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Review: 'Flowers In a Dumpster' by Mark Allan Gunnells

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 20, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Crystal Lake Publishing, Featured, Flowers In a Dumpster, Mark Allan Gunnells, ReviewsLeave a comment

Flowers In a Dumpster by Mark Allan Gunnells
Crystal Lake Publications (November 2015)
314 pages; $13.99 paperback/$3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I’ve found myself reading more and more anthologies and collections these days. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy story-telling in the long form, but there’s something about anthologies that allow you to get to know a lot of new authors quickly, and then there are the collections for a single author which permit a more in-depth look into what makes a particular author tick.

Prior to reading Flowers In a Dumpster, I had not read anything by Mark Allan Gunnells. Now that I’ve gotten to know his work, I’m pretty sure I’ll be returning for more.Continue Reading

Review: 'Prince of Nightmares' by John McNee

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 18, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Blood Bound Books, Featured, John McNee, Prince of Nightmares, ReviewsLeave a comment

Prince of Nightmares by John McNee
Blood Bound Books (January 2016)
189 pages; $11.99 paperback/$3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Prince of Nightmares begins with a Traditional German charm against nightmares…

I lay me here to sleep;
No night-mare shall plague me,
Until they swim all the waters
That flow upon the earth,
And count all the stars
That appear in the firmament.
Thus help me God Father, Son, and Holy host. Amen.

Review: 'Curious Goods: Behind the Scenes of Friday the 13th: The Series' by Alyse Wax

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 15, 2016ReviewsAlyse Wax, BearManor Media, Blu Gilliand, Curious Goods: Behind the Scenes of Friday the 13th: The Series, Featured, Reviews1 Comment

Curious Goods: Behind the Scenes of Friday the 13th: The Series by Alyse Wax
BearManor Media (October 2015)
490 pages; $36.95 hardcover/$26.95 paperback/$9.95 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Alyse Wax first encountered Friday the 13th: The Series at the age of nine. It was an episode called “Stick it in Your Ear,” a tale about a haunted hearing aid from the show’s third and final season, and Wax was hooked. Her interest blossomed into an obsession that led to an Internet fan club, a fanzine, and, finally, this book.

Curious Goods: Behind the Scenes of Friday the 13th: The Series is Wax’s massive guide to Paramount’s short-lived attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Friday the 13th film series. Muuch more than just an episode guide, this book is a comprehensive account of the difficulties faced when trying to produce good entertainment under difficult circumstances.Continue Reading

Review: 'I Will Rot Without You' by Danger Slater

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 13, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Danger Slater, Featured, I Will Rot Without You, ReviewsLeave a comment

I Will Rot Without You by Danger Slater
Fungasm Press (February 8, 2016)
143 pages
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I Will Rot Without You is not a book I would have sought out on my own. I’ve never read anything by the author, other than some of the reviews he’s written on Goodreads. I’ve never read anything from the small press responsible for its publication, although I have read a number of short stories from John Skipp, the owner of Fungasm Press.

I Will Rot Without You was sent to Cemetery Dance for review and when I saw it on the list of books offered this month, I recognized the name from Goodreads and thought this might be interesting. I love it when I’m right.Continue Reading

Review: 'Dark City: A Novella Collection' by Brian Hodge and Gerard Houarner

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 6, 2016Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Brian Hodge, Dark City: A Novella Collection, Featured, Gerard Houarner, Reviews1 Comment

Dark City: A Novella Collection by Brian Hodge and Gerard Houarner
Necro Publications (August 2015)
240 pages; $11.95 paperback/$3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Dark City is a collection of three novellas with varying takes on the apocalypse and the times following such a catastrophic event. The book features one longer piece from Brian Hodge and a couple of smaller novellas by Gerard Houarner.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Strange Crimes of Little Africa' by Chesya Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineJanuary 4, 2016ReviewsAnton Cancre, Chesya Burke, Featured, Reviews, The Strange Crimes of Little Africa1 Comment

The Strange Crimes of Little Africa by Chesya Burke
Rothco Press (December 2015)
201 pages; $17.99 paperback/$2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Anton Cancre

I’ve been a fan of Chesya Burke’s short stories for years. “The Unremembered” from the Dark Faith anthology floored me, and her collection Let’s Play White is pure fire. Given that, I was extremely excited when she decided to write a novel, but The Strange Crimes of Little Africa had some fairly big boots to step into.

