REVIEWS
SuperNOIRtural Tales
“Supernatural noir with a side of smartass.”
CheffoJeffo
(read the full review)
“Rogers strikes an excellent balance and delivers on both plot and character development. His “Black Lands” are a great concept and feel natural to the world, never forced into a story. Looking forward to Rogers taking Felix Renn on a novel-length adventure.”
HouseLeague Fiction
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“…the higher word count allows Rogers to really stretch his wings and fully develop his fictional world, and it’s the details of this alternate reality, along with the distinctive voice of Renn, that makes these tales something special.”
Twilight Ridge
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“Rogers plays with the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the extraordinary, illustrating how ordinary people can learn to cope with the introduction of the Weird into their everyday lives.”
Speculating Canada
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“Black-Eyed Kids”
“Good horror takes the familiar and makes it strange and embodies lingering fears, and this is certainly horror of the best kind. Rogers takes the image of innocence in our society, the child, and makes it something that evokes horror. He takes us into a realm of fear where even the most innocuous and normal thing can be an object of utter difference. And, he knows enough about fear to present his audience with the idea that sometimes people would rather die than live in continuing, ever-present fear. Fear of things is scary, but Fear itself is a terror that cannot be escaped from.”
Speculating Canada
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“Whoa Nelly, this one was a dark treat to read. The first two books certainly had their fair share of sinister vibes, but there was more–how do I put it?–rollickingness. No that’s not right. Maybe sardonic tone is what I mean. Felix is the kind of guy who will let his world-weary side shine through. This time around there isn’t a lot of room for that, because his life is in imminent danger even more than the last two times. The story is the most intense of the three with a threat that Felix comes to believe he can’t defeat. Everything plays out really well with an episodic quality I’ve come to expect and appreciate from Ian’s work.
“I think this would have to be Ian’s strongest effort yet of the three novellas published so far, which bodes well for future iterations, including a Felix Renn novel that’s apparently in the works. If you enjoy gritty urban fantasy, this should be right up your alley.”
Skull Salad Reviews
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“Rogers continues to engage and intrigue with his trademark cross-over of the supernatural mystery…. [his] writing has a cinematic quality that is fully immersive.”
Bloody Bookish
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“The Black-Eyed Kids… are relatable in form but utterly terrifying in action and motivation, not to mention extremely violent, all of which, I think, makes them really frightening. We also get to meet another weird and original creature from the Black Lands, the blackwood, a carnivorous, spider-like tree, which shows up in one of the novella’s best set pieces.”
Nicholas Kaufmann
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“Having read a lot, if not all, of Rogers’ work, I’d come to assume that I was going to mainly get style and content from this author. This novella proves that he’s not only capable of the above mentioned two things, but he’s also capable of setting you up for some truly intense scares. And good faith in the author, coupled with a vague sense of knowledge as to where the character is going, tells me that this is a trend that Rogers is going to set for the Black Lands novels. I’m stoked.”
Read the full review at DreadfulTales.com
“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 a creepy to the max.”
Read the full review at The Ginger Nuts of Horror
“My Body”
“…moving for the way in which it is told and the emotional acuity of the protagonist, the sadness and inevitability of all that takes place.”
Black Static
“Ian Rogers brings us My Body. This is a well-thought-out tale with some great twists. A private detective meets a little girl who takes him into a haunted house. It is now his job to try to figure out who is doing the haunting.”
Innsmouth Free Press
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“In “My Body” by Ian Rogers… I found the mystery of the story intriguing, and was in the dark about the reveal until nearly the end.”
Flames Rising
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“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.”
SFRevu
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“The Ash Angels”
“This novel is truly terrifying because it deals with the lack of control that comes with depression; the lack of agency and internal chaos that comes when one is submerged in one’s own shadows. These monsters, although external in the novel, are internal for many people and serve as a reminder of the lurking dangers within one’s own soul and the slight change that is needed to plunge a person into darkness.”
Speculating Canada
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“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 full review at Bloody Bookish
“…this is a much quieter tale than it’s predecessor, however it still has the same great dialogue, great writing and snarky humour of Temparary Monsters. It was good to see such a different style of tale, it shows that Rogers is no one trick pony.”
Read the full review at The Ginger Nuts of Horror
“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.”
Jeffrey Thomas
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“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.”
Simon Strantzas
“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
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“With The Ash Angels, the second Felix Renn tale, Ian Rogers again delivers on a fast-paced entertaining story that gleefully mashes up all-things-supernatural with his hardboiled PI. In this installment, Renn – who is unable to shake the icy touch of the Black Lands or the lingering feelings he has for his ex-wife – delves into darker and more personal territory, all of which gives The Ash Angels a true sense of unease.”
