Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Bone Chase by Weston Ochse 
Bone Chase by Weston Ochse
Gallery/Saga Press (December 1, 2020)
336 pages; $26 hardcover; $9.99 paperback
Reviewed by Dave Simms
A hunt for giants? Ties to the Bible? Rival factions that stretch back eons?
This is easily going to be one of the hottest thrillers of the year. Imagine if you will, Dan Brown writing with the pacing of Lee Child with the adventure factor of James Rollins. If that’s not enough to crack open this book, nothing will. Did I mention there are giants?Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: WYRD and Other Derelictions by Adam L.G. Nevill 
WYRD and Other Derelictions by Adam L.G. Nevill
Ritual Limited (October 2020)
106 pages; $7.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
In the third collection of horror stories from Adam Nevill, something is missing. The “who” and the “what” and the “why” aspects of the story have been intentionally omitted from the narrative and it’s up to you, the reader, to discover and discern these things for yourselves.
Doesn’t that sound…
Horrifying?
Because it is.Continue Reading
Sadako at the End of the World by Koma Natsumi and Koji Suzuki
Yen Press (November 17, 2020)
146 pages; $15 paperback, $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson
Sadako, the vengeful ghost villain from The Ring franchise, gets a new twist to her story in the manga Sadako at the End of the World.
The Ring started out as a 1991 novel written by Koji Suzuki (and is available in America from the publisher Vertical), and that spawned off into more books and then movies. Japan made two movie adaptations and South Korea made one before the franchise made its way to America with a 2002 Hollywood movie adaptation starring Naomi Watts. In America, “Sadako” was changed to “Samara Morgan.” The obsession with Sadako and The Ring franchise continues in Japan, where their most recent movie in the franchise (called Sadako) came out in 2019.Continue Reading
Meaningless Cycles in a Vicious Glass Prison: Songs of Death and Love by Anton Cancre
Dragon’s Roost Press (October 2020)
114 pages, $9.99 Paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
In Meaningless Cycles in a Vicious Glass Prison: Songs of Death and Love, Anton Cancre creates scenes of death and works to capture them in short, poignant poems. Cancre works within various horror tropes but does his best to keep the ideas fresh and visceral for the reader. This is an interesting collection, and while the poetry is inconsistent at times, fans of horror poetry will enjoy perusing it.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: WYRD and Other Derelictions by Adam L.G. Nevill WYRD and Other Derelictions by Adam L.G. Nevill
Ritual Limited (October 2020)
106 pages; $7.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Adam Nevill has quietly transformed into one of the top writers in the past decade. His novels, ranging from Apartment 16 to last year’s The Reddening (easily this reviewer’s vote for most frightening novel of the year), have evolved into fiction that’s both accessible and surreal. The Netflix adaptation of The Ritual broke open the floodgates to new audiences everywhere. Hopefully, other films will follow.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories Breaking NewsLeave a comment on Review: The Witch and the Beast by Kousuke Satake 
The Witch and the Beast by Kousuke Satake
Kodansha Comics (October 27, 2020)
192 pages; $12.99 paperback, $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson
The Witch and the Beast opens with a question: “Do you know how to break a witch’s curse?” It gives two answers: “Method 1: A loving kiss from a prince on a white horse. Method 2: Hope the wrathful witch has a change of heart.”
But the manga is quick to assure us that these methods are nearly impossible to work out.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Boneset & Feathers by Gwendolyn Kiste 
Boneset & Feathers by Gwendolyn Kiste
Broken Eye Books (November 3, 2020)
172 pages; $34.99 hardcover; $12.99 paperback
Reviewed by A.E. Siraki
Gwendolyn Kiste, witches, creepy birds, and odd kids. Need I say more? The author’s prose is as beautiful and engaging as ever in this story of a witch running from witchfinders. This would make a very compelling film or television adaptation and has what I’ve started referring to in my reviews as a “watchable” compulsive quality. It’s also a deeper commentary on the fear men — particularly wealthy older white men — have toward women; that antiquated but dangerous notion about women having power, the implications, and the stubbornness with which it clings to the fabrics in society.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie 
The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie
Redhook (November 17, 2020)
384 pages; $16.99 hardcover; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
A group of adults shares the same dark secret. When they were children, they grew up at the foot of a mountain called Red Peak. Isolated from the rest of the world, the children lived through the traumatic experience of life in a cult. Years later, a fellow survivor and friend, takes their own life. The grownup children of Red Peak reunite and re-open old wounds.
