cover image Every House Is Haunted

Every House Is Haunted

Ian Rogers. ChiZine (Diamond, dist.), $15.95 trade paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-927469-16-3

The reader must get some distance into this uneven fantasy collection before the selections distinguish themselves as more than interesting but underdeveloped ideas. In “The Rifts Between Us,” scientists exploring the boundary between life and death unwittingly open the door to an intruder from the afterlife. “Deleted Scenes” is a wry black comedy about actors whose job is to film scenes for the cutting-room floor and their fate at the hands of zealous movie geeks. In “The Cat,” a pet cat’s nightly deposit of animal corpses grows increasingly ambitious—and alarming to its owner. Many of the book’s stories end abruptly just as they are getting interesting, but a handful reveal Rogers to be an imaginative and original writer with the skill to fully execute his plots. (Nov.)