Cemetery Dance Publications

Cemetery Dance was first founded as a literary magazine by Richard Chizmar in 1988, during his final year of college at the University of Maryland's College of Journalism. Chizmar named the magazine after one of his short stories and wanted it to feature dark fiction akin to what he saw on The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. The first issue was published in December 1988; prior to its release the company publicized Cemetery Dance heavily in genre magazines and "practically anywhere else we could afford an ad". Chizmar originally intended for the magazine to release no more than twice a year, however in 1990 the decision was made to publish four issues a year. The company initially solicited authors through writers' organizations and publishers contacts; over time the magazine began to receive submissions from authors and literary agents. In their 14th issue the magazine would publish Stephen King's short story "Chattery Teeth", marking the start of the company's work with King.

In 1992 the book publishing wing of Cemetery Dance was launched; Chizmar has stated that both branches of the company were launched for roughly the same reason: that he "saw an opportunity to put some of my favorite authors in hardcover and the temptation was too much to resist." For the first few years of the book imprint's existence the company published about two to three hardcovers a year, which increased as the company's sales and experience grew. The first book published by Cemetery Dance was Prisoners & Other Stories by Ed Gorman and featured an afterword by Dean Koontz. In 2007 the company moved to their Forest Hill, Maryland location.