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Review: Cut You Down by Sam Wiebe

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 13, 2018June 11, 2018ReviewsCut You Down, Dave Simms, Quercus, Reviews, Sam WiebeLeave a comment

Cut You Down by Sam Wiebe
Quercus (February 2018)
288 pages; $15.91 hardcover; $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Noir fiction can be a mixed bag in today’s market. Many of the writers seem content to channel Raymond Chandler and roll through a murder-by-numbers plot with the most clichéd characters. Thankfully, a few breathe new life into the mix. Sam Wiebe is one of them. Last year’s The Invisible Dead introduced private investigator Dave Wakeland in the underused but vibrant setting of Vancouver. Coupled with the PI’s journeys into northern Washington State, the book feels fresh and avoids the pseudo-early twentieth century language and tropes.Continue Reading

Review: Cockblock by C.V. Hunt

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 11, 2018ReviewsAnton Cancre, C.V. Hunt, Cockblock, ReviewsLeave a comment

Cockblock by C.V. Hunt
Amazon Digital Services (June 25, 2018)
108 pages; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Sonya and Callie just want to go out for a date. What they don’t want is to find themselves surrounded by men who seem incapable of doing anything but spout lame pick up lines and force themselves on anyone or anything they come across. What follows is a surprisingly harrowing ordeal of survival that reminded me quite pleasantly of Jack Ketchum’s Ladies’ Night.Continue Reading

Review: It, Watching by Elizabeth Massie

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 8, 2018ReviewsDave Simms, Elizabeth Massie, It Watching, ReviewsLeave a comment

It, Watching by Elizabeth Massie
CreateSpace (June 2017)
220 pages; $13.95 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

In her first collection in several years, Elizabeth Massie returns with a thrilling collection of short stories. The Bram Stoker-winning author has put together eighteen tales, several of which are new to readers, and there’s not a clunker in the bunch.Continue Reading

Review: Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven by Jessica McHugh

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 7, 2018June 5, 2018ReviewsAnton Cancre, Fatal Raven, Jessica McHugh, Nightly Owl, Raw Dog Screaming Press, ReviewsLeave a comment

Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven by Jessica McHugh
Raw Dog Screaming Press (June 14, 2018)
220 pages, $15.95 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

You know what I was just thinking we don’t have nearly enough of? Hyper-violent, dystopian, post-apocalyptic sword and sandals-style fantasy with a hefty seasoning of Shakespearean drama. Luckily, we have Jess McHugh’s Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven swooping in to pluck out our eyes.Continue Reading

Review: And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 6, 2018June 6, 2018ReviewsAnd Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, Dave Simms, Gwendolyn Kiste, JournalStone, ReviewsLeave a comment

And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste
JournalStone (April 2017)
210 pages; $15.95 paperback; $3.95 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Remember this name. Gwendolyn Kiste will one day rule the world of dark short fiction if there’s any justice. Every once in a while, a new voice emerges and takes the genre by storm. Several have broken the surface lately and shown tinges of greatness to be, but rarely is one “born” with a style and substance this mind-boggling.Continue Reading

Review: The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 31, 2018May 29, 2018ReviewsAlma Katsu, Dave Simms, Reviews, The HungerLeave a comment

The Hunger by Alma Katsu
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (March 2018)
384 pages; $16.00 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The release of Alma Katsu’s new historical horror novel brings with it comparisons to The Terror by Dan Simmons, even including both of them in social media ads. Do not be fooled. Yes, both authors bring impeccable research to fine stories and put you right there in the moment with ease. Both examine the human condition and how people can easily be turned to embrace their shadow selves, the monsters within the person.

Yet, there are a couple of major differences. Continue Reading

Review: Like Jagged Teeth by Betty Rocksteady

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 30, 2018May 29, 2018ReviewsAnton Cancre, Betty Rocksteady, Like Jagged Teeth, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, ReviewsLeave a comment

Like Jagged Teeth by Betty Rocksteady
Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing (April 2017)
118 pages, $11.95 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Betty Rocksteady appears to be a bit of a newcomer on the scene. I hadn’t seen her name or work prior to this year. However, if Like Jagged Teeth is anything to go on, she’s kicking the door right off its hinges.Continue Reading

Review: Stirring the Sheets by Chad Lutzke

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 23, 2018May 21, 2018ReviewsBloodshot Books, Blu Gilliand, Chad Lutzke, Reviews, Stirring the Sheets2 Comments

Stirring the Sheets by Chad Lutzke
Bloodshot Books (April 2018)
130 pages; $8.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Read enough horror, and you start feeling like you can predict where a book or story is going to go within a few pages or chapters. I’m not saying that all horror is predictable or formulaic; just that enough of it is that some reviewers (like me) might find themselves getting a little cocky after a few successful predictions. Then someone like Chad Lutzke comes along with a novella like Stirring the Sheets, and gleefully knocks you off your high horse.Continue Reading

