An Interview with Joe Hill

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 23, 2017October 23, 2017InterviewsBlu Gilliand, Interviews, Joe Hill, Locke & Key, Strange WeatherLeave a comment

Joe Hill‘s compelling quartet of novellas, collectively titled Strange Weather, hits shelves tomorrow, riding a wave of anticipation and positive reviews (including our own). Strange Weather is the latest example of what has become a hallmark of Hill’s career: versatility. The author roams from horror to fantasy to sci-fi….from comics to prose to screenplays…..from massive 700-page epics to to short novels to short stories….fearlessly and effortlessly. Likewise, our discussion covers a lot of ground, beginning with his latest release, then touching on his comics work before teasing a bit about what’s in the future.

Q&A: ‘Channel Zero: No-End House’ Creator/Showrunner Nick Antosca

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 20, 2017September 19, 2017InterviewsBrian Russell, Channel Zero, creepypasta, Danica Davidson, Interviews, Nick Antosca, No End HouseLeave a comment

Last year the horror anthology series Channel Zero spooked audiences on SyFy. Now season two, called Channel Zero: No-End House, is set to premiere on SyFy tonight at 10 p.m. EST. Nick Antosca, the creator of the show, got his professional start writing horror books, and he said the new season has a John Carpenter feel and is inspired by Brian Russell’s creepypasta tale, “NoEnd House.” He also told Cemetery Dance Online about his literary inspirations and how he approaches writing horror, no matter the medium.

(Q&A conducted by Danica Davidson)Continue Reading

Christopher Golden on Hellboy and his Assortment of Horrors

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 15, 2017August 15, 2017Interviews, The Comic VaultAn Assortment of Horrors, Blu Gilliand, Christopher Golden, Hellboy, Interviews, Mike Mignola, The Comic Vault3 Comments

Obviously, there’s no name more synonymous with the character of Hellboy than that of creator Mike Mignola. However, Christopher Golden runs a close second. Golden, a prolific best-selling author of original novels, media tie-in books and countless short stories, helped pioneer the line of Hellboy prose novels and anthologies, beginning with 1997’s The Lost Army and continuing this month with Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors. He’s also a screenwriter (along with Mignola and Andrew Cosby) of the upcoming Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, the Neil Marshall-directed reboot of the Hellboy film franchise. Golden was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to talk with Cemetery Dance Online about his long history in the world of Hellboy.
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Robin Furth and the Comic Side of The Dark Tower

Cemetery Dance OnlineAugust 2, 2017August 2, 2017InterviewsComics, Danica Davidson, Dark Tower Week, Interviews, Marvel Comics, Robin Furth, Stephen King, The Dark Tower2 Comments

Robin Furth doesn’t live in Mid-World, but it could be argued she knows it better than the characters themselves. After working as Stephen King’s research assistant, Furth published Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Concordance, has written the graphic novel adaptations of The Dark Tower series for Marvel Comics, and is a consultant for the new film The Dark Tower and the TV series that will follow. As an avid folklorist, a fan of comics and King’s own go-to expert on all things Roland Deschain, Furth is the perfect person for all these jobs. She spoke to Cemetery Dance Online about her books, graphic fiction as a medium, and what she thinks about the upcoming movie and Idris Elba as the lead.Continue Reading

Heading Up the Skelton Crew: An Interview with Israel Skelton

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 25, 2017May 23, 2017InterviewsBlu Gilliand, Hellboy, Interviews, Israel Skelton, Joe Hill, Locke & Key, Mike Mignola, Skelton CrewLeave a comment

Locke & Key replica keys by Skelton Crew Studio. — A selection of Locke & Key replica keys created by Skelton Crew Studio.

Skelton Crew Studio, a comic book replica studio based in the wilds of Maine, was founded by Israel Skelton in 2008. A sculptor and creator for more than 30 years, Skelton first made a name for his studio with a replica key based on the critically-acclaimed comic series Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. Collaborations with a wide variety of creators soon followed, and Skelton Crew Studio’s work is now highly sought after among collectors and creators alike. Skelton Crew has a busy year ahead of them—more on that in a minute—so we appreciate Israel Skelton taking a few moments to discuss his work with us.

