The Best of Cemetery Dance (Volume 1) (Paperback)

by Various (Author), Richard Chizmar (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
When a high-school teacher had his class read Stephen King's "The Monkey" aloud, he made a horror fan out of Richard Chizmar. Some years later, Chizmar took the demise of The Horror Show as his cue to launch his own horror specialty magazine--Cemetery Dance, a quarterly full of "dark suspense" (exemplified by a creepy Richard Christian Matheson four-pager in which a guy talks an idiot into confessing to someone else's serial killings) as well as horror stories, which sells out its never-more-than 11,000-copy print run. This fat volume culls 60 stories from the magazine's first nine years and aims to win new subscribers to keep it going "for a long time to come," Chizmar says. With contributors constituting a who's who of horror (including King, natch, and, in an interview, Dean Koontz, too), it may be a roaring success in its aims. In any event, the book is a primer for learning what horror and dark suspense are all about. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Mammoth-sized roundup of the 60 best dark-fiction entries in the first 25 issues of Cemetery Dance magazine--a quarterly devoted to works of particularly dark horror, and one distinguished by the quality of its contents. Four of the stories have previously been reprinted in hardcover (including Stephen King's ``Chattery Teeth,'' one of his most amusing, and oddest, tales), though all the fiction first appeared in Cemetery Dance. The tastiest big-ticket item is an interview with Dean Koontz, done for this collection by Robert Morrish, in which Koontz reveals some secrets of his trade--such as deciding to junk Freudian determinism in favor of free will in his fiction--and admits to rewriting the embarrassingly atrocious Demon Seed (which was done in his 20s) for its latest softcover reprint. Morrish also interviews Chizmar about the birth of Cemetery Dance, first published in 1988, and about the problems encountered in bringing out an admittedly esoteric quarterly. As for the stories, standouts include two tales by Peter Crowther, ``Rustle'' (a dreamy doorway leads to some rustling, sibilant, never defined but very hungry ``things'') and ``Eater'' (a necrophage keeps his freezer well stocked with human parts). Also tops are Poppy Z. Brite's stylish ``A Taste of Blood and Altars'' (vampires on sultry spring nights in New Orleans, an excerpt from Brite's knockout first novel Lost Souls), and William F. Nolan's ``Fyodor's Law'' (Raskolnikov's truly extraordinary man, unbound by conventional moral standards, comes to Los Angeles as a wealthy photographer obsessed with pictures of dismembered bodies). The anthology, in fact, serves as a kind of introduction to, and overview of, the zestful and remarkably diverse field of horror fiction in America. For those who like to dance with the dead, well worth the price. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Roc Trade (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451458044
• ISBN-13: 978-0451458049
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,270,869 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic!, June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best of Cemetery Dance (Hardcover)

Even if half of the stories in here sucked (which they don't), you'd still be getting your money's worth because this book is just so damn big. It has more short stories than any anthology I've ever read, and most of them are excellent. There are a few minor quibbles (I would've liked to see Bentley Little's "The Washingtonians" reprinted here, for my money the best story ever printed in CD), but there are no dogs or losers. This is quite a collection. Bonuses include an unintentionally hilarious Dean Koontz interview and an interview with CD editor Richard Chizmar who, reading between the lines, tells of his falling out with half of his former contributors. Excellent!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1/2 of the Best Horror Anthology Ever, April 15, 2001

By	"ripperboy" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Reviewer: ripperboy from San Francisco, CA USA This is it, gang. BEST OF CEMETERY DANCE, when printed in hardcover, was the best anthology ever of short horror fiction, even outdoing DARK FORCES, DARK DESCENT, and even BEST OF WHISPERS and BEST OF SHADOWS. It's got everyone under the sun in horror. Unfortunately, it was such a big book that they had to split it into two volumes in paperback, of which this is the first. No matter -- both halves are absolutely essential, and nearly every story here is a winner. Reading this anthology is the best way to introduce yourself to the dozens of horror authors out there whom you're not currently reading.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Horror isn't your bag? Buy it to use as a doorstop!, August 23, 1998

By	James (Marietta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of Cemetery Dance (Hardcover)

That's right folks, this volume o' horror stories from the excellent fiction 'zine Cemetery Dance is MASSIVE. It looks like a bigger version of Gray's Anatomy except most of these stories describe human anatomy being desecrated and torn apart rather than diagrammed and put together. And the weight of this bad boy!!! Since I got this book it has become part of my nightly reading ritual and thankfully, I had it with me last night when I was startled by an intruder in the house. No problem. I simply hurled the mighty anthology at the shape advancing into the room and WHAMMO! Unfortunately, it was only my wife who was coming back from getting a drink of water and needless to say, she was unamused upon regaining consciousness. However, you can see how this book would come in handy if you were ever faced with a REAL burgler. Just bonk him on the head! Then, while waiting for the cops, have a seat on his chest while reading some of the greatest horror fiction money can buy!!! Kudos to Rich Chizmar!!!