Exclusive Excerpt: The Serpent’s Shadow by Daniel Braum

cover of The Serpent's Shadow by Daniel BraumI delight in stories that deliver more than meets the eye at first glance. I love to read them and I love to write them. In films and shows such as It Follows and The Twilight Zone and in the work of Robert Aickman things are often very much more than they first appear. The Serpent’s Shadow is also one of those kinds of stories.

It is Christmas week. In Mexico, 1987. At first glance all might appear as a slasher set up or a horror tale with familiar tropes. There are teens in peril. “Ugly Americans” are where they should not be. A killer is on the loose.

Wander a little further along the road and you might find these tropes you spied are taking on new iterations, or are even being subverted.Continue Reading

KGB Bar hosting Cemetery Dance author Daniel Braum for livestream reading event!

Daniel Braum, whose debut novel The Serpent’s Shadow was released by Cemetery Dance in 2019, will be part of a live reading event from the KGB Bar beginning at 7 p.m. EST (6 p.m. CST) on Thursday, March 18.

The Serpent’s Shadow is set in Cancun in 1986. Mayans and Mexicans are fighting each other using strange powers they do not understand. A young American, alive with his first taste of star-crossed love, finds himself caught in the crossfire. Who is the mysterious and deadly White Lady murdering tourists? What strange, otherworldly things wait in the jungle? Will our young hero beware or heed Saint Death’s call?

Braum will be joined by Robert Levy, author of Anais Nin at the Grand Guignol.

Watch the event live on YouTube on March 18!