Archive for March, 2011

Jeffrey Thomas reviews “The Ash Angels”

Last year, Jeffrey Thomas, creator of the excellent series of Punktown books, posted a review of “Temporary Monsters” that had me spinning for days. Well, Mr. Thomas has gone and done it again with an equally wonderful review of “The Ash Angels.” Here’s an excerpt:

As much as I enjoyed the first Renn outing, I think I enjoyed this one doubly so. Renn’s personality seemed even more to the fore this time, his voice more bitterly humorous… It’s Christmas eve in snowy Tornoto, and the chilly isolation of the human soul is felt throughout — not least of all by Renn, who mourns the breakdown of his marriage. For a brief novella, there’s a lot of shading to Renn — the humor, the regrets, the resourcefulness — and a well-formed character will make you want to hang out with him again.

Read the whole review at Jeffrey Thomas’s website.

Double-Booked Book Launches

My work hasn’t appeared in very many publications that have had actual book launches, so what were the odds I’d get double-booked for two such events? Pretty good, apparently.

BIFF BAM POP, the pop culture website where I’m currently writing a book review column, is publishing a graphic anthology called The Collected Biff Bam Boo, featuring two of my flash fiction pieces, “Wendy” and “Vogo,” with artwork by J.P. Fallavollita.

Meanwhile, EDGE Books is launching the all-Canadian horror anthology Chilling Tales, featuring a new Felix Renn story called “My Body.”

Both events take place this Saturday, March 19th. The Biff Bam Boo launch will be held at the Curzon restaurant (1192 Queen St East) from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Chilling Tales launch will be at Bakka Phoenix Books (84 Harbord St.) from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

My plan is to hit the Chilling Tales launch first and sign books for an hour or two, then zip over to the Curzon for the Biff Bam Boo launch. The latter is taking place at a restaurant, and even though the end time is slated for 7:30 p.m., I’m told that the event will go on as long as people are there.

So if you’re hankering for more Felix Renn and you want your book signed, I’d suggest you come to the Chilling Tales launch on time, as I won’t be there for the whole thing. And if your interests lie more toward horror comics, you should swing by the Curzon and pick up a copy of The Collected Biff Bam Boo.

Or hell, come to both and have a REALLY good time!

Chilling Tales now available… in Canada

The all-Canadian horror anthology, Chilling Tales, which features a new Felix Renn story called “My Body,” is now available from Amazon.ca.

Amazon.com and BN.com list an April 2011 release date, so U.S. readers may have to wait a bit longer for the book. Of course, if you’re really hankering for more Felix Renn, you might want to just go ahead and order it from Amazon.ca. I wouldn’t blame you if you did. The line-up for this book is pretty damn impressive. I count myself lucky to have my work appear alongside such talented authors.

In other Felix news, I learned the lesson of why it is usually a bad idea to talk about works-in-progress. About a week into the writing of the new Felix Renn chapbook, I came to the conclusion that the story was much bigger than I had originally envisioned. Suffice to say, Exhibition Loop will be written one day, not as a novelette but as a novel.

After a week or two of tossing around new ideas, I finally started on another story that will be the third Felix Renn chapbook. And no, I’m not going to tell you what it’s called. At least not until it’s finished. I learned my lesson.

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What are the Black Lands?

The Black Lands is a dimension filled with supernatural creatures that lies next to our own world. This alternate reality is the setting for a series of stories by Ian Rogers.

To find out more about the Black Lands, read the history.