Ostensibly, Strange Crimes is a mystery. Anthropology student Jaz Idawell’s cousin is arrested for the murder of her uncle several years before, but she knows he didn’t do it. With the help of the one and only Zora Neal Hurston, she is determined to find the truth, no matter what it costs her. Of course, like all of the best mysteries, the case isn’t really the point. Jaz’s search becomes a search for her own identity and her own history.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Children's Home' by Charles Lambert

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 30, 2015ReviewsCharles Lambert, Featured, Jonathan Reitan, Reviews, The Children's Home1 Comment

The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert
Scribner (January 5, 2016)
224 pages; $24 hardcover/$11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Jonathan Reitan

Writer Charles Lambert’s name may not be immediately recognizable by horror aficionados, but in early 2016 the genre will get his first sampling, and it’s a name you won’t soon forget.

Lambert’s previous releases have included a memoir, an award-winning short story collection and psychological thriller novels. In the British author’s latest, The Children’s Home, Lambert offers us a delightful work of parts dark fairy tale and literary horror. Continue Reading

Review: 'Sour Candy' by Kealan Patrick Burke

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 28, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Featured, Kealan Patrick Burke, Reviews, Sour CandyLeave a comment

Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke
Published by Author (November 2015)
67 pages; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

We’ve all been there: standing in the aisle of a store, trying to hurry up and get the stuff on your list so you can get done and get out. There’s a hundred other places you’d rather be, and you’re already annoyed because it was hard to find a parking place and you can barely get down the aisle because there’s so many people there, many of whom apparently came for the sole purpose of standing in your way and chit-chatting with the neighbor or friend they happened to run into.

And then, the screaming starts.Continue Reading

Review: 'Christmas Horror Volume 1' edited by Chris Morey

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 23, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Chris Morey, Christmas Horror Volume 1, Cody Goodfellow, Dark Regions Press, Featured, J.F. Gonzalez. Joe R. Lansdale, Jeff Strand, John Skipp, Mark Rainey, Nate Southard, Reviews, Shane McKenzie, William MeikleLeave a comment

Christmas Horror Volume 1 edited by Chris Morey
Dark Regions Press (November 2015)
134 pages; $15.00 paperback/$5.00 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

‘Tis the season…for horror? You betcha. Why should Halloween have all the fun? Editor Chris Morey and the team at Dark Regions Press put together an Indiegogo campaign earlier this year and the result is Christmas Horror Volume 1, a wonderfully enjoyable collection of horror stories for this horror fan’s second favorite holiday, right behind Halloween.Continue Reading

Review: 'Sacrificing Virgins' by John Everson

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 21, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Featured, John Everson, Reviews, Sacrificing Virgins, Samhain PublishingLeave a comment

Sacrificing Virgins by John Everson
Samhain Publishing (December 2015)
282 pages; $16.99 paperback/$5.00 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

First let me say I am ashamed I have never read anything from John Everson before. Why didn’t someone tell me about this guy? Wow. Sacrificing Virgins is Everson’s fourth collection and contains twenty-five of the darkest, most sexually perverse stories I’ve ever read, and I mean that as a complement. Continue Reading

Review: 'Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel' by Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 18, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Featured, Jaws, Jaws 2, Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel, Louis R. Pisano, Michael A. Smith, Nonfiction, Reviews1 Comment

Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel by Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith
BearManor Media (September 2015)
362 pages; $34.95 hardcover/$23.02 paperback/$9.95 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Jaws2 As sequels go, Jaws 2 had one of the hardest acts to follow in cinema history: Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which stands today as one of the most revered movies of all time, a near-perfect blend of casting, acting and visual storytelling that wears its 40-years-and-counting quite well.