Bev Vincent Reviews The Outsider by Stephen King

Bev VincentMay 21, 2018May 21, 2018Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Columns, It, Mike Hanlon, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, Reviews, Stephen King, The Outsider2 Comments

Reality is Thin Ice
The Outsider by Stephen King

Reviewed by Bev Vincent

One of the themes of Stephen King’s 1986 novel It was the notion that adults lose the ability to believe in the kinds of things they embraced as children. Mike Hanlon contemplates this issue when he’s planning to summon his childhood friends back to Derry to confront the monster they defeated but did not destroy nearly three decades earlier. He wonders if they’re up to the task because their former ability to believe in the power of certain talismans gave them the strength to hurt Pennywise.

The inability to believe plays a major part in The Outsider. Continue Reading

Review: Blood Standard by Laird Barron

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 14, 2018ReviewsBlood Standard, Blu Gilliand, Laird Barron, ReviewsLeave a comment

Blood Standard by Laird Barron
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (May 29, 2018)
336 pages; $26.00 hardcover; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

While The Godfather Part III is not the most revered entry in that series, that Al Pacino line is one of the franchise’s most memorable quotes. The idea behind it—the notion that people play certain inescapable roles in their life, no matter how hard they may try to change—is the basis for quite a bit of crime fiction, and it forms the backbone of Laird Barron’s new novel, Blood Standard.Continue Reading

Review: Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 9, 2018May 6, 2018ReviewsDave Simms, Glimpse, Jonathan Maberry, ReviewsLeave a comment

Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Press (March 2018)
352 pages; $20.19 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Those fans who are hoping to find the swashbuckling heroics of the Joe Ledger novels or the zombified madness of the Rot and Ruin series will be in for a big surprise with Glimpse. Maberry has penned a decidedly different book here, a thriller that delivers for that genre yet still hits on the edges of reality, stretching the imagination in a manner that is utterly human, but entrenched in a Twilight Zone-type story.Continue Reading

Abandoned Voices in the Rain: A Look at “Ghost EVP in Buckner Building, Whittier, Alaska”

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 7, 2018May 7, 2018ReviewsAlaska, Buckner Building, Funemployment Radio, Reviews, Robert Brouhard, WhittierLeave a comment

“Ghost EVP in Buckner Building, Whittier, Alaska”
Funemployment Radio podcast (April 2018)
Reviewed by Robert Brouhard

Greg Nibler and Sarah X Dylan with Funemployment Radio may not be totally household names, but Sarah’s art has appeared on the cover of Cemetery Dance magazine, and their great and funny podcast with over 2,000 episodes is a must-listen.Continue Reading

Review: Sharkwater Beach by Tim Meyer

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 2, 2018April 29, 2018ReviewsPeter Tomas, Reviews, Sharkwater Beach, Tim MeyerLeave a comment

Sharkwater Beach by Tim Meyer
(May 2017)
180 pages; $9.99 paperback; ebook $2.99
Reviewed by Peter Tomas

When a shark breaks out of a sketchy underwater research facility, the seas surrounding Sharkwater Beach suddenly grow ice-cold as the prehistoric predator begins her reign as “Queen of the Ocean.”

Our protagonist, a sarcastic and rather realistic woman by the name of Jill McCourty, finds herself stranded on Key Water Island, on which Sharkwater Beach resides, along with a small group of friends, strangers, and a particularly interesting trio of rough-around-the-edges men. Together, they must collaborate and fight for their lives against their massive oceanic captor until help arrives, but eventually they come to realize that, even on land, they aren’t safe.Continue Reading

Review: Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 30, 2018April 29, 2018Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Blanky, Kealan Patrick Burke, ReviewsLeave a comment

Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke
CreateSpace (September 2017)
80 pages; $6.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I love the tagline on the cover of Kealan Patrick Burke’s new novella, Blanky: “The gift that keeps on living.”

And then there’s the opening, one that immediately draws the reader into the story:

You say you can’t imagine what it must be like to lose a child.

Let me make it easy for you.

It’s the beginning of the end of your world.

Review: The Changeling by Victor LaValle

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 25, 2018April 25, 2018ReviewsDave Simms, Reviews, The Changeling, Victor LaValleLeave a comment

The Changeling by Victor LaValle
Spiegel & Grau (March 2018)
448 pages; $12.30 paperback; $10.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

There are relatively few new authors in the horror/speculative field today who can make a reader both disappear into a book and later sit back in awe of the pure storytelling and the ease in which the language flows in such an enthralling, dark manner. John Langan is one. Sarah Pinborough is another. Victor LaValle ranks near the top of the list.Continue Reading

Reality is Thin Ice The Outsider by Stephen King

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Reality is Thin Ice
The Outsider by Stephen King