(Interview conducted by Blu Gilliand)Continue Reading

‘Life in a Haunted House’ – The Story Behind the Cover(s)

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 15, 2017June 8, 2017InterviewsArt, Covers, Interviews, Life in a Haunted House, Lynne Hansen, Norman PrentissLeave a comment

Norman Prentiss’ new novel, Life in a Haunted House, debuts May 15 at Amazon as an eBook (with a trade paperback soon to follow). To celebrate the book’s launch, he decided to do an interview with the book’s cover artist, Lynne Hansen. In addition to having Lynne create covers for some of his own books, Norman is also the editor of Cemetery Dance’s eBook line, and he frequently hires Lynne to create covers for Cemetery Dance ebooks.Continue Reading

Mikita Brottman: The Study of Fear

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 5, 2017April 30, 2017InterviewsDanica Davidson, Interviews, Mikita BrottmanLeave a comment

Mikita Brottman has loved horror since an early age. She was reading it as a child in England, reading it as a student at Oxford University, and has been reading it during her career as a professor and psychoanalyst. Since the ’90s, she has published a series of both fiction and nonfiction books on taboo subjects—everything from cannibalism to serial killers to her experience doing a literature program at a Maximum Security prison. In their own ways, each book brings together her love of horror, the misunderstood, psychology and academia. Her academic works that deal with horror are both full of detail and accessible, something not always found together, especially when the academic world has tended to turn its nose up to the aesthetic of fictional horror. Brottman spoke about her books, the appeal of horror and what she thinks can make horror its scariest.Continue Reading

Onscreen Mojo: An Interview with Joe R. Lansdale

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 15, 2017March 15, 2017InterviewsChris Hallock, Hap and Leonard, Interviews, Joe R. LansdaleLeave a comment

Many colorful descriptors have been affixed to describe the work of ten-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Joe R. Lansdale, but reigning champion of mojo storytelling (as coined by Lansdale’s friend and webmaster Lou Bark) is the most fitting way to express his dynamic style. Throughout a prolific career, Lansdale has produced an astounding assortment of unique tales gracefully two-stepping between the pulp and the profound. His work is gritty, funny, and violent, characterized by biting dialogue and Lansdale’s ability to seamlessly cross genres while remaining conscious of history and storytelling tradition. Lansdale’s distinct literary voice regales his readers with tales of rough-and-tumble anti-heroes ready to throw down against dangerous criminals, serial killers, and occasional otherworldly monsters running amok in East Texas.Continue Reading

Interview: Ania Ahlborn

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 14, 2017February 13, 2017InterviewsAnia Ahlborn, Blu Gilliand, Essays, Interviews, The Devil Crept In, Women In HorrorLeave a comment

An Interview with Ania Ahlborn

Ania Ahlborn is the bestselling author of the horror thrillers Brother, Within These Walls, The Bird Eater, The Shuddering, The Neighbors, and Seed, and the novella The Pretty Ones. Her latest release is The Devil Crept In, out now from Gallery Books. Recently, Ania was kind enough to take time out from exploring the dark corners of her imagination to share a few words with us.

Interview: Greg Nicotero on Classic Horror and ‘The Walking Dead’

Cemetery Dance OnlineNovember 16, 2016November 13, 2016InterviewsGreg Nicotero, Interviews, KNB EFX, Nicole Cushing, The Walking Dead2 Comments

Cemetery Dance Interviews

Greg Nicotero chats with Nicole Cushing at the 2015 WonderFest Hobby Expo. (Photo Copyright Robert Cushing) — Greg Nicotero chats with Nicole Cushing at the 2015 WonderFest Hobby Expo.
(Photo Copyright Robert Cushing)

Greg Nicotero is perhaps best known as executive producer, occasional director, and special effects makeup artist for AMC’s The Walking Dead. But this is just the most recent accomplishment in a career that is now in its fourth decade. Nicotero cut his professional teeth in 1985 as an assistant to Tom Savini on George Romero’s classic Day of the Dead and went on to work on a number of late ‘80s horror franchises that have come to define the era. Since that auspicious beginning, he’s gone on to become a legend in the field of special effects makeup (both in the horror genre and in more mainstream fare). Yes, he’s worked with George Romero, Clive Barker, John Carpenter, Don Coscarelli, and Sam Raimi. But (as he discusses in this interview) he’s also worked with Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg. On top of all that, he also co-founded the prestigious KNB EFX Group in 1988, and has won four Emmy awards.Continue Reading

Interview: Victoria Price

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 11, 2016October 10, 2016InterviewsFeatured, Interviews, Nicole Cushing, Victoria Price, Vincent Price1 Comment

Victoria Price (Photo Copyright Robert Cushing) — Victoria Price
(Photo Copyright Robert Cushing)

Decades before the Dos Equis commercials, Vincent Price was “the most interesting man in the world.” Or at least, in my world.

I think I was six or seven when I first saw him on TV. Was it his guest appearance as a sinister archaeologist on an after-school rerun of The Brady Bunch? Or maybe some Saturday afternoon when the late, lamented channel 48 in Philadelphia showed House of Wax as part of Creature Double Feature? I can’t say for sure.

