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Hi there. I\u2019m Keith, or \u201cK. Edwin\u201d if you prefer. I\u2019m a middle school English teacher, a writer, and like any perfectly normal fan of horror these days, another random guy who is totally obsessed with <\/span>Cemetery Dance Magazine<\/span><\/i>. Ok, maybe I take it a bit further than most\u2026 I actually own every single copy (but that\u2019s a story for <\/span>another post<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Exhumed <\/span><\/i>is my humble attempt to read and review every short story and novel excerpt ever published by <\/span>CD<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>In their 35+ years of publication, there have been 577 pieces spread out over <\/span>79<\/span> issues featuring no less than 283 different authors. That\u2019s a lot of scares! But since each <\/span>Exhumed<\/span><\/i> post covers just 2 stories (one \u201cold\u201d and one \u201cnew\u201d), I think I\u2019m going to be doing this for a while. I sure hope you\u2019ll join me along the way. So grab your shovel and dig in. There\u2019s no telling what we\u2019ll unearth together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Useful Links<\/strong><\/p>\n The Goods<\/strong><\/p>\n Hello ag<\/span>ain, super fans! This installment of <\/span>Exhumed<\/span><\/i> will feature works by Ronald Kelly and Kaaron Warren, both of which deal with the question of \u201cundesirables.\u201d Kelly\u2019s tale features a narrator who is himself so undesirable that even <\/span>he<\/span><\/i> can\u2019t wait to die. Warren\u2019s is a far more subtle gaze into an entire society made of only those whom a former civilization deemed unworthy. But in both, the questions remaining are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What should be done with undesirables? Kelly\u2019s story, \u201cDiary,\u201d appears in <\/span>CD <\/span><\/i>#3 (1990).<\/span><\/p>\n Warren\u2019s piece, titled \u201cThe Left Behind,\u201d is from <\/span>CD <\/span><\/i>#69 (2013).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ok then.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s get to it\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n THE OLD: “DIARY”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n APPEARANCE<\/b>:<\/b> Cemetery Dance <\/span><\/i>#3: <\/span>Winter, 1990<\/span>. (Story #1 of 11).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A BRIEF PLOT SUMMARY (with spoilers!)<\/b>:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The story is written, not so surprisingly, in diary format. There are a total of 17 entries covering 3 different storylines\/ time frames and spread over the course of 5 months. The writer is a man named Jerry Weller. What follows is a summary of each entry in Jerry\u2019s diary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For reference, the <\/span>blue text = PRESENT DAY JERRY<\/b><\/span>, <\/b>the <\/span>orange text = PAST JERRY #1: THE LIFE OF JERRY<\/b><\/span>, & the<\/span> pink text = PAST JERRY #2: PARK RANGER JERRY<\/b><\/span>)<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MY GRADE<\/b>: C+<\/b><\/p>\n MY REVIEW<\/b>:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve neer been a fan of splatterpunk, and that\u2019s what this story is. The protagonist is a ruthless, heartless killer who finds joy in the suffering of others, and the majority of the story is a sequence of descriptive acts of gruesome violence. I am thoroughly disgusted by Jerry. There are no redeeming features in his character, and the only recompense the story offers is his rightfully-earned death penalty, though Jerry manages to ruin even that level of satisfaction by sharing his general glee at the prospect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I must give credit where credit is due, however, and as a tale in the horror genre, Ronald Kelly\u2019s \u201cDiary\u201d is definitely one that \u201chorrifies\u201d me. Thus it succeeds in its intended goal. I understand that this style of horror was more popular in the \u201880s & \u201890s — many of <\/span>CD<\/span>s early publications have the same tone — so I also can\u2019t fault Kelly for writing it. It\u2019s what was selling at the time. I also presume that modern readers such as myself have developed a greater sensitivity and aversion to splatterpunk. To be clear, there are certainly niches of splatterpunk lovers out there today, but you hardly ever hear of those stories being accepted by mainstream readers. I\u2019m sure that those who like this subgenre would have given this a higher score.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Interestingly enough, I can say that I\u2019m a fan of Mr. Kelly\u2019s other works right here in <\/span>Cemetery Dance<\/span><\/i>. I\u2019ve already reviewed \u201cForever Angels\u201d (<\/span>CD #1<\/span><\/i>) and \u201dBetter than Breadcrumbs\u201d (<\/span>CD #1<\/span><\/i>) and found them both thoroughly entertaining. I also reviewed \u201cPelingrad\u2019s Pit\u201d from <\/span>CD<\/span><\/i> #63, and while that one wasn\u2019t as good as the others, in my humble opinion, it was also a good tale. Sadly, \u201cDiary\u201d doesn\u2019t fulfill my reader\u2019s needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To that end, I feel compelled to observe and appreciate the complicated structure of Kelly\u2019s tale. In only 17 entries and a mere 1,500 words, he actually manages to tell not <\/span>one<\/span><\/i> story, but <\/span>three<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n > First there is the <\/span>PRESENT DAY JERRY<\/b><\/span>. That\u2019s the one writing the diary and confessing his crimes and sick mind. There are only 4 of these entries, and yet we easily see the full nature of the character. In the 1st entry, he confesses he has murdered people and is a psychopath. In the 2nd, we are privy to just how insane he