Considered one of the world's leading specialty press publishers of horror and dark suspense, Cemetery Dance Publications was established in 1988 by Richard Chizmar. Then in his final year at the University of Maryland's College of Journalism, Chizmar had been a long-time fan of the genre and was looking to start up an underground-style publication featuring the type of dark fiction he personally favoured. The magazine which eventuated had its title taken from one of Chizmar's own published short stories, Cemetery Dance. Although his idea was to publish a modest bi-annual magazine, Chizmar nevertheless took on the project with a serious intent. As he recalls: "We did a lot of advance advertising and publicity, in magazines like Twilight Zone and The Horror Show, a lot of horror-related newsletters, and practically anywhere else we could afford an ad. And it really paid off; by the time the first issue was published [in December 1988), people knew exactly what Cemetery Dance was" ('About Cemetery Dance Publications' Cemetery Dance website).
Having a publication track record of more than 20 years, Cemetery Dance Publications has received press in such significant and influential media outlets as The New York Times, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus, Booklist Time, GQ, Fangoria, PerezHilton.com, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Miami Herald, The Boston Herald, The Independent (UK), The Guardian (UK), Reuters, and The Associated Press. The company's flagship magazine, Cemetery Dance, has won numerous major genre awards and increased both its subscriber circulation and advertising support. In 1992 Cemetery Dance Publications expanded into book publishing, releasing Prisoners and Other Stories by long-time Cemetery Dance author Ed Gorman. During the first few years the press published around two to three hard back titles a year but since the early 2000s has increased this to around 30 per year, including collectible Limited Editions. Among the best known authors to be published by Cemetery Dance are: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, William Peter Blatty, Justin Cronin, Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Joe R. Lansdale, Norman Partridge, Richard Laymon, Michael Slade, Graham Masterton, Douglas Clegg, Jack Ketchum, William F. Nolan, Nancy A. Collins, Al Sarrantonio and John Skipp. Another sideline for Cemetery Dance is Grave Tales, a line of comic books which feature the work of authors such as as Joe Hill, Ed Gorman and Ray Garton, and artists such as Chris Odgers, Glenn Chadbourne and William Renfro.
In 2002 the Cemetery Dance offices were relocated to Forest Hill, Maryland. Five years later it was forced to remodel its warehouse due to increased demand.
