I’m very happy to announce that my story, “The Candle,” which appeared in Michael Kelly’s excellent journal Shadows & Tall Trees, has been selected for inclusion in Imaginarium 2012, an anthology coming out next month from ChiZine Publications.

This is the first time one of my stories has been chosen to appear in a “year’s best” collection, and I’m pretty freaking excited about it. I was also informed that two of my Felix Renn stories, “My Body” (which originally appeared in the anthology Chilling Tales) and Black-Eyed Kids (a chapbook from Burning Effigy Press) both received honourable mentions in the book.

If you’re interested in checking out Imaginarium 2012 — where my story will appear alongside others by Kelley Armstrong, Cory Doctorow, Rio Youers, Gemma Files, and many more — the pre-order links are already up at ChiZine Publications.

I’ve been out of the loop the last couple of weeks. Wizard World Comic Con was great, our table was about ten feet away from Amy Acker’s, I met a lot of really nice people, sold a bunch of books, was even interviewed a couple of times. Unfortunately, during all of my glad-handing, I picked up an extremely unpleasant flu virus that hit me with five days of fever. Even now, a week later, I’m on the mend but still very weak.

It’s taken me a little while but I’m finally starting to catch up on things. Pictures from Comic Con are now available on my Facebook page. One of the two interviews I gave is now online, over at Press +1. The two best things about this con: seeing people come up to the table and pointing at one of the Felix Renn chapbooks and saying, “I already have that one!” And a couple of people who bought chapbooks coming back to the table later in the day to say they already started reading them and couldn’t put them down.

I found out that my Felix Renn story, “My Body,” and another short story, “The Candle” (that appeared in Shadows & Tall Trees), received honourable mentions in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4.

I also came upon a review of the three Felix Renn chapbooks by Robert Morrish. Here’s an excerpt:

“…I’m usually not a fan of horror/comedy mash-ups. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I do enjoy horror-comedy when it’s done well, but more often than not I find attempts to combine the two genres fall flat. So when I say that I really enjoyed Ian Rogers’ three darkly humorous Felix Renn novelettes, understand that I’m a tough critic when it comes to these types of tales.”

Read the full review.

In other news, I have seen the almost-final draft of the cover artwork for my forthcoming ChiZine collection, Every House Is Haunted, and it is absolutely fantastic. Ever since my book was accepted, I’ve been imagining what my cover was going to look like, because the CZP covers are always so incredible. Artist Erik Mohr didn’t disappoint, and I think you’re really going to dig his take on haunted houses. I should be able to post it here in the next day or two, and the pre-order info for the limited edition hardcover should be online around the same time.

A new Felix Renn story, “Out of the Blue,” has been sold to an anthology called Fungi, edited by by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Orrin Grey, to be published by Innsmouth Free Press later this fall.

I remember meeting Orrin Grey a few years ago at Readercon, and he told me about his fungus fascination. It was one of the first things he told me, in fact, and I recall smiling, nodding, and backing away slowly. Then he explained that he was interested in fungus-related stories (Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night,” Lovecraft’s Fungi from Yuggoth, Jeff VanderMeer’s Ambergis books) and that it was his hope to one day put together a collection of them for a themed anthology. Well, it finally happened, and I’m very happy to be a part of it.

I’m particularly excited about “Out of the Blue” because it introduces a new character to the Black Lands universe. Jerry Baldwin is a smooth-talking real estate agent (and Felix’s sometime lawyer) who only represents haunted properties. Haunted houses, haunted apartments, haunted condos, haunted farms, etc. In addition to providing a bit of comic relief, Jerry is an example of the way ordinary people have adapted to live in a world where the supernatural exists as a part of their daily lives. In Jerry’s case, he tries to make a few bucks out of the situation.

Fungi will be published in hardcover, paperback, and as an e-book. The hardcover will feature some bonus material not included in the other editions. Very excited about this one!

I’m very excited to announce the sale of the very first standalone Black Lands story, “Day Pass.”

When I say standalone, I mean that while this story takes place in the Black Lands universe, it does not feature Toronto p.i. Felix Renn. I love writing about Felix, and I plan to do so for many years to come, but you only get a small view of the world through the eyes of a single character. This new story is one of many that explores how other people in other parts of the world are dealing with the existence of the Black Lands.

