The Best of Cemetery Dance Volume 2

The Best of Cemetery Dance #2

by Richard Chizmar (Editor), Dean Koontz, Joe R. Lansdale

"Cemetery Dance is one of the best. Great stuff." --Stephen King This amazing collection gathers the best short fiction from the best writers featured in the first 25 issues of the World Fantasy Award-winning magainze Cemetery Dance--a virtual who's who of contemporary masters of horror, including:

* Poppy Z. Brite
* Joe R. Landsdale
* William F. Nolan
* Nancy Collins
* Matthew Costello
* Thomas Tessier
* Richard Layman
* Steve Rasnic Tem
* Jay R. Bonansinga
* Bill Pronzini
and many more

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

383 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Richard Chizmar is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author.

He is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the bestselling novella, Gwendy’s Button Box and the founder/publisher of Cemetery Dance magazine and the Cemetery Dance Publications book imprint. He has edited more than 35 anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including multiple editions of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award.

Chizmar (in collaboration with Johnathon Schaech) has also written screenplays and teleplays for United Artists, Sony Screen Gems, Lions Gate, Showtime, NBC, and many other companies. He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little.

Chizmar is also the creator/writer of the online website, Stephen King Revisited. His fourth short story collection, The Long Way Home, was published in 2019. With Brian Freeman, Chizmar is co-editor of the acclaimed Dark Screams horror anthology series published by Random House imprint, Hydra.

His latest book, The Girl on the Porch, was released in hardcover by Subterranean Press, and Widow’s Point, a chilling novella about a haunted lighthouse written with his son, Billy Chizmar, was recently adapted into a feature film.

Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection started out so weak that I thought I’d have to give it up. I persisted and was rewarded with the last 11 stories in the collection averaging a 4 rating. If they had all been like these last 11, this collection would have been epic.
1. Eater - 2/5
2. Tyrannosaurus - 1/5
3. Vacation - 3.5/5
4. A Taste of Blood and Altars - 1/5
5. Mr. God - 3/5
6. Drive-in Date - 2.5/5
7. Desert Pickup - 3/5
8. Fyodor’s Law - 3.5/5
9. Five to Get Ready, Two to Go - 3.5/5
10. Secrets - 3.5/5
11. With the Wound Still Wet - 2/5
12. Plainclothes - 2/5
13. The Pattern - 2/5
14. Seesaw - 1/5
15. Trial By Fire - 2.5/5
16. Almost Never - 3/5
17. Bloodline - 2/5
18. Four-In-Hand - 3/5
19. The Cutty Black Sow - 4/5 (Irish ritual)
20. The Liar’s Mouth - 4/5 (Sanity is a cozy lie)
21. Shattered Silver - 4/5 (Unsettling, well-developed serial killer tale)
22. YSEX - 4/5 (Sex therapy of the future?)
23. Mongrel - 2/5
24. The Winds Within - 4/5 (Those cold winter winds are a real killer)
25. Crying Wolf - 3.5/5
26. Animal Rites - 5/5 (Dread in slo-mo)
27. Easy’s Last Stand - 3/5
28. A Christmas Story - 3.5/5
29. Comes the Night Wind... - 4/5 (It was like “IT”)

[Jeannie Sloan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book.One thing I do have to say is if you are into serial killers/sociopaths then this is the book for you.Something changed quite a while ago and it seems like this book is reflecting it.We stopped seeing supernatural stories and now we see way too much the psychopaths and all the horrible things that they do to people.I don't know why this is.I find stories about psychopaths boring.They seem like the lazy man's/woman's authors specialty now.I see enough of these people at work.I don't want to read about them.It also seems like anything goes with these creeps.The more horrific the better.I guess if you like this sort of thing you will like the book much more than I did.It does have some good writing in it.It's just that the stories start blending together when you are half way through the book.I can't really remember any of the stories well and I just finished it yesterday.That says something,I think.

[Kas · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you like anthologies where it seems like every single story is written by the same person writing about the same exact things....this is a book for you

[Not Now...Mommy's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I immediately ordered Volume 1 after reading the first four stories in this collection. The stories were great and gave me the chills I look for when reading books of this nature. A few of my favorites include:

- "Eaters"
- "Vacation"
- "Mr. God"
- "Drive-in Date"
- "Easy's Last Stand"
....Oh, who am I kidding? I loved them all!!! Pick this one up!!!

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of mostly serial killer theme which is why it was rated a bit low as it is not my kind of genre to read. There was some stories that was more of my taste. I understand that the first volume was supernatural theme. I still enjoyed this as bite pieces, if this was a novel i would have put it away long tine ago. Good subway ride time killer or waiting for something reading material.

[Aaron Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last 29 stories and an interview from the hardback, "The Best of Cemetery Dance, Vol. 1".
Most of the stories are very good, but a couple of them really stood out.
My favorite story from this collection is The Liar's Mouth by Darrell Schweitzer.

[Jeffrey W Brigham · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were some real gems in here. Some stories I will always remember.

[J.A. Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of chilling short stories. The selected works offered a variety in levels of tension, subject matter and types of fears. My only complaint is I wished some of the character names had been changed - there is a clump of stories with "Jack" as the main character, and the repetitive use of the name became distracting.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of short horror fiction.

[Kyle F]

A