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Review: Ameri-Scares: Legend of the Night Marchers by Patricia Lee Macomber

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 22, 2023May 20, 2023ReviewsAmeri-Scares Legend of the Night Marchers, Dave Simms, Elizabeth Massie, Patricia Lee Macomber, ReviewsLeave a comment

Ameri-Scares: Legend of the Night Marchers by Patricia Lee Macomber
Crossroad Press (March 2023)
192 pages; $12.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The Ameri-Scares series built by Elizabeth Massie has been one of biggest surprises in middle grade horror in the past decade. Stories based on legend, folklore, or creepy stories in every state rival the best of Goosebumps, and with serious geography and history. A couple of the authors allowed in her sandbox have proven themselves worthy.

First-timer Patricia Lee Macomber knocks it out of the park, luau-style with Legend of the Night Marchers. A horror tale in Hawaii? Absolutely! There’s a wealth of stories waiting to be mined in the state — yet Macomber goes for the different in the marchers that bring the creepy factor to the nth degree.

Review: Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums by Maxwell I. Gold

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 19, 2023May 18, 2023ReviewsBleeding Rainbows, Joshua Gage, Maxwell I. Gold, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Bleeding Rainbows Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums by Maxwell I. Gold
Hex Publishers (June 2023)
174 pages; $39.99 hardcover; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Maxwell I. Gold is a multiple award-nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in weird and cosmic fiction. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Weirdbook Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Startling Stories, Strange Horizons, Tales from OmniPark Anthology, Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas, and more. He’s the author of the Elgin-Award nominated prose poetry collection Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing. His newest collection, Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums, is a book of queer, cosmic-horror poetry.Continue Reading

Review: Once Upon a Fang in the West by John Dover

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 15, 2023May 14, 2023ReviewsJohn Dover, Joshua Gage, Not a Pipe Publishing, Once Upon a Fang in the West, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Once Upon a Fang in the West by John Dover Once Upon a Fang in the West by John Dover
Not A Pipe Publishing (May 2021)
223 pages; $14.55 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Author and musician John Dover began his writing journey with his jazz-noir novellas and comic book series, Johnny Scotch. His most recent novel is Once Upon a Fang in the West.Continue Reading

Review: All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 10, 2023May 8, 2023ReviewsAll the Sinners Bleed, Blu Gilliand, Reviews, S.A. CosbyLeave a comment

cover of All the Sinners Bleed All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Flatiron Books (June 6, 2023)
352 pages; $23.79 hardcover; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Blending social issues, unforgettable characters, and razor-sharp prose, S.A. Cosby has muscled his way to the front of the crime fiction genre. Cosby’s newest, All the Sinners Bleed, showcases his horror/thriller roots in a way we haven’t seen since his debut novel, My Darkest Prayer, and stands poised to cement the author’s position as the new king of the crime hill.Continue Reading

Review: Mouth Full of Ashes by Briana Morgan

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 8, 2023May 7, 2023ReviewsBriana Morgan, Haley Newlin, Mouth Full of Ashes, ReviewsLeave a comment

Mouth Full of Ashes by Briana Morgan
Independently Published (October 2021)
158 pages; $9.99; $2.99 ebook; $14.95 audiobook
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

“Dear Diary, my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count.” – Heathers

I’m not typically into vampire stories, except for Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and Bela Lugosi’s performance in Dracula.

However, Briana Morgan’s Mouth Full of Ashes dismembers supernatural horror and dark, campy teen film to conjure something scheming and bloody. Continue Reading

Review: Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 5, 2023May 4, 2023The Comic VaultColumns, Grendel Kentucky, Jeff McComsey, Joshua Gage, Reviews, The Comic VaultLeave a comment

Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards
Upshot (March 2021)
96 pages; $9.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey is an incredible graphic novel that takes the Beowulf saga and modernizes it. The story focuses on Marnie, who leads the all-women biker gang The Harlots. She’s called back to her hometown of Grendel for the funeral of her adoptive father, Clyde, who was supposedly killed by a bear. When she finds out the truth, which is much worse, she seeks vengeance for her father and learns about what it means to be a family and what it means to hold on to family secrets.Continue Reading

Review: Whatever Remains Of Us In The End by Brandon Baker

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 3, 2023May 1, 2023ReviewsBrandon Baker, Haley Newlin, Reviews, Whatever Remains of Us in the EndLeave a comment

Whatever Remains Of Us In The End by Brandon Baker
Independently Published (March 2023)
132 pages; $10.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

Power comes at a price in Brandon Baker’s Whatever Remains Of Us In The End, a supernatural thriller looming with feverish occult practices, the classic horror trope of “how far will you go to save those you love,” and lucid imagery reminiscent of the pulp horror era. Continue Reading

Review: In Memory of Exoskeletons by Rebecca Cuthbert

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 26, 2023April 24, 2023ReviewsIn Memory of Exoskeletons, Joshua Gage, Rebecca Cuthbert, ReviewsLeave a comment

In Memory of Exoskeletons by Rebecca Cuthbert
Alien Buddha Press (January 2023)
53 pages; $10.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Rebecca Cuthbert is a speculative, slipstream, and dark fiction and poetry writer living in Western New York. She is an Affiliate Member of the Horror Writers Association. She loves ghost stories, folklore, witchy women, and anything that involves nature getting revenge. Her debut poetry collection, In Memory of Exoskeletons, is out now with Alien Buddha Press. In Memory of Exoskeletons is a book that teeters between the personal and the horrific, memoir and terror, and takes the reader through the shifts and shudders eloquently. Continue Reading

