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I'm not a big fan of over-the-top fiction anymore. I used to like it more than I do now, but as I've grown older I also have grown weary of it. Too many are trying to outdo each other in mindless atrocities. But this is Cemetery Dance, and I like nearly everything they do. Tales Too Extreme For Cemetery Dance is no exception.

This chap leads of with Ray Garton's Active Member. It's a brief story, but Ray gets his readers into the mind of a sick killer. A sexual predator who suffers almost as much as his victims do. As always Ray delivers a great piece of fiction. This time he manages to be extreme as well as subtle. You'll have to read it to see what I mean.

Next up is JA Konrath's The Trailer Sucks, which seems to be in the vein of Edward Lee's redneck grossout fiction. The Trailer Sucks is goofy and fun, but it didn't read the delirious heights (or depths, depending on one's perspective) that Lee explores. It's a breezy, enjoyable story nonetheless.

Speaking of The Master, the next story is by the undisputed master of hardcore grossout horror, Edward Lee. The Characters isn't as brutal as stories like The Stick Woman or Ever Nat (Thank God), but it's prime Lee. He has some self-deprecating fun with The Characters. In it, stereotypical characters from his own fiction take on lives of their own, and they are not happy about the situations he puts them through in his stories. Geez, can you blame them?

Eric the Pie is probably the best story in this little collection. I always felt that Graham Masterton was more successful in the short form than at novel-length fiction, and Eric the Pie is further evidence of that. In it, a young boy is told by his mother that he is what he eats. The unbalanced lad takes this innocent saying far too literally. This is a grisly, horrifying piece of fiction, but Masterton's considerable gift at writing makes it a rewarding reading experience.

Finally we have The Propeller-Boy, by Robert Steven Rhine. This story, which deals with a rather unlikely accident, features plenty of foreshadowing and a lot of pitch black humor. Propeller-Boy is a nicely-told story of dread and horror. I hadn't read much by Rhine prior to this piece, but I'll be looking for his work in the future.

I love multi-author chapbooks. It's so cool to open such a handsome little book and see the list of author signatures in it. And this really is a great-looking edition. The amazing Keith Minnion did a wonderful job designing it.

Tales Too Extreme For Cemetery Dance is still available at this writing, but if you sick fucks want one at a reasonable price, you need to act fast.

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