There have been a lot of reviews of the Felix Renn chapbooks popping up lately.

Mary Rajotte over at Bloody Bookish had this to say about “Temporary Monsters”:

“Right from the 1st line, “The waiter got killed before he could drop off the bill”, which is so stark, it immediately plunges you into the heart of the action, readers are thrown into a world where monsters are the norm and the Paranormal Intelligence Agency (PIA) and the paranormal itself acts as a dangling carrot that entices both readers and Renn alike.”

Read the rest of the review at Bloody Bookish.

And she had this to say about “The Ash Angels”:

“From the very start, Rogers conjures up a darker more melancholy universe for Renn. Set against the backdrop of Christmas Eve, The Ash Angels is a darker, grittier read that adds more depth to Renn and continues to peel back the layers of the story that readers will undoubtedly be intrigued with the same way I was.”

Read the rest of the review at Bloody Bookish.

Meanwhile, The Ginger Nuts of Horror covered all three Felix Renn chapbooks in a single review, which is a first for me, and includes the first review of “Black-Eyed Kids.” Here’s some excerpts from the review:

On “Temporary Monsters”:

“A fast paced story, where the action kicks of from the word go and never lets up.”

On “The Ash Angels”:

“…this is a much quieter tale than it’s predecessor, however it still has the same great dialogue, great writing and snarky humour of Temporary Monsters. It was good to see such a different style of tale, it shows that Rogers is no one trick pony.”

On “Black-Eyed Kids”:

“This is a brilliant example of noir horror, chilling, thrilling, full of excellent dialogue, and a great cast of characters. Rogers has excelled in creating a truly chilling adversary in the Black Eyed Kids, these kids are creepy to the max.”

Read the full review at The Ginger Nuts of Horror.

There are more reviews coming down the pipe, as well as some interviews and other cool announcements that I’ll be able to tell you about soon.

Until then, if you have yet to check out the world of the Black Lands, Burning Effigy Press is currently offering a sweet deal where you can get all three Felix Renn chapbooks for only $20.

I’d also like to take a moment to once again thank everyone for their continuing support. The interest in this series has been overwhelming (and the hunger for a Felix Renn novel is voracious). If I could spend my days writing Felix Renn/Black Lands books, I’d be one happy cat. I don’t know if that will ever happen, but I do know that every time someone buys one of my stories, I’m one step closer to achieving that dream. It means a lot. So thank you!

I came home from work today to find an unexpected surprise: a double-header review of “Temporary Monsters” and “The Ash Angels” by Nick Kaufmann, author of the Stoker-nominated General Slocum’s Gold, and the Shirley Jackson Award-nominated Chasing the Dragon.

Here’s my favourite part:

Temporary Monsters dwells in the gray area between horror and fantasy. It is essentially an urban fantasy, or what urban fantasy was for a short time before it became synonymous with tattooed female slayers and their supernatural bad-boy boyfriends.

You can read the rest of the review over at Nick’s blog.

In other news, I sent off the final edits on “Black-Eyed Kids” this morning, and I expect to have the final layout and the cover very soon!

The first reviews of Chilling Tales are in!

Rue Morgue magazine liked the book a great deal, and while only a few stories were singled out, “My Body” was one of them. (The review isn’t online. You’ll have to pick up the mag to read it.) The second review appeared on the SFRevu website, and even though the reviewer didn’t like the book as much as Rue Morgue, he seems to have enjoyed my story:

Among the good stories I will mention Barbara Roden’s “404”, a Kafkaesque tale of office horror where employees mysteriously disappear one at the time, and Ian Rogers’ “My Body”, a modern ghost story with an undercurrent of sadness.

Read the full review.

It’s also worth noting that Chilling Tales is now for sale in the U.S., with copies available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc., etc.

In other Black Lands-related news, I have a new Felix Renn short story making the rounds, and I just hit the 12,000-word mark on the new novelette. If I can maintain my current pace, I should have it finished within the next couple of weeks. And once it’s done, I start work on the first Felix Renn novel.

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.

Simon Strantzas, one of Canada’s premiere authors of weird fiction, has posted a review of “The Ash Angels”:

What can one say about “The Ash Angels”? The first sequel to “Temporary Monsters”, TAA take Rogers’s hero, Felix Renn, into quieter, more emotional territory. But don’t let that description fool you — Rogers’s dialogue is as sharp and funny as ever. He understands the rat-a-tat-tat language of the best noir, and uses it to explore the interpersonal relationships of his characters. The fact that “The Ash Angels” is a different beast from “Temporary Monsters”, and yet just as enjoyable, cements the proof that the Felix Renn character has a lot of life in him, and a lot of distance to travel. Which is good, as Rogers promises on his website many more adventures for the detective. That may be unlucky for Renn, but it’s oh so lucky for us.

It’s always great to get a good review, but it’s even better when the reviewer truly understands what the writer was setting out to accomplish. Mucho thanks, Simon!

The first review of “The Ash Angels” has come in, and it’s really freakin’ great. Here’s an excerpt:

“Rogers has taken his incredible main character — Felix Renn — and expanded the story, bringing a more emotional and descriptively dark side of his writing style out for all to see. The pace is fast, the writing tight, but most important of all (to me) — this piece is pitch black in humor and style.”

Paperback Horror
Read the full review

Thanks to Colum at Paperback Horror for the wonderful review. And I promise, that Felix Renn novel is coming. I’m currently in training — writer training, that is, which means I’m working on some Felix Renn short stories to gear myself up for the main event. In fact, I just finished one the other day, and I’m currently thinking about where I should submit it. Once I get another story or two finished, I’ll be ready to tackle the novel. Cue the Rocky music.