Paul Tremblay, author of In The Mean Time
“Wry and stylishly bizarre, Rogers hits the mark dead on with The Ash Angels. Hardcase investigator Felix Renn has entered the weird and wild urban fantasy front; I hope he’s on the job for years to come.”
Laird Barron, author of Occultation
“Rogers continues to demonstrate the skill with pacing that distinguished Renn’s previous outing, Temporary Monsters, and Renn’s voice is pitch-perfect, an evocation of the classic, hardboiled detective that skirts the edge of parody without ever falling into it. With The Ash Angels, however, Rogers takes Renn to new places, deepening the character’s emotional life in unexpected ways that demonstrate Rogers’ ambition and abilities as a writer. It’s that rare thing; a sequel that makes you eager for what comes next.”
John Langan, author of House of Windows
“Temporary Monsters”
“…brash, brilliant, and salivating.”
Lurid Lit
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“Rogers’ first book in the Felix Renn series is fundamentally about change and impermanence and that makes it an exciting beginning to a new set of books. There is nothing predictable and the reader, like the characters, are placed on uncertain, shaky ground and feel the need to read through the book to have some sense of permanence to grasp onto at the end.”
Speculating Canada
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“The world Ian has created here is surprisingly robust when barely using thirty pages to know only set the stage, but tell the whole story. The added twist of a drug that seems to temporarily morph users into monsters of choice is both macabre and original. There’s a good payoff at the end with enough of a teaser for future installments… Seeing Canada portrayed as something other than a snowbound land of overly polite syrup-suckers is always welcome, and Ian did a heckuva job layering grime all over Toronto. I’m looking forward to reading what else he has in store for the great white north and abroad.”
Gef Fox @ Skull Salad Reviews
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“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 full review at Bloody Bookish
“A fast paced story, where the action kicks of from the word go and never lets up.”
Read the full review at The Ginger Nuts of Horror
“…a good read for anyone who is eagerly awaiting Season 3 of ‘True Blood’, the next ‘Twilight’ movie, or if you can’t get enough of that TV show ‘The Vampire Diaries’
Read the full review at Lipstik.com
“TEMPORARY MONSTERS is a fun hybrid of P.I. noir, classic monsters, and some well done humor that doesn’t overshadow the action. Nifty ending, too.”
Read the full review at The Horror Fiction Review
“The power of Rogers’ wit and the imagery that he manages to pack into such a tight little bundle, is much larger and well honed than a chapbook can possibly fathom to contain. It’s a shame that the book wasn’t longer, that’s for sure, as Rogers only begins to touch upon something that begs to be fully fleshed out in a much longer format.
“The main character — Felix Renn — is among some of my favorite characters of all time. An anti-hero of sorts, Renn has unquestionable ability to hold his own as life slings crap at him from all directions, while delivering witty and sarcastic remarks pertaining to what is going on in the moment. His one liners are the stuff of a writers dreams, rarely ever achieved with such perfect timing and pinache. This is only one of the reasons why this story should be turned into a multi book series. Rogers has definitely created an incredibly memorable and interesting character with Renn. With an acerbic wit like that, I doubt anyone would be able to forget him any time soon.”
Paperback Horror
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“TEMPORARY MONSTERS revolves around Toronto’s motion picture business, and has plenty of mystery, action, and intriguing characters, with a nicely textured relationship between Renn and his estranged wife. This definitely feels like an introduction for Felix Renn, who deserves a much larger story in which to conduct his sleuthing and monster-fighting, but Ian has just such a project up his sleeve and I’d advise some publisher out there to pick it up. This could be a series with a lot of commercial potential. And the story in this chapbook might make a good movie, too.”
Jeffrey Thomas
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“I’m sure this one will earn Rogers more than a few comparisons to Jim Butcher — and those are apt — but Rogers’ work hits just as close to the good old P. I. stuff you’ll find in yellow-paged paperbacks. He’s got the rhythm and the wryness (“He tossed me across the restaurant like a lawn dart…”), plus dialogue and description that snaps. Most of all, Rogers has a hardluck character in Renn who’s a keeper. Here’s hoping the next step for this young writer will be a collection, because it looks to me like he’s got a bibliography that will fill up a table of contents page just fine.”
Norman Partridge
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“It’s always thrilling to make a discovery like this. Ian Rogers’ “Temporary Monsters” introduces what promises to be an engaging saga, seething with vampires, werewolves, hardboiled dames and – notably – a soulfully wise-cracking detective named Felix Renn. More exciting ideas, more action, more chills and laughs lurk within this slim volume than you’ll find in any ten fat tomes on the current best seller list. Grab a copy. You won’t want to miss a ride this wild.”