Review: Every Woman Knows This by Laurel Hightower

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 25, 2023April 24, 2023ReviewsAnton Cancre, Every Woman Knows This, Laurel Hightower, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Every Woman Knows This Every Woman Knows This by Laurel Hightower
Death Knell Press (March 2023)
189 pages; $14.98 paperback; $4.49 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

Every Woman Knows This is a very personal, very pointed collection of stories that reflect Laurel Hightower’s experience of the world as a woman. Experiences that are common enough she can comfortably state that commonality in the title (and yes, she is explicit in her belief that this stands for all women, so please step aside with any gender essentialism). These stories hit on everything from dealing with stalkers to the perils of motherhood to always having to clean up after some manchild that never listens to reason and climbs down into an abandoned submarine just to poke around for a bit BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID, and every one of them hits right in the gut.Continue Reading

Review: All The Living And The Dead by Hayley Campbell

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 19, 2023April 17, 2023ReviewsAll the Living and the Dead, Haley Newlin, Hayley Campbell, ReviewsLeave a comment

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life’s Work by Hayley Campbell
St. Martin’s Press (August 2022)
288 pages; $21.49; $19.00 paperback; $14.99 e-book
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

None of us are born with the knowledge of death. We have to stumble upon a fallen bird fluttering its wings, desperate to live. Or we lose a grandparent, a sibling, a classmate, and someone breaks the news: the deceased, those “in a better place,” won’t, can’t, ever come back.

The author of All the Living and the Dead, Hayley Campbell, couldn’t pinpoint the moment she learned of death. She tells readers she can’t recall a time before death, stating, “Death was just there, everywhere, always.”Continue Reading

Review: Weird Fiction Quarterly

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 18, 2023April 17, 2023ReviewsJoshua Gage, Reviews, Russel Smeaton, Weird Fiction QuarterlyLeave a comment

Weird Fiction Quarterly edited by Russell Smeaton
Independently Published (Winter 2022 | Spring 2023)
120 pages; $10.00 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Weird Fiction Quarterly is a quarterly anthology series that deserves some attention. What makes this series intriguing is that each story must be five-hundred words exactly. Continue Reading

Review: A Lovely Girl by Deborah Holt Larkin

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 12, 2023April 11, 2023ReviewsA Lovely Girl, Deborah Holt Larkin, Haley Newlin, ReviewsLeave a comment

A Lovely Girl: The Tragedy of Olga Duncan and the Trial of One of California’s Most Notorious Killers by Deborah Holt Larkin
Pegasus Crime (October 2022)
528 pages; $21.60 hardcover; $18.99 ebook
Reviewed by Haley Newlin

From the iconic mothers in horror fiction, like Norman Bates’ tormenting, ever-invasive mother, Norma, and Stephen King’s evangelically evil Margaret White from Carrie, to real-world terrifying tales of mommy dearests, motherhood captivates audiences. Continue Reading

Review: The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 10, 2023April 9, 2023ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Rachel Eve Moulton, Reviews, The Insatiable Volt SistersLeave a comment

cover of The Insatiable Volt Sisters The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton
MCD x FSG Orginals (April 2023)
464 pages: $16.20 paperback; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Rachel Eve Moulton mixes familial drama and supernatural horror in The Insatiable Volt Sisters, a long, eerie novel that lulls you in but never lets you get too comfortable.Continue Reading

Review: Sifting the Ashes by Michael Bailey and Marge Simon

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 5, 2023April 3, 2023ReviewsCrystal Lake Publishing, Joshua Gage, Marge Simon, Michael Bailey, Reviews, Sifting the AshesLeave a comment

cover of Sifting the Ashes Sifting the Ashes by Michael Bailey and Marge Simon
Crystal Lake Publishing (April 2022)
222 pages; $15.99 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Michael Bailey is a freelance writer, editor and book designer, and the recipient of over two dozen literary accolades, such as the Bram Stoker Award and Benjamin Franklin Award. Composite novels include Palindrome Hannah, Phoenix Rose, and Psychotropic Dragon, and he has published two short story and poetry collections, Scales and Petals, and Inkblots and Blood Spots, as well as a children’s book, Enso.

Marge Simon lives in Ocala, FL, City of Trees with her husband, poet/writer Bruce Boston and the ghosts of two cats. She edits a column for the HWA Newsletter, “Blood & Spades: Poets of the Dark Side.” A multiple Bram Stoker award winner, Marge is the second woman to be acknowledged by the SF &F Poetry Association with a Grand Master Award. She received the HWA Lifetime Achievement award in 2021.

Their recent post-apocalyptic horror prose and poetry collection is Sifting the Ashes.Continue Reading

Review: Numinous Stones by Holly Lyn Walrath

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 3, 2023March 26, 2023ReviewsHolly Lyn Walrath, Joshua Gage, Numinous Stones, poetry, ReviewsLeave a comment

Numinous Stones by Holly Lyn Walrath
Aqueduct Press (April, 2023)
98 pages, $10 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Numinous Stones is a collection of speculative pantoums, a form derived from the Malay verse pantun berkait, which is a form of interwoven verses of alternating lines. This is a difficult form to accomplish, as the repeated lines need to seem fresh each time the reader encounters them, but also echo back to the previous stanza. The tightly entwined stanzas, when executed well, create a rhythmic and incantatory experience for the audience, hypnotizing them in a sonic spell.

Readers, if you read Numinous Stones, be prepared to be hypnotized. Continue Reading

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