews Archives - Cemetery Dance Online

Interview: Catching Up with Ronald Malfi

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 20, 2020November 19, 2020InterviewsCome With Me, Interviews, JournalStone, Mother Horror, Mr. Cables, Ronald Malfi, Sadie HartmannLeave a comment

photo of author Ronald Malfi — Ronald Malfi

For me, an avid reader of horror who reads nothing but books in this genre day in and day out, Ronald Malfi is among the legends. He is the award-winning author of several novels, novellas, and two short story collections, and I feel like I have only scratched the surface of his work.

My introduction to his storytelling was the collection, We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone. The first story stood up and punched me square between the eyes, making me a fan for life! I highly recommend it. Later, I went on to read December Park (one of my favorite coming-of-age novels with an intense murder-mystery-thriller storyline) and Bone White (a creature-feature with heart, high-stakes, and themes of loneliness/isolation).

I’m excited that I have more Malfi books to look forward to both from his back catalog of fan-favorites and new releases. We talk about those books and more in this interview.
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Interview: Talking Paperbacks (and Pugs) with David Sodergren

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 6, 2020November 5, 2020InterviewsDavid Sodergren, Dead Girl Blues, Interviews, Janelle Janson, Maggie's Grave, Shaun HutsonLeave a comment

photo of author David Sodergren and his pug dog, Boris — David Sodergren and Boris

I have been a Night Worms customer for two years and on their review team for one. The Night Worms have opened up a new world for me and introduced me to some incredible indie publishers and authors. And somewhere in my travels through the world of indie horror, I found a real talent: David Sodergren.

I have read all of his books: Night Shoot, The Forgotten Island, Dead Girl Blues, and his newest, Maggie’s Grave. What did I think of them, you ask? Well, I gave every single book five stars. His words leap right off the page and take us on cinematic horror adventures. It’s a unique writing style that I can’t get enough of! His stories are always perfectly paced, with plenty of gore, highly addictive, and tremendously fun to read. Gore, violence, graphic, uncomfortable scenes—it’s all there, and whatever your comfort level is, I promise you won’t want to look away until you reach the end.Continue Reading

Ronald Kelly Opens The Halloween Store

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 7, 2020October 6, 2020InterviewsBlu Gilliand, Interviews, Ronald Kelly, The Halloween StoreLeave a comment

Ronald Kelly has been spinning his throwback style of horror since the early 1990s, blending the no-holds-barred sensibilities of Jack Ketchum with the quiet dread of Charles L. Grant. He’s recently dropped a themed collection, The Halloween Store and Other Tales of All Hallows’ Eve, just in time for our favorite holiday. With these stories (plus a couple of nonfiction essays), Kelly aims to invoke those wind-swept October nights when freedom and fear walked hand-in-hand.

Kelly, who has a long history with Cemetery Dance that he touches on briefly in this interview, was kind enough to answer a few questions about these new stories and more.Continue Reading

Interview: Into the Cornfield with Adam Cesare

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 25, 2020August 22, 2020InterviewsAdam Cesare, Blu Gilliand, Clown in a Cornfield, InterviewsLeave a comment

Adam Cesare, author and Cemetery Dance columnist, has been a fixture on the horror scene for nearly a decade. Early books like Video Night and All-Night Terror made him an instant favorite among fans of horror fiction, and he’s continued developing his skill and style with books like The Con Season and The First One You Expect.

His new novel, Clown in a Cornfield, is generating the sort of next-level buzz those of us who’ve been reading Cesare’s work since the beginning have been expecting. Adam was kind enough to take time during a busy book-launch week to talk with his old Cemetery Dance editor, who may or may not have taken the opportunity to press him relentlessly about writing for us again….but mainly asked him questions about the new book.Continue Reading

Dead Air: An Interview with the Creators of The Kingcast

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 21, 2020August 16, 2020Dead Air, InterviewsBlu Gilliand, Columns, Dead Air, Eric Vespe, Interviews, Scott Wampler, The KingcastLeave a comment

Not too long ago, journalists Eric Vespe (formerly of Ain’t It Cool News, among others) and Scott Wampler (formerly of birth.movies.death, among others), got together to discuss an idea that would evolve into “a Stephen King podcast for Stephen King obsessives.” The Kingcast invites guests from the entertainment industry to discuss the King novel or short story of their choosing, along with the film or television adaptation of that work.

