Michael Dempsey Interview and Giveaway

SciFiChick.com recently had the opportunity to interview Michael Dempsey, author of debut novel Necropolis, from Night Shade Books.

Can you tell us a bit about Necropolis in your own words?

NECROPOLIS is a sci fi noir crime novel set in a dystopian future. The protagonist, Paul Donner, is a Brooklyn police detective. In the opening pages of the novel, Donner and his wife are shot to death in a bodega, apparently as they stumble upon a robbery in progress. But Donner’s death is only the beginning of the story. Fifty later, Donner is brought back to life by an event called the Shift—a process that reanimates dead DNA. The process is believed to be caused by a retrovirus. The world has managed to contain the infectious “reborns”—and also the normal people who may be carriers—to the plague’s ground zero in New York City, and is in the final stages of completing the quarantine by way of a series of magnetic geodesic domes called the Blister.

This new “reborn” underclass is not only alive again, they’re growing younger. Society has partially coped with this psychologically devastating event by retreating into a cultural fad of nostalgia. So in Necropolis, clocks run backwards, technology is hidden behind a noir facade, and you can see Elvis every night at Radio City Music Hall. Donner is not at all sure that he want to remain adrift and alone in this bizarre retro-futurist world of maglev Studebakers and plasma tommy guns. But consumed by guilt and rage, he begins a search for those responsible for the destruction of his life—his only goal to solve the mystery of his own murder. As he pursues this quest for retribution, it becomes apparent that the events of his own murder are intimately connected to the origins of the Shift, and ultimately they will bring him up against those who would use it to control a terrified nation.

Your reanimated characters are not really zombie-like, since they seem to keep their personalities and don’t crave brains. What was your thought process behind these characters and the science behind it?

I really never thought of reborns as zombies. Of course, as I was writing the book, zombies hadn’t become popular again (nor had the whole urban fantasy trend really taken off yet). It wasn’t until I sold the book that the comparison started to be made. I love zombies and other creatures of the night, but (don’t kill me) I was never much of zombie fan.

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Jennifer Estep Guest Post and Giveaway!

Greetings and salutations! First of all, I want to say thanks to Angela for having me on the blog again today. Thanks so much, Angela!

So today Angela asked me to write about elementals and why I decided to feature them in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. The series focuses on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.

So elementals are a big part of the magic and world building in the books. In addition to the four main elements listed above, some folks are also gifted in offshoots of those elements, like water is an offshoot of Ice and electricity is one of Air.

So why did I decide to focus on elementals? I just thought they would be cool to write about and that I could use some interesting magic/powers for Gin, my villains, and the secondary characters. For example, Gin can make shapes with her Ice magic, like cubes, knives, and more, while her Stone power lets her make her own skin as hard as marble so that nothing can hurt her.

Jo-Jo Deveraux, another character in the series, has Air magic, which she uses to heal Gin and others. Sophia, Jo-Jo’s sister, has Air magic as well, but Sophia uses it to sandblast away blood and more. And of course, Gin’s nemesis, Mab Monroe, has deadly Fire magic that she uses to burn people to a crisp.

One of my favorite things as a writer is thinking about my villains, the powers they have, and how my heroine can use her own magic and wits to defeat them. I’ve had a lot of fun coming up with the various villains in the series and seeing how Gin manages to overcome them in the end.

But there are more than just elemental bad guys in the books. Gin has also tangled with giants and dwarves, both of whom are incredibly strong. As far as vampires go, they can have elemental magic as well, and they can also absorb powers/abilities from the blood that they drink. So a vampire who drinks a giant’s blood could be as strong as that giant is.

I thought that having four main elements as well as a mix of people with other powers/abilities would give me plenty of different bad guys and magic for Gin to battle.

So there you have it – a little bit about the elementals and the other creatures in my books.

What about you guys? What magic, powers, or creatures do you like reading about? What are some of your favorite fantasy books and characters?

USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep writes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. Books in the series are Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, and Tangled Threads. Spider’s Revenge, the fifth book in the series, was released on Sept. 27.

Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series for Kensington. Touch of Frost, the first book in the series, was released in August. First Frost, a prequel e-story to the series, is available as a 99-cent download. Kiss of Frost, the second book, will be released Nov. 29.

For more information, excerpts, and more, visit Jennifer’s website at www.jenniferestep.com.

Jennifer was also kind enough to offer a copy of her latest Spider’s Revenge for one (1) lucky winner!

Contest is open to US residents only. To enter, just fill out the form below. Contest ends October 21. I’ll draw a name on October 22, and notify winner via email.

Good luck!

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Q&A: Emily Rose talks Haven


Emily Rose stars in Haven which airs Friday nights on Syfy.

What do you enjoy most about working on Haven?

Emily Rose: I think for me this year I enjoy the depth of where we go with the relationships of the characters. I don’t get my, what’s the word, creative energy or batteries are recharging from the sort of trouble of the week thing. That to me is kind of what keeps people – well, it’s kind of like the laundry line on which everything else hangs.

For me, what’s enjoyable is the mythology and the characters and the deeper mystery behind this town and so when we get to do really like – when we get to scenes to me that have a subtext and we’re not having to explain things exactly on the nose or that involve relationships and history and what’s not being said, that to me is my favorite part of working on Haven.

Thank goodness I get along with my cast mates and enjoy the people and think that the place is beautiful. So I enjoy all those things but to me the real reward is working really hard on a scene with the director in the limited time that we have and then watching it really effect people and then watching the fan videos later.

How do you think your character has evolved this season from the last and where do you think that it’s going?

Emily Rose: I think last season was really about why should I stay in Haven and what’s my connection to the place and why have I been brought here and this season’s been more about who am I. Sometimes I get side barred because we have to focus in on the trouble of the week and it’s always a challenge to try to portray the duality of that but you know anytime that I can find Audrey being effected by the trouble in a personal way then that’s sort of my way in.

And what I think this year is different for her is there’s a bit more of a comfort. Last year she was circling all of her other characters to kind of get an idea of who they are and this year she’s at home with them and is circling them and is thrown off by them when there might be a situation that occurs that she’s not really familiar that they would handle it in a certain way or you know what she knows about Nathan and he reacts in a way she’s not expecting, things like that.

That to me is the different side of it and just what’s exciting about being able to stick with the series and I’m so excited that our ratings are holding strong every week and that we have an audience that’s returning and coming back because they’re getting to know the characters just as well and maybe will have the same reactions as Audrey does when those different situations come about.

Without revealing any spoilers, are we going to find out why Audrey is immune to some of the forces in Haven?

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