What really happened on that last night at Red Peak? Our protagonists, the survivors, must bring to the surface all the painful memories they buried and maybe even take a trip back to where it all happened.Continue Reading
Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 1 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ryosuke Takeuchi, and Hikaru Miyoshi
VIZ Media (October 2020)
206 pages; $9.99 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson
William James Moriarty was barely in the Sherlock Holmes books, but his position as Holmes’s archenemy and “The Napoleon of Crime” have kept him in people’s imaginations. Over the years he’s been seen in movies, books and other forms of entertainment not made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And now he’s the main character in a Japanese manga that’s been made into an anime currently playing in Japan and streaming in America.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Blood Lake Monster by Renee Miller 
Blood Lake Monster by Renee Miller
Unnerving Books (July 2020)
116 pages; $11.49 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Janelle Janson
If you’ve yet to read any of the Rewind or Die series put out by Unnerving, you are surely missing out. I am obsessed with this retro b-movie horror cinema-style series, and if you love brilliant female horror writers, then this is the collection for you! Renee Miller’s Blood Lake Monster is the twelfth publication and the sixth title I’ve read, but I plan to collect all of the paperbacks because…have you checked out these covers?! My favorites thus far are Food Fright, Cirque Berserk, and All You Need Is Love and a Strong Electric Current, but they have all been horror-tastic!Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Captain Clive’s Dreamworld by Jon Bassoff 
Captain Clive’s Dreamworld by Jon Bassoff
Erasherhead Press (October 2020)
234 pages; $15.95 paperback; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
For anyone that’s ever lived in a small town where everyone knows each other and seems to hold secrets about their next-door neighbors, idyllic town horror is a satisfying trope. Truth is always stranger than fiction and if you live in one small town long enough, you’re bound to uncover some of the strange history and unusual happenings. Sometimes what appears to be perfectly quaint is really just good at hiding its seamy underbelly.
It’s not difficult to suspend disbelief in order to buy into the old adage, “Nothing is as it appears to be.” Or another fitting favorite, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”Continue Reading
Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
BOOM! Studios (May 2020)
128 pages, $13.41 paperback; $12.74 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Something has been taking the children of Archer’s Peak. At first it was just one girl, and the police assumed it was a typical family kidnapping perpetrated by an uncle. But then, young James and his friends have a sleepover, and when it’s over, James is the only survivor. There are bodies and blood. The whole town is in chaos. Then, a stranger with an uncanny knowledge of things who talks to her stuffed-animal octopus arrives and says she’ll take care of things. Something is Killing the Children is a really strong series from writer James Tynion IV and artist Werther Dell’Edera.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark 
Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark
Tor.com (October 13, 2020)
176 pages; $15.99 hardcover; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
I read a brief tagline for Ring Shout that was along the lines of, “a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror” and I was sold. I love everything the tagline promises: Dark Fantasy. Historical Fiction. Novella. Supernatural. Give me all of those things.
Ring Shout not only delivered on these promises, but it also flew past all of my expectations making this book a solid contender for my favorite book of 2020.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: One Who Was With Me by Conrad Williams 
One Who Was With Me by Conrad Williams
Earthling Publications (October 2020)
$45 limited edition hardcover
Reviewed by Dave Simms
It’s that wonderful time of year again when Earthling Publications announces their Halloween series title for the upcoming holiday. When was the last time Paul Miller failed to publish a stellar tale for this press? Hint: I’m still waiting.
Conrad Williams returns to the series in fine form here, following up his award winning The Unblemished from fourteen years ago, with a novel that at the onset sounds familiar but trust me—it’s anything but. I don’t know if the author is a baseball fan but he appears to be a master of the screwball, curveball, and sinker.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories ReviewsLeave a comment on Review: Edited By edited by Ellen Datlow 
Edited By edited by Ellen Datlow
Subterranean Press (September 2020)
632 pages; $45 limited edition hardcover; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand
If you look back over the history of horror fiction, there are a few names that have become synonymous with the genre. Stephen King. Edgar Allan Poe. Shirley Jackson. Clive Barker. Ellen Datlow may not have quite the same level of mainstream recognition as these authors, but her influence on horror fiction (not to mention fantasy and sci-fi) stands equal.Continue Reading
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