"Black-Eyed Kids"
"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."
Gef Fox @ 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
“Since first encountering Ian Rogers’s private investigator Felix Renn – and his run-ins with the mysterious Black Lands that lie bloody cheek-to-jowl with our own reality – I have been following each of his cases with avid interest. Now, in Black-Eyed Kids, Renn has met his most dangerous challenge yet. Truly, this is one of the most chilling horror stories I’ve read in years. Make that, that I’ve read period. By the time it’s done you’ll be looking over your shoulder for sweet little children with obsidian eyes. And more than that, you’ll be looking over your shoulder in the hopes of seeing the next Renn adventure sneaking up on you.”
– Jeffrey Thomas, author of Punktown
“With Black-Eyed Kids, Ian Rogers continues to raise the stake for his Felix Renn stories. … This time out, Renn finds himself confronted by a pair of sinister children whose power to evoke sheer, unbridled fear is just this side of irresistible. His efforts to understand their connection to a series of gruesome murders without winding up a (horribly mutilated) corpse, himself, form the backbone of this fast-moving, highly entertaining read. Renn’s encounters with supernatural monsters (especially a tree that’s every gardener’s worst nightmare) are as well-handled as ever, but it’s his interactions with monsters of the human variety that give this narrative its kick.”
– John Langan, author of Technicolor and Other Revelations
"Deadstock"
"A highly recommended read for fans of ghouls, zombies and old west supernatural tales and not as graphic as one would expect. Kudos for the writer."
Dana Bell @ Sonar4 Landing Dock Reviews
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"There are so many elements to this tale that make it worth reading, and even if you’re not a fan of Westerns or think you won’t like this, trust me - you will. Rogers is adept at painting a convincing terrain and he knows exactly how to suck a reader into an awesome story."
Darkeva @ Hellnotes
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"The novella captures the West with descriptive details of the desert, the small town, and the Groom ranch. The dialog also echoes what we have come to expect from western-speak without relying on clichés. Because the visage of the old west looms so large and accurate, the sci-fi and horror elements work within the framework to create a good counter-balance between the normal west and the weird west. Deadstock is a welcome addition to the Weird Western tradition. Dryden and Raisy can be placed with confidence alongside Joe R. Lansdale’s Jonah Hex, Ray Krank’s Ghost Rider, and Lon Williams’ Lee Winters. I look forward to further rides into the Weird West with Ian Rogers."
Anthony Servante @ The Black Glove
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“…it’s fast paced gripping tale, that will hook you on page one and keep it’s claws in you until you turn over the final page. Seriously folks Ian Rogers has a great talent for writing highly entertaining stories.”
Ginger Nuts of Horror
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"Proper setting and placement are absolutely essential to the well being of a well crafted Weird West novel. If these things aren’t handled properly, the author stands on the precipice of another genre altogether, namely Steampunk. Rogers handles this task brilliantly and expertly, keeping the realism directly steeped in a properly historical context, and limits himself to that time periods alone. Add the weight of a supernatural element and BAM! what you have in your grubby little hands is one of the best Weird West pieces you’ll ever read."
DreadfulTales.com
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"The Candle"
“The Candle” by Ian Rogers is a superb example of “quiet horror” lurking behind daily trivial events such as the bedtime conversation of an old couple and the simple act of getting up to check if a candle has been blown out.
"My Body"
“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 Bottle"
"Space Pirates, of all things, feature in ‘The Bottle’ by Ian Rogers which is refreshingly space operatic for these times. Given the cost of spaceships, the unlikelihood of crewing them with cutthroats liable to steal them and the vast distances over which they would need to operate, space piracy is quite a far-fetched idea. It’s not economically viable but it is fun. This yarn about a ‘magic’ bottle, a loyal robot and a vicious pirate captain is original and oddly sentimental. Loved it."
"The Ash Angels"
"...The writing is mature and as professional as anything being stacked on the "Bestsellers!" table at Chapters.
With The Ash Angels Ian Rogers did me a solid. He affirmed my observations from his first chapbook, that a new talent had entered the literary world. The story is told with the same confidence and maturity, assuring the reader that they are in competent hands."
Read the full review at The Man Eating Bookworm
"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"
“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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“If you are a fan of urban fantasy fare as delivered by Jim Butcher or Simon R. Green, you’ll be sure to love what Rogers has in store.”
The Man Eating Bookworm
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“A fast paced story, where the action kicks of from the word go and never lets up.”
The Ginger Nuts of Horror
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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.”
Bloody Bookish
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"...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."
"Camp Zombie"
"...a well structured narrative..."
"...darkly funny and unexpectedly poignant."
"Psong"
A psychic detective/hitman is able to detect the ‘Psong’ or inner history of inanimate objects in Ian Rogers’ moody tale. This special talent, like many, is both blessing and curse as he targets a high-profile hit. A second strand involves his recent break-up and the emotional consequences that particularly afflict him, leading to a swirl of action and introspection that made this more than just a tale of assassination.
“Psong” by Ian Rogers follows a psychic contract killer. He uses his power for his job and for other more important things. All in all, Rogers contributes a good story here.