is when he explains how he doesn\u2019t take his lawyers advice because he\u2019d wants to make sure he is given the death penalty. In the 3rd, he takes us another step further into his madness when telling how he disfigured a fellow prisoner. And in the 4th, we see the full extent of his psychosis when he expresses his joy at knowing he is going to fry in the electric chair. At first, we are given to understand that Jerry is a man who has merely come to understand his place in the world (a psychotic killer), but by the end we know he is much more than that: he is someone so profoundly diseased that his ultimate joy will come only from his own painful destruction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n > Next there is the <\/span>PAST JERRY #1: THE LIFE OF JERRY<\/b><\/span>. That\u2019s the one that tells Jerry\u2019s evolution through life, beginning with his witnessing a horrific crime as a child and progressing slowly but inevitably through various gruesome acts until he reached the full level of maliciousness we see of him in prison. There are 6 of these entries, and once again we see a full compliment of the budding psychopath. After witnessing his twin brother\u2019s murder by a couple of teenage junkies, he begins his murderous tendencies the way most serial killers do: by experimenting with animals. This time, it was his grandmother\u2019s canary that bore his wrath. Next he mutilates a girlfriend and receives what appears to be his first punishment — admission into a reform school. Next he is a soldier, allowed (nay, <\/span>encouraged<\/span><\/i>) by his commanding officer to engage in further acts of violence. Upon leaving the war, he is on his own and finds a fellow conspirator and together they film the murder of at least one young woman. Finally, the last entry (the one with the gas station attendant) explains how Jerry has progressed beyond mere murder and is interested in the degradation and humiliation of others <\/span>before<\/span><\/i> killing them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n > Finally there is the <\/span>PAST JERRY #2: PARK RANGER JERRY<\/b><\/span>, the worst of the lot and the one who slaughtered the family of peaceful campers. There are 7 of these entries, and while none of them are really very different than any of the others, they do represent a progression of immorality. The first victim was the father, arguably the hardest to kill and the least innocent of a given All-American Family. Next is the grandmother, the oldest and therefore the one who has already lived a full life, but also the first woman. Next to die was the mother, and Jerry ups the ante by using her bowels to decorate a makeshift Christmas tree. The children are presumably next, and once again Jerry takes his sadism to the next level by suggesting he is pulling their toes off one by one. Last and certainly not least is the most innocent of all, a baby. The fact that Jerry doesn\u2019t actively harm the baby should not be overlooked because, after all, he literally throws it away in a trash can and assumes it will be eaten by bears. And while we might think that the bears are not likely to eat an actual human child (especially one that is likely screaming out of hunger, pain, and fear), we also recognize that this infant may very likely suffer greatly and ultimately die anyway. To reveal the murders in this order is, of course, part of the horror of the story. Oh, and let\u2019s not overlook the fact that Jerry was wearing a stolen uniform. It\u2019s therefore a fair assumption that there is another victim: an unknown park ranger left somewhere in the campground whom Jerry never even bothers to discuss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Collectively, each of the three stories shows a different manner in which the psychopath named Jerry Weller moved swiftly and decisively from comparative normality to outright absurdity. <\/span>PRESENT DAY JERRY<\/b><\/span> goes from being a prisoner who knows and accepts his fate to one who relishes his own suffering. <\/span>THE LIFE OF JERRY<\/b><\/span> shows how Jerry advanced from harming to killing to finally causing the greatest suffering. <\/span>PARK RANGER JERRY<\/b><\/span> goes from a mere killer to a killer of a particularly sadistic nature. We can safely assume these events took place shortly before getting caught and incarcerated, since so much of his diary is dedicated to that one series of events\u2026 the kind of thing the authorities would be asking about the most. Overall, though, they\u2019re all just different versions and time periods of essentially the same tale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My personal aversion to the splatterpunk subgenre aside, I must respect Ronald Kelly\u2019s skills are nevertheless on full display in this tale. The story\u2019s structure (3 different stories from 3 different time periods) is complex enough to make us pay attention while remaining short enough to consume in the time it takes to drink a mere half cup of tea (true story), yet its actual content (murder, murder, and more murder) is so simple that it\u2019s extremely easy to consume and understand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I will continue to anticipate more of Mr. Kelly\u2019s stories in the future. And according to my very nerdy spreadsheet, I still have 4 more to go. I\u2019m looking forward to them.<\/span><\/p>\n THE NEW: “THE LEFT BEHIND”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n APPEARANCE<\/b>:<\/b> Cemetery Dance <\/span><\/i>\n
\n<\/b>What makes an undesirable?
\n<\/b>Who decides?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n![\"cover](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/cd3.webp?resize=300%2C384&ssl=1\")
AUTHOR<\/b>:<\/b> Ronald Kelly<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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AUTHOR<\/b>:<\/b> Kaaron Warren<\/span><\/p>\n