All I know is that he made an impression. Having grown up in a working class family where the dial was set to pro wrestling more than PBS, I wasn’t introduced to that many examples of erudite sophistication. And while Price’s filmography is certainly rife with camp, that wasn’t clear to me as a kid. What was clear to me was that Vincent Price played educated characters. Often artistic or scholarly characters. His film personas may have given me the first examples of such people.Continue Reading

Miles Hyman: Getting Graphic with Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”

Cemetery Dance OnlineOctober 4, 2016October 4, 2016InterviewsDanica Davidson, Featured, Interviews, Miles Hyman, Shirley JacksonLeave a comment

lotterygn Modern horror wouldn’t be what it is today without the influence of Shirley Jackson’s writing. Her grandson, Miles Hyman, pursued a career in art and has worked on many books and graphic novels, including a recent graphic novel adaptation of James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia, published by Archaia. Now he’s releasing his graphic novel adaptation of “The Lottery,” out from Farrar, Straus and Giroux on October 25, to scare new readers and show old ones a new way of looking at the iconic short story.Continue Reading

Exploring the Dark Side of Sci-Fi with Michael Bailey and Richard Chizmar

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 23, 2016September 27, 2016InterviewsDark Regions Press, Featured, Interviews, Michael Bailey, Richard Chizmar, You HumanLeave a comment

Dark Regions Press has enlisted Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Michael Bailey to christen the new Dark Regions Sci-Fi imprint with You, Human, a genre-bending anthology of dark science fiction and poetry. The collection, featured as part of an Indiegogo campaign (which also seeks to produce Return of the Old Ones: Apocalyptic Lovecraftian Horror and The Children of Gla’aki: A Tribute to Ramsey Campbell’s Great Old One) is illustrated by world-renowned artist L.A. Spooner, with poetry and spot illustrations supplied by Orion Zangara.

The campaign is entering its final days, and stands very close to its funding goal as of this writing. We were able to send a few questions to Bailey and one of You, Human‘s contributors, Cemetery Dance’s own Richard Chizmar, about their journey into the dark side of sci-fi.Continue Reading

‘Con’ Man: Adam Cesare on Fans, Cons and ‘The Con Season’

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 14, 2016InterviewsAdam Cesare, Featured, Interviews, Kindle Scout, The Con SeasonLeave a comment

‘Con’ Man: Adam Cesare on Fans, Cons
and ‘The Con Season’

ConSeason Adam Cesare’s new novel, The Con Season, is available to read for free right now—well, the first couple of chapters, anyway. If you want to read the rest, you first have to do your part in helping it get published.

Like many authors (such as Norman Prentiss), Cesare is testing the waters of the Kindle Scout program with his latest work. Readers can check out a portion of the book and throw a nomination its way if they would like to see it published. Cesare talks more about the program in our interview, but suffice to say that it’s another innovative approach to publishing made possible by today’s technology.

You can check out The Con Season at Amazon, but before you do, take a few moments and enjoy this chat with Cesare, who talks about the slightly unreal world of horror conventions, the mindset of horror film and literature fandom, and much more.
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Ramsey Campbell on bookstores, scary limericks, and 'The Booking'

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 13, 2016InterviewsChris Morey, Dark Regions Press, Featured, Interviews, Ramsey Campbell, The BookingLeave a comment

Ramsey Campbell on bookstores, scary limericks, and ‘The Booking’

booking-cover-mockup For the third book in the Black Labyrinth line of psychological suspense novellas, Chris Morey, owner/publisher of Dark Regions Press, turned to a master of the form: Ramsey Campbell. It was a move Morey has long envisioned making.

“Ramsey Campbell was a must for the Black Labyrinth imprint,” Morey said. “I knew I wanted an original piece from Ramsey for the imprint on the day that the imprint first materialized.”

Morey got his wish, and earlier this week the preorder period for Campbell’s The Booking began. The story sounds like classic Campbell:

Kiefer is desperate for a job when he comes upon an opening at a curious bookstore in England, BOOKS ARE LIFE. He approaches the owner for a job and gets it, learning quickly that the owner is stranger than the books that he sells in the shop. As he continues to help the bookstore’s transition to the internet, he discovers oddities in the shop and has increasingly strange visions and encounters.

We here at Cemetery Dance Online were honored to get a few words from Campbell on The Booking and its inspiration.

‘Con’ Man: Adam Cesare on Fans, Cons and ‘The Con Season’

Ramsey Campbell on bookstores, scary limericks, and ‘The Booking’

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‘Con’ Man: Adam Cesare on Fans, Cons
and ‘The Con Season’