On a treelined suburban sidewalk, a man wearing a white mask and blue coveralls steps out from behind a hedge.
  • In the X-Files, Mulder and Scully sit in an office in conversation. In the background is a poster that shows a UFO thathas text that reads, "I want to believe."

    X-Files, S.4, E.21 by Daniel C. Remein

    The truth is out there in Daniel C. Remein’s dual ekphrastic notation: “it must have been loud when the screen was eaten” might take us to “the cause of symptoms is a sharp thing” or it might well lead us somewhere else. Read the poem.

  • Four chapbook covers featuring collages by Kayte Terry

    The 2024 Chapbook Series is now available!


    CDSOB’s first print chapbook series has arrived! Check out new collections from Juliet Cook, Christine Kanownik, Jonathan Minton, and Michael Sikkema! View the books.

  • A line drawing of a vintage projector

    Friday Feature


    Mini-reviews of horror movies, books, albums, and other cultural artifacts dropping every Friday.

    Now screening: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023)

Recent Work

In The Thing, MacReady stands with his hand held up in front of him. The other hand holds a gun as he leads a group of men to check on the dog kennel

Skull Brothers VS the Fog Monster
by Michael Sikkema

“There’s a reason there’s a skull in the baby stroller out front / OK but that motherfucker ain’t no harbinger.” Let’s all go to the sometimes room and respect the locals. Part Beckett play, part Night of the Living Dead, part paranoid Carpenter loop, total Michael Sikkema poem. Today we present “Skull Brothers VS the Fog Monster”💀💀🌫️👹

Published March 31, 2025

The cover of the book FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven, featuring a grainy image of a ferris wheel

Fantastic Life: Or, Disney’s Dream Debased by J †Johnson

Are you a Fairy or a Pirate is the wrong question, though we can’t help asking: Where were you when shit got real at FantasticLand?

Published March 24, 2025

In Bluebeard, a woman stands at a table with her hand resting at the temple of a decapitated head on a platter

Two Poems
by Marta Núñez Pouzols

While we await the arrival of the giant squid & watch for blue whiskers, we ruminate on a tale as old as the marriage plot, in two poems by Marta Núñez Pouzols.

Published March 24, 2025

In Deathgasm, Brodie sits in full metal gear and corpse paint on a park bench while eating ice cream next to a more traditional-looking pretty girl who stares at him lovingly

The Tar Pit, 88.5 Chicago, WHPK
by J †Johnson

It’s after the end of the world. Don’t you know that yet? Today we tune into DJ Livy Onalee‘s WHPK Chicago radio show & get our cosmic death metal fix.

Published March 21, 2025

A heavy metal inspired logo that reads, "Cul-de-sac of Blood"

Illustrations
by Chris O'Neal

Artist Chris O’Neal recently designed some new metal logos for Cul-de-sac of Blood. Today we present a selected gallery of Chris’ illustration work.

Published March 17, 2025

From the movie Inferno, a red light glows behind paned windows covered in sheer curtains.

Three Poems
by Rich Boucher

“You can hear a calliope in the distance somewhere but you know there’s no circus in town.” Today, we present two confessions & a bitter ending, all in the strange light of sometime past midnight & before a reasonable hour: three prose poems by Rich Boucher.

Published March 10, 2025

In the movie Pet Semetary, Church the cat stands on detritus in an overgrown pet cemetery

Goo
by Laura Shell

A pet cemetery, a cursed object, and a strange substance with a mind of its own. Laura Shell’s “Goo” has it all. Won’t you join us for a walk through the boneyard in today’s feature story?

Published March 3, 2025

In Nosferatu (1922), Ellen sits on a bench at the cemetery beach and looks toward the sea

Vampires
by Shira Dentz

Shira Dentz opens an iris on “Vampires” in our feature poem.

Published February 24, 2025