April | 2014 | Guy Portman's Blog

Necropolis Launch

Apr 24 2014

I am pleased to announce that Necropolis is now available from all regional Amazons in paperback and Kindle. Necropolis is a humorous work of dark fiction about a sociopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council.

Crime Fiction Lover (Britain’s largest and most prestigious crime Fiction review site) has awarded Necropolis 5 out of 5 stars. Click here to read the review (warning: contains some spoilers).

If you haven’t seen it already this is the blurb for Necropolis:

Dyson Devereux works in the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council. Dyson is intelligent, incisive and informed. He is also a sociopath. Dyson’s contempt for the bureaucracy and banality of his workplace provides ample refuge for his mordant wit. But the prevalence of Essex Cherubs adorning the headstones of Newton New Cemetery is starting to get on his nerves.

When an opportunity presents itself will Dyson seize his chance and find freedom, or is his destiny to be a life of toil in Burials and Cemeteries?

Brutal, bleak and darkly comical, Necropolis is a savage indictment of the politically correct, health and safety obsessed world in which we live.

‘Not only a funny, twisted, erudite satire on the psychopath genre, this novel also boasts a compelling plot and finely sculpted characters’

‘A black comedy of true distinction’

‘I was at once fascinated and disturbed by the devious Dyson Devereux with his malicious pedantry, wicked schemes and grotesque good taste. A barbed joy’

Amazon.co.uk – Paperback: £6.99 Kindle: £2.22

Amazon.com – Paperback: $10.52 Kindle: $3.73

I would like to take this opportunity to thank author, writing professional and friend Diane Mannion (@Dydywriter) for her expertise, encouragement and support. And thank you Adam (@Alayerdim) for all the erudite book reviews you have contributed to this blog, and for your assistance with my two books.

Necropolis Countdown

Apr 18 2014

There is only one ~~week~~ Day to go until the release of Necropolis ~~(Release Day: Thursday, April 24th)~~. Necropolis is a humorous work of dark Fiction about a sociopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council.

The following is an extract from Necropolis:

Monday 10:15 a.m. – Newton Community and Business Facility

So here I am at the quarterly cemeteries and funeral business professionals meeting. It is attended by the majority of those employed in the death business in Newton and the adjoining boroughs, both public and private sector – the good, the bad and the ugly. Other than our chosen profession there is something else that everyone in here has in common at this given time. That something is boredom, rapidly descending into apathy. To my left a Lithuanian gravedigger idly picks his nose. To my right a mortician plays Sonic on his iPhone. Next to him a bereavement councillor’s afro-styled head lulls to one side. In the row in front a morgue rat, his head resting against his shoulder, snores loudly, a stream of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth. A fellow morgue rat in the adjoining seat glances at the watch on his wrist and then utters an obscenity in some Eastern European language, an action he repeats every minute or so. That heavy set figure a few rows ahead, with spiky hair bent forward reading a book; that is Rebecca, the overseer of Boden.

At the front of the hall a thin, female, local Conservative councillor wearing glasses is giving a presentation about ‘team’, ‘teamwork’ and the Government’s plans to transfer power from Whitehall to local communities…

This is the blurb for Necropolis ~~(Release Date: April 24th)~~:

When an opportunity presents itself will Dyson seize his chance and find freedom, or is his destiny to be a life of toil in Burials and Cemeteries?

Brutal, bleak and darkly comical, Necropolis is a savage indictment of the politically correct, health and safety obsessed world in which we live.

‘Not only a funny, twisted, erudite satire on the psychopath genre, this novel also boasts a compelling plot and finely sculpted characters’

‘A black comedy of true distinction’

‘I was at once fascinated and disturbed by the devious Dyson Devereux with his malicious pedantry, wicked schemes and grotesque good taste. A barbed joy’

Satire in Literature

Apr 11 2014

Satire Definition: A literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn.

Satirical literature generally comments on current issues, particularly those of a political nature, but also economic, religious and symbolic. Although satire is more often than not amusing, it is designed to provoke a serious reaction. Many satires make use of humour, but not all comedies are satires.

My book, Necropolis ~~(Release Date: April 24th)~~ is a humorous work of dark Fiction about a sociopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council. Necropolis is a black comedy that utilises satirical methods such as humour, exaggeration, understatement, ridicule and mock seriousness to parody the sociopath/psychopath genre, as well as to comment on aspects of contemporary society, such as bureaucracy, political correctness and our attitudes towards death.

