Ernest Dempsey Serves Up Traditions with a Twist in “THE BITING AGE”

This week I’m featuring Ernest Dempsey and his new book The Biting Age. We’ll be chatting about writing, his life in Pakistan and the virtual world. I’ll also be bringing you an excerpt from his book.

Here’s my review of Ernest Dempsey’s The Biting Age:

Ernest Dempsey’s mind dances on the pages of the Biting Age, his collection of 24 satiric short stories published by World Audience, a global consortium of artists and writers.

The Greeks and later the Romans launched a history of world satire that endured and evolved through the middle ages, the Elizabethan era, and on to the 21st Century. Dempsey is here to add to this tradition, with his own wry wriggle.

Dempsey’s satire is not out for blood; his bite and his bark are equal. Rather, Dempsey is in it for the wit of it. “Wit,” he feels “keeps life’s cup fresh with light cream floating on top.” Dempsey channels his well-honed wit in order to “revitalize one’s heart” more than to reform.

Throughout The Biting Age Ernest Dempsey’s mind is at play, serving up traditions with a twist—be it vampire tale, romance, science fiction, gothic, animal fables, updated myth, or extended joke. These tales are written for the sheer joy of intellectual exploration: setting up a premise and seeing where the idea might lead, much in the same way that Kafka or Borges does.

What I enjoyed most in reading The Biting Age is to trot along in the company of a mind getting to know itself and going wherever it needs to—into the reaches of the surreal if need be—to complete its investigations.