“Day Pass” will appeared in the EDGE books anthology Chilling Tales 2, edited by Michael Kelly. The book isn’t scheduled to come out until February 2013, but I’ve got a couple of other announcements coming up for some things that you’ll be able to get your mitts on a bit sooner. Details to come.

I just heard that “Black-Eyed Kids” is going into a second printing!

Thanks to everyone who helped sell out the first printing, and in just a little less than two months’ time. Nice!

I’m very excited to announce that a new Felix Renn story, “Midnight Blonde,” has been accepted for an upcoming issue of Supernatural Tales.

I feel this story in particular truly represents what I’ve been trying to do with this series, mixing detective noir with supernatural menace. I think readers will really dig this one.

BLACK-EYED KIDS

Yes, folks, it’s finally done. I completed the final draft last night and sent it off to my publisher this morning.

At 24,000 words, this one is probably closer to a novella than a novelette, but it will still be the longest Felix Renn story published to date. To give you an idea of just how long it is, “Temporary Monsters” and “The Ash Angels” both clocked in at about 12,000 words a piece.

I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot of “Black-Eyed Kids,” but I will say that it combines the hard-boiled action of “Temporary Monsters” with the supernatural suspense of “The Ash Angels.”

While it was always my intention this time around to write a longer story, the truth is I didn’t have much of a choice. These days the Felix stories I’m working on don’t want to be short, they want to be long. Sometimes very long. I suspect this is my unconscious mind’s way of preparing me for a Felix Renn novel. At least I hope that’s the case, because my next project is… yes, the first Felix Renn novel.

It’s been a long time coming, but I feel I’m finally ready. The story is already outlined, so if I bust my ass and keep distractions to a minimum, I should have a first draft finished by the fall.

Until then, “Black-Eyed Kids” should keep all you Black Landers sated. It will be out in September from Burning Effigy Press.

It’s been a couple of weeks since my big announcement, and while the glow of excitement still hasn’t worn off, people have been asking me what happens next.

I may have sold my first book, but what about that science-fiction comedy novel I wrote (and Tweeted about) last year? What about this Weird Western novelette people have been talking about on Facebook? And, most importantly, what about Felix freaking Renn?

The Short Story Collection

First, because it’s the question I’m asked most of all, the collection is still untitled. Even though the book won’t be out until late 2012 at the earliest, the publishers and I are already discussing what we should call the thing. Mostly because I don’t want to spend the next year-plus referring to the book as “the untitled short story collection.”

Honestly, I thought this would be the easy past. But I think the surprise of ChiZine accepting the book, and the manner in which they told me, have resulted in my being at a bit of a loss as to what to call the damn thing. Do I take the easy way out and go with the title of one of the stories in the book? The Dark and the Young? Deleted Scenes? The Rifts Between Us? They’re not bad, but I also like the idea of coming up with a completely original title.

So at this point, I’m not sure when the book will have a title, but I promise, once I know, you’ll know.

The Weird Western

It’s called “Deadstock” and it’s coming out from a new Canadian publisher called Stonebunny Press. The people behind Stonebunny are Melanie and Todd Fischer, who, through their earlier company Imelod Publications, published authors like Jeffrey Thomas and Wilum H. Pugmire. So I’m in very good hands there.

I don’t want to say much more since I’m planning a big announcement once “Deadstock” hits stores in the next few weeks. Suffice to say, I’m very excited about this one.

The Felix

Those who follow my Twitter feed and Facebook page already know that I recently finished writing the third Felix Renn chapbook. I’m currently in the rewrite phase, but I expect to fire off the final draft to my publisher within the next couple of weeks.

Once that’s done, all of my time will be devoted to the first Felix Renn novel. Finally!

And, while all of this has been going on, I’ve been querying agents. I’ve had a couple of bites, but nothing definite yet. On the plus side, the few rejections I’ve received have said basically the same thing: you’re a talented writer, I’m just not the right agent for you.

This is the problem when you write across so many different genres: finding an agent who will represent everything. But I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Either I’ll find someone and we click, or I’ll just going ahead on m own. I’ve already achieved one of my major career goals, that of selling my first book, and I figure if I can do it once, then I can do it again. And again. And again.