Over the past few months, The Kingcast has hosted a variety of guests, including Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) discussing 1408, Elijah Wood discussing Misery, Karyn Kusama discussing Carrie, and Damien Echols (who was wrongly convicted and jailed for murder largely due to his interest in heavy metal and horror) discussing the Dark Tower series.

Recently, the co-creators and hosts were kind enough to answer a few questions for Cemetery Dance.Continue Reading

Interview: Kealan Patrick Burke Confronts Fear….by Creating Fear

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 1, 2020April 27, 2020InterviewsInterviews, Kealan Patrick Burke, Tyler JonesLeave a comment

Horror writer Kealan Patrick Burke wants you to face your fears. His poetic and visceral prose have helped earn him a devoted readership since The Turtle Boy won the Bram Stoker Award in 2004. Frequently mentioned in the same breath as Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, and Paul Tremblay, Burke has managed to carve out a unique place for himself writing dark and terrifying work that gets under your skin in the best of ways. He has also laid claim to an often neglected form—the novella. In fact, some of his most popular works are not his novels—although he’s written five of them, and is finishing up a sixth—but his novellas Sour Candy, Jack & Jill, and Blanky, among others.Continue Reading

Into the Abyss with Kevin Lucia, CW Briar and Thomas McDonough

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 1, 2020March 2, 2020InterviewsCW Briar, Interviews, Into the Abyss, Kevin Lucia, Thomas McDonough, VideoLeave a comment

Kevin Lucia stays plenty busy teaching, editing reviews for Cemetery Dance, writing horror fiction, and raising kids. So, naturally, he decided to develop a new YouTube show devoted to horror to fill his “spare time.”

Welcome to Into the Abyss, coming at you every week from Lucia’s “horror cave” and featuring CW Briar and Thomas McDonough as co-hosts. The guys break down horror movies, talk about books, and generally welcome us all into their horror-centric get-togethers.

We’re big fans of the show here at Cemetery Dance, and we think you’ll all enjoy it, too. In this special episode, Cemetery Dance Managing Editor Blu Gilliand sent the guys a few questions to help them introduce themselves and their show to you! Check out the full video below.Continue Reading

Women in Horror Month Interview: Becky Spratford

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 28, 2020February 24, 2020InterviewsBecky Spratford, Interviews, Mother Horror, Sadie Hartmann, Women in Horror MonthLeave a comment

Becky Spratford is an informed and passionate advocate of fiction (particularly horror fiction). She trains librarians to match readers with books they’ll enjoy — an amazingly important job, if you ask us! Becky maintains a magical presence on Twitter and a blog that gives great insight into the importance of the work she does.

We’re proud to feature Becky in this special Women in Horror Month interview.Continue Reading

Women in Horror Month Interview: Ania Ahlborn

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 21, 2020February 19, 2020InterviewsAnia Ahlborn, Interviews, Mother Horror, Sadie Hartmann, Suntup Editions, Women in Horror MonthLeave a comment

Author and interview subject Ania Ahlborn — Ania Ahlborn

February is Women in Horror Month and I wanted to check in with some of my favorite writers of horror fiction. Ania Ahlborn is the author of several creepy books of which I would recommend, starting with Brother, and then working through her extensive back catalog. Her most recent release, If You See Her, is about buried mysteries, haunted houses, and the ghosts of past sins coming back to haunt you.

Ania and her husband, Will, have a toddler we will refer to as “R” in this interview. I wanted to find out how Ania has been balancing her writing career and motherhood. Continue Reading

CD eBook Spotlight: 12 Tales Lie || 1 Tells True by Maria Alexander

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 8, 2019November 3, 2019Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooks12 Tales Lie 1 Tells True, Columns, Interviews, Maria Alexander, Norman Prentiss, Spotlight on Cemetery Dance eBooksLeave a comment

This latest installment of “Spotlight” is devoted to Cemetery Dance’s eBook collection of thirteen stories by Maria Alexander: 12 Tales Lie || 1 Tells True. Check out the mini-interview below, then read about the book at CD’s website.Continue Reading

Interview: Nicholas Day talks the GRIND

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 4, 2019October 7, 2019InterviewsExcession Press, Grind Your Bones To Dust, Interviews, Mother Horror, Nick Day, Sadie HartmannLeave a comment