Likewise, Louis A. Pisano and Michael A. Smith’s book, Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel, has a big mountain to climb. Spielberg’s classic has spawned a couple of excellent making-of books: The Jaws Log, a bird’s-eye-view recounting of the film’s production from Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb; and Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard, Jim Beller and Matt Taylor’s lushly illustrated, exhaustively researched account of the filming as told by the residents of the small New England island Spielberg and company took over.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two' edited by S.T. Joshi

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 14, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Alan Dean Foster, Brian Stableford, Cody Goodfellow, Donald Tyson, Erik Bear, Featured, Greg Bear, Jason C. Eckhardt, Jonathan Maberry, Karen Haber, Kevin J. Anderson, Laird Barron, Mark Howard Jones, Nancy Kilpatrick, Reviews, S.T. Toshi, Steve Rasnic Tem, The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two, Titan Books, William F. Nolan1 Comment

The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two edited by S.T. Joshi
Titan Books (2015)
304 pages; $13.01 paperback/$8.69 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

From the intro to The Madness of Cthulhu Volume Two – “If there is a dominant theme in this volume and its predecessor, it is that of alien incursion, the notion that ‘we are not alone in the universe.'” For me, it’s all about the stories and in this anthology the stories are, for the most part, excellent.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Sandman: Overture' by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 9, 2015ReviewsBlu Gilliand, Comics, DC Comics, J.H. Williams III, Neil Gaiman, Reviews, The Sandman, The Sandman: Overture, VertigoLeave a comment

The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman (writer), J.H. Williams III (illustrator), Dave Stewart (colors), Todd Klein (lettering), and Dave McKean (original series covers)
DC Comics/Vertigo (November 2015)
224 pages; $14.99 hardcover/$14.24 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Overture When a series reaches the level of fan adoration and critical acclaim that Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman has, there’s always going to be a clamoring for more. Yes, it has been nearly 20 years since the 75th and final issue of the comic series was published by DC, but the work has aged magnificently, standing even now as a testament to what the medium is capable of, and as a standard which is rarely equaled.

Gaiman has demonstrated on more than one occasion that he’s not opposed to revisiting his creation if he’s got a good story to tell. He wrote The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, and a handful of stories for the Endless Nights anthology, and now he’s come back again with a prequel to the original series. The Sandman: Overture was a six issue limited series that began in 2013, and is now collected in its entirety in a beautiful hardcover edition.Continue Reading

Review: 'Lost in the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories' by Joe Mynhardt

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 4, 2015Reviews- Frank Michaels Errington, Crystal Lake Publishing, Featured, Joe Mynhardt, Lost in the Dark, ReviewsLeave a comment

Lost In the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories by Joe Mynhardt
Crystal Lake Publishing (2012)
200 pages; $6.99 paperback/$0.99 ebook
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

Joe Mynhardt is a South African writer of horror with more than 50 published short stories to his credit. He is also the owner and operator of Crystal Lake Publishing, publishers of horror and dark fantasy.

Lost In the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories contains a dozen examples of Joe’s writing covering a wide variety of horror tropes.Continue Reading

Review: 'The Unhinged' by David Bernstein

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 2, 2015ReviewsDamon Smith, David Bernstein, Featured, Reviews, Samhain Publishing, The UnhingedLeave a comment

The Unhinged by David Bernstein
Samhain Publishing (November 2014)
226 pages; $14 paperback; ebook $5.50
Reviewed by Damon Smith

Unhinged In some ways reading David Bernstein’s The Unhinged reminded me a lot of Brian Keene’s The Rising; not in themes or setting, but in terms of emotions the book got out of me. I felt emotionally drained after finishing The Unhinged. While Keene’s zombie magnum opus earned that emotional drainage on me with character development and interesting plotting and twists in its respective genre, The Unhinged is merely an unpleasant slog at best.Continue Reading

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