Michael Dempsey's Blog

[image error] Sincere thanks to all of you who participated in the NECROPOLIS Kindle Fire Giveaway!
We had over 6500 entries!

KINDLE FIRE GIVEAWAY WINNERS:

1ST PRIZE: Kindle Fire

James Broadley

2nd PRIZE: Kindle

Susan H.

Lily Sanders

3rd PRIZE: $40 Amazon gift card

Richard Thomas

Pamela Lines Moran Blome

Amy Wakins

Brett George

Winners will be contacted by email for mailing information.

Necropolis is published by Night Shade Books. Check out all their amazing titles.k out all their amazing titles.

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[image error]SciFiChick, who called NECROPOLIS "impossible to put down" in her recent review, had the opportunity to interview its author, Michael Dempsey.  Read the interview here and also enter for a chance to win a copy of the book and a signed copy of the amazing cover art by Erik Grist!

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The awesome Fantasy Book Critic site (http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com) was kind enough to let me do this guest blog:

 

Tropes are tricky ingredients to handle. Even master literary chefs sometimes have problems with them. We've all experienced a meal of fiction where the trope was tough, or left a bitter aftertaste, or just plain seemed inappropriate to the dish. So when I set out to write my sci-fi noir novel Necropolis, I knew I had to be very careful in my use of them.

read the blog

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[image error]Stefan Fergus of Civilian Reader recently interviewed me about the novel and about writing in general.  Read the interview and post a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book!  

"Night Shade Books have been publishing a slew of talented new authors this year, and it's been great to discover ever-more novelists to follow: NSB's authors often operate in the more esoteric reaches of the SF/F genre, and they have brought the reading public many great and original voices. Michael Dempsey, the author of Necropolis, is one of these newcomers, and given the intriguing plot of his novel (resurrected dead getting younger), I thought it would be a great time to ask him a few questions about his work, writing, and more."

read the interview

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[image error]Jessica Strider, a bookseller at the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto, Canada, grills me about NECROPOLIS and the writing life, as posted on her SCI-FI FAN LETTER blog:

In the past you've written TV episodes and plays, and are an award-winning stage actor and director.  What made you try your hand at writing novels?
Does having an acting background help with your writing?
Why do you think zombies/reanimated dead have such staying power?
What kinds of books do you read for fun?
If you could, would you change places with any of your characters?
What was the hardest scene for you to write?
When and where do you write?
What's the best/worst thing about writing?
What is something you didn't know about the publishing industry before you had your first book published?
Do you have any advice for hopeful authors?
Any tips against writers block?
How do you discipline yourself to write?
How many rejection letters did you get for your first novel or story?

read the interview

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[image error]EXCERPT:

Welcome to Booked!  a feature where we ask an author to share their favorite books with our readers. Today's guest is Michael Dempsey, author of Necropolis:

I'll admit it. I'm a closet lowbrow. I love pulp fiction. Growing up, when all the other kids were reading The Catcher In The Rye, I had my head buried in a Doc Savage novel or Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Edgar Rice Burroughs may not have been an artful prose stylist, but he sure as hell knew how to spin a yarn. Okay, so I've grown up now, and I appreciate works more "mature" than the kind of paperbacks you find on an airport book rack. But between you and me, I can't seem to kick my silly addiction for sci fi melodramas, especially those featuring idealized warrior heroes. While I adore Star Trek: The Next Generation for being smarter and more sophisticated than its progenitor, the kid in me still misses—just a little—Captain Kirk, sweaty and shirtless, kicking some alien ass.

read the whole blog

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[image error]Sci Fi Chick has this to say about NECROPOLIS:

"Fans of both [sci fi and crime] genres should enjoy this fantastic story with colorful characters. Fast-paced, with plenty of adventure and suspense, Necropolis was impossible to put down."

Read the whole review:

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Don't snort with derision, but when I wrote my novel Necropolis, I didn't know what genre it was. Not because I couldn't decide-because I wasn't even aware that the genre existed.

Growing up, I loved crime stories; film noir, with its darkness and desperation, its cynical detectives and seedy swindlers. Necropolis initially involved a premise that I thought was cool: a detective trying to solve the hardest mystery he ever could-his own murder. I had to bring him back from the dead somehow to accomplish that, and there were only two ways to do it-scientific or supernatural. Urban fantasy series are wildly popular these days, and I heartily enjoy them. But it seemed to me that bookstore shelves were already sufficiently populated with vampire and wizard detectives. (And don't kill me, but I was never much of a zombie guy.) So sci fi it was. And if, as Arthur C. Clarke said, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," perhaps I could have all the fun of supernatural-noir but in a science fiction setting! Blend femme-fatales with plasma pistols, hardboiled wisecracks with holograms. That seemed like it would be an absolute blast.

Read the entire blog on Sci Fi Signal!

 

 

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[image error]Necropolis is a wildly entertaining mish-mash of different elements: a dystopian, retro-futurist, noir whodunit with generous dashes of humor, horror, and romance. Hardboiled cops, reborn hookers, corporate intrigue, and an S&M club run by a revived Queenie St. Clair all feature in a plot that goes from weird to wild to full-on crazy in no time.Necropolis is a dark, wild and tremendously fun ride.

Read the review.

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"There are…numerous twists in NECROPOLIS that even those familiar with the detective and science fiction genres won't see coming. It keeps this story and its characters fresh and fascinating all the way through. So, if you want the best of both worlds when it comes to a science fiction mystery, Necropolis is going to be one of your best bets in a long while."

Read the review.

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