Nicholas Day is a science fiction, horror, and crime fiction writer, and is the co-owner (with fellow writer Don Noble) of Rooster Republic Press. His first novel, Grind Your Bones to Dust, will be released on October 10. Recently, Day sat down with Cemetery Dance’s own “Mother Horror” for a chat about creativity, wild donkeys, and a whole lot more.
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The Cemetery Dance Interview: Michael Marshall Smith

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 2, 2019July 26, 2019InterviewsInterviews, Michael Marshall Smith, Tyler JonesLeave a comment

Author photo of Michael Marshall Smith — Michael Marshall Smith

I can think of several reasons to use more than one name, and most of them involve getting away with some criminal activity. But if you are Michael Marshall Smith, each name represents a category of sorts for bringing stories, novels, and screenplays into the world.

The first time I saw The Anomaly at Powells Books in Portland, Oregon, I didn’t know who the author, Michael Rutger, was. But the description of “Indiana Jones meets X-Files” was right up my alley, so I bought the book, loved it, and it wasn’t until after I finished reading that I searched online and found Mr. Rutger had already written several books I enjoyed, including the influential (and Stephen King praised) novel The Straw Men, under a different name. The Straw Men, by Michael Marshall was later re-released by Cemetery Dance in a special edition that included pages of Smith’s handwritten notes for keeping tracking of all the twists and turns.

Although born in England, Smith spent much of his early childhood growing up elsewhere; America, South Africa, and Australia. His early work, written as Michael Marshall Smith, was mostly horror and science fiction. But when Smith wrote The Straw Men, a novel about serial killers, it was so different from his other novels that he and his publishers decided a name change was in order to market the new work.

That book became part of what was eventually a trilogy that includes The Upright Man and Blood of Angels. Smith continued to write under the Marshall name for his next four supernatural/suspense/thriller novels before returning to Smith for his 2017 novel Hannah Green and her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence.

With The Anomaly, Smith once again took on a new name for what is turning into a wonderful series that follow Nolan Moore, a YouTube documentarian who investigates paranormal phenomena. Part mystery, part thriller, and all adventrure, the new Rutger novel, The Possession veers straight into horror when Moore and his team look into a what may be a case of witchcraft in a remote American village.

Whatever name he goes by, Michael Marshall Smith has an uncanny ability to write intense and exciting books. He was kind enough to answer some questions via email. Continue Reading

The Cemetery Dance Interview: Joe Lansdale

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 24, 2019May 20, 2019InterviewsHap and Leonard, Interviews, Joe Lansdale, Tyler Jones2 Comments

When Joe Lansdale speaks, you listen. A fearless writer and natural storyteller who moves effortlessly between genres, Lansdale has made a career out of doing what he wants. He counts Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Dean Koontz among some of his most vocal fans, and has been steadily earning a large and devoted following since his first novel, Act of Love, was published in 1981. Since then, hardly a year has gone by without a new Lansdale book on the market, sometimes more than one. He has now written nearly 50 novels, dozens of novellas, and hundreds of short stories.Continue Reading

Interview: Paul Tremblay on Craft, King, and Building His Cabin

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 17, 2019May 17, 2019InterviewsA Head Full of Ghosts, Andrew J. Rausch, Disappearance at Devil's Rock, Interviews, Paul Tremblay, The Cabin at the End of the World3 Comments

Paul Tremblay’s path to becoming the bestselling author he is today was quite different from that traveled by most other writers. “I would say it was atypical,” he observes. While Tremblay remembers Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” as being something that resonated with him in elementary school, he didn’t find much enjoyment in reading as a child. He certainly had no aspirations of becoming a writer. What he really wanted was to be a professional basketball player.Continue Reading

Women in Horror: An Interview with Ellen Datlow

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 22, 2019February 25, 2019InterviewsEllen Datlow, Interviews, Mother Horror, Sadie Hartmann, Women In Horror1 Comment

If you’ve read an anthology of horror, science fiction or fantasy stories in the last couple of decades, chances are good it was edited by Ellen Datlow. In addition to editing more than 100 anthologies over the course of her 35 year career, Datlow has served as the editor magazines such as OMNI and Event Horizon, and currently acquires fiction for Tor.com.

Datlow’s impeccably keen eye for talent has made her one of the most important figures working in modern horror fiction. We at Cemetery Dance are honored that she took time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions for us.

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