"Leaves Brown"
And then I’m up to Ian Rogers, a writer I’ve not heard of before but which I’ll keep an eye open for more of. Minor quibble of shifting character viewpoints aside (and you could argue because of the protagonists’ “gifts” that this is not only acceptable but a valid contributory to the story) I enjoyed this very much indeed. His dialogue’s pretty much effortless and he gives us some appealing characters we’re happy to spend time with. The tale’s a postcard piece, really, but that doesn’t matter. Postcards can be enjoyable, don’t need great narrative leaps. Its got strength without pyrotechnics. I think we’re gonna see an awful lot more of this guy.
"The Kid Pool"
In “The Kid Pool” by Ian Rogers, The Kid’s grandmother describes herself as:
...third-generation trailer-trash and she had the trailer to prove it. I was raised in a doublewide Airstream by a doublewide mamma she’d say in the slow, tired delivery of one who has told the same joke so many times it has lost whatever humour it once had.
But her co-workers aren’t much above that, vicariously living the misery of others for entertainment. The cast of characters buys into the pool, like the masses who tune into reality television. There is no happily ever after, but it has a satisfying conclusion.
"Inheritor"
Of all the stories in this issue of Cemetery Dance, only Ian Rogers’s “Inheritor” made me stop and shiver. It is surely a sign of an effective horror story that, even when read on a crowded commuter train on a bright summer’s day, the final paragraphs can leave a reader dread cold.
Daniel Ramis is estranged from his family, so on the death of his father, he is surprised to discover that he has been left his childhood home, which Daniel had assumed sold years before. Dragged back there against his better judgment, Daniel also discovers that he has been left some unfinished family business.
Rogers does a very fine job of building a sense of anticipation and dread as Ian is drawn from his safe city life back to small town America and the long-abandoned farmhouse. The ending is handled with a compelling economy that allows for chills but no histrionics. It is clever writing and effective storytelling.
"Relaxed Best"
Any small press publication that reaches thirty-eight issues is to be commended. A ‘zine that, like Not One of Us, edited by John Benson, can do so while publishing a bunch of strong fantasy stories that either play with or defy genre conventions, deserves a much wider audience.
Take Ian Roger’s “Relaxed Best,” the darkest story on offer, combining as it does the tropes of hard-boiled detective fiction with elements of paganism and witchcraft to create a horror story shaded with a sense of menace and creeped-out paranoia. Private investigator Ryerson is hired by Veronica Marchand—known as the Blue Fairy for her skill in playing the stock market—to investigate husband Jonathan, whom she suspects of straying from the marital bed. The alias signals Veronica’s true nature, and explains her success in predicting stock prices. It also suggests that there’s more to this marriage than Ryerson anticipated, with the possibility of some kind of demonic pact being hinted at as the story strays down the kind of horror/crime hinterland explored in fiction as diverse as William Hjortsberg’s Falling Angel and Jay Russell’s Marty Burns stories. Like Hjortsberg’s Harry Angel, Ryerson is soon way out of his depth and discovers too late the meaning of the term “relaxed best” as he pays the price for Marchand’s broken contract.
"Charlotte's Frequency"
“Charlotte’s Frequency” by Ian Rogers has a science fiction slant. Morris, all set to enjoy his newly purchased big screen TV, instead discovers a modern-day Charlotte, a la Charlotte’s Web, feeding off something far worse than the crickets living around the water heater. Morris and his wife, Jude, both start to feel sick, weak, and dangerously vulnerable. Charlotte herself seems to be half organic and half electronic, spinning webs that feed off electricity and the people around her. This fable, however, doesn’t end with three happy children and their anthropomorphic porcine friend. On the cutting edge of today’s hi-tech world, stories like “Charlotte’s Frequency” will drag horror kicking and screaming into the new century.
"Horror Library Volume II is an excellent collection of short stories that can be enjoyed all at once or savored over many days. The pleasant surprise with the Horror Library is that in addition to stories covering familiar territory, as seen in John Rector’s "A Season of Sleep" and Kevin Donihe’s "Preacher Mike and the Black Cross Revelation ," there are also original ideas that result in enjoyable tales, such as "Charlotte’s Frequency," by Ian Rogers. The collection has no particular theme and the stories cover a wide variety of subjects. Although the stories in Horror Library Volume II vary in length and in theme, they are all strong, entertaining reads. Most are short enough that readers will find themselves easily starting another... then another... in fact, the book should come with the tagline "you can’t read just one."
"The Tattletail"
"The Tattletail" by Ian Rogers was a funny piece about a boy who summons a demon for elementary school show-and-tell. This, in itself, is not strange at all, for the boy solicits advice from his father as if he were doing no more than making a greenhouse to grow bean sprouts in styrofoam cups. Yet when we learn the demon takes on the form of whatever it eats, the story gets interesting, with a strong ending rounding everything out. This is a close second to "Acceptable Losses" and only loses out because of its humor element, oddly-placed for a magazine featuring dark fiction.
A positive review of the Dark Wisdom #9 in which "The Tattletail is listed as one of the "notable" stories.
