Benjamin Dempsey was born in Tasmania and grew up in the city of Tamworth, the country music capital of Australia. There his parents ran a small white goods store. After graduating high school he studied computer science at TAFE for a year before moving to Newcastle to attend University. He studied a bachelor of arts majoring in Creative Writing, while also taking classes on Psychology, Philosophy, Religion, Film Studies and Literature. When an opportunity to move to Sydney opened up, he took it with little hesitation and enrolled at the University of Sydney to continue his studies. However, financial reasons forced him to leave university before he could graduate. This did not deter him from finishing his first book, Draconian Symphony.
Benjamin is a ravenous consumer and creator of media, with a passion for speculative fiction. He primarily deals with themes of the occult, transhumanism, and mythology. Most days he runs on extra strength Ceylon tea, and he shares in the Australian appetite for alcohol. In his spare time, he also enjoys video games and the occasional rave.
Today Benjamin Dempsey is visiting us all the way from Sydney, Australia. He meets some interesting characters in the land from down under. Today he has brought one of them with him and would like to introduce him to us. Who do you have with you today, Benjamin?
I brought the main character from my debut novel, Draconian Symphony.
In Draconian Symphony, the Earth has been stagnating for a thousand years after the apocalypse failed to happen, and even the forces of Hell are losing their passion. Draco is a self-trained mage good for little else than starting fires and staying alive. After fending off an attack by the predatory demon Lascivus, he extracts from her a single debt, which he demands she repays by helping him track down his mother, a psychotic, abusive mage, so he can kill her. While he succeeds, it comes at a cost, and it is only thanks to the intervention of Lascivus that he avoids spending eternity trapped in a strange, featureless plane. He and the living-sword Drakkengard find themselves embroiled deeper and deeper in the Devil’s machinations. Gods, ambitious madmen, and beings from other worlds are all vying to take advantage of an unfulfilled prophecy and to end the millennia of stagnation at any cost.
That is why I have brought Draco to meet you today.
Well, we are very happy to meet you, sir.
So let’s start with the basics. Can you tell me your name?
Draco. Someone
started calling me this and I suppose it suits me fine. Maybe I did?
Where
are you from?
I
recall little of my earlier years, but by the time I was lucid I was living in
London, so that is as good an answer as any.
What’s
the most flattering thing anyone has ever said about you?
Lascivus
has called me delicious, delectable and even succulent but I’m not sure that
counts as flattery when she sincerely wants to suck out my life-force.
Describe your
ideal mate. OR What’s your idea of a good lover?
Love
and romance I try to keep as far away as possible. I’m sure they’re a
sensational experience but I wouldn’t trust myself to succeed atone. I suppose
someone indestructible would be pleasant.
What
is the pet name for the love of your life?
I
don’t know about love of my life, but I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for
Drakkengard. I don’t think I’ve ever given her a pet name though. I wonder if
she’d like one.
What
is your biggest fear?
To
lose control and be trapped in a prison of my own impulses. Getting caged up in
general is a close second.
Is
there anything you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t done? (and Why haven’t
you done it?)
I’ve always had a fondness for collecting things.
Managing a library or a museum might be nice, but I wouldn’t know where to
begin.
What’s
the worst thing you’ve ever done to someone? Why?
The less said the better. I’ve done a lot of
terrible things. I may have done them out of feral desperation, but that’s a
poor excuse.
Here
is the can of whip cream I promised you. What are you planning on doing with
it?
It’s going straight on some hot apple Danish that Drakkengard
cooked up. My appetite can be quite ravenous.
If
you had complete and total control over Lascivus, what would you have her do?
Stop ordering me around, stop looking at me as if I
am a banquet on legs, and actually tell me the story behind what Albania has to
do with how she always wears heels.
You
seem a little tense. Is something bothering you?
I’ve done yet another terrible thing, and now I am
the lapdog of a hungry demoness who’s
exploiting my labor and trying to con me
into selling my soul to Hell. Suffice to say, there’s lot on my plate.
Thank you for being here today, Draco. And thank you for bringing him with you,
Benjamin. Before you go, can you answer a question for your fans?
Sure. What would you like to know?
Where can we find out more about your
life? To keep up with the ongoing catastrophe I’m making of my life, peel your
eyes for
for all the latest updates.
No comments:
Post a Comment