Historically significant satirical works include:

Candide by Voltaire – This humorous story ridicules optimism, a central component of Enlightenment philosophy, in addition to criticising organised religion.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift – So concerned was the publisher with being charged with treason for publishing Gulliver’s Travels that he tried to tone down the book’s political content, resulting in Swift finding a new publisher.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray – The amusing and verbose Thackeray adroitly presents a panoramic portrait of English society during this period.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain – Written shortly after the Civil War, this iconic work embraces satire to mock aspects of the modern world, particularly slavery.

Animal Farm by George Orwell – This serious satirical work can be viewed as an indictment of Stalinism. So effectively did the book achieve this that it was banned in the Soviet Union.

This is the blurb for Necropolis:

When an opportunity presents itself will Dyson seize his chance and find freedom, or is his destiny to be a life of toil in Burials and Cemeteries?

Brutal, bleak and darkly comical, Necropolis is a savage indictment of the politically correct, health and safety-obsessed world in which we live.

‘Not only a funny, twisted, erudite satire on the psychopath genre, this novel also boasts a compelling plot and finely sculpted characters’

‘A black comedy of true distinction’

‘I was at once fascinated and disturbed by the devious Dyson Devereux with his malicious pedantry, wicked schemes and grotesque good taste. A barbed joy’

Social Media Reflections

Apr 04 2014

With the forthcoming release of my second book, Necropolis (a humorous work of dark fiction ~~– Release Date: April 24th~~), I have found myself reflecting on my place in the ever-growing medium that is social media. This week’s blog post is dedicated to social media.

Anyone familiar with my Twitter Species blog posts will be aware that my interest in Twitter is now an obsession. I like to consider myself a member of the Amica Garrulus (Convivial Communicator) species. We are social Tweeters, who like to engage with all other Twitter species (with the exception of members of the Vexo Tertius & Molestus Confuse species), who we avoid like the plague.

Here are a few of my Twitter observations.

Engagement – This is crucial (if your Tweets are never part of a conversation you are merely talking to yourself – and we all know what the first sign of madness is don’t we).
Endorsement – It is imperative that other Twitter specimens (regardless of species, well, almost) endorse us. This validates our efforts.
Discernible Tweeting Call – To be heard above the relentless clamour of the Twittersphere, a distinctive/unique Tweeting call is a necessity.
Pictures – The good news is users can finally effectively upload pictures. The bad news is Twitter is seeing an influx of pictures of kitties (c.f. @EmrgencyKittens – for when you need a kitten to cheer you up).

With over 1.23 billion monthly active users, Facebook remains the behemoth of social media platforms. However all is not well in the home of countless millions of cute kitties. Facebook has started to resemble a police state in recent times, with the major change to its timeline update a little over a year ago, which resulted in less of one’s Likers getting to see one’s posts. Under the current draconian measures, Facebook seemingly arbitrarily decides what percentage of your Likers/Endorsers get to view your posts

Not all Likes are equal – Seeking random Likes is counter productive, unless your sole objective is to make your page appear popular. But as we all know appearances can be deceptive.
>200 Likes – If you have a page with >200 Likes it is not currently possible to change the name of that page. Instead you have to start a new page. This is something to consider when starting a page.

I had the >200 Like issue yesterday with my Charles Middleworth (my first book) page, and was forced to start a new page for my forthcoming book, Necropolis. My Necropolis page currently has no Likes, and is feeling lonely and isolated. Feel free to Like it and I might Like yours back, unless your page is full of pictures of kitties, in which case I won’t.

We are currently witnessing something akin to the mass migration from the countryside to the cities of yesteryear, as Facebook users increasingly disillusioned with the draconian measures, and/or influx of kitties on Facebook, seek a new home on Google+. Google+ is supposedly geared towards businesses and professionals, but as a cursory glance at my homepage reveals, there is a disturbing influx of kitties, in addition to pictures of home baked cookies; which leaves me wondering whether this is still the case.

Google Rank – There is considerable evidence to suggest that effective use of Google+ (SEO optimisation, +1s etc.) leads to preferential treatment on the Google search engine.
Innovation – As one can expect from the creators of the Google search engine, Google+ is constantly innovating and is quite complex. New users need to be prepared to spend considerable time becoming familiar with it.

goodreads is a haven for readers and writers alike to liaise in a kitty free environment (earlier this week I did receive a message from an author who has just written a book about his relationship with his three kitties, but that is the exception rather than the rule).

Giveaways – Are an effective way for authors in a congested marketplace to gain some exposure for their book/s. In January I had a giveaway for my first book Charles Middleworth, a humorous tale of the unexpected (entries: 800, added to to-read list: 294). I will be having another for Necropolis (starting soon).
Groups – Some of the groups provide a great way to meet readers and authors, as well as to share our universal love for books (not Romance & Christian Fiction in my case).

My second book, Necropolis ~~(April 24th)~~, is a humorous work of dark Fiction about a sociopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council.