Poems:
“Newspaper Drumsticks,” Book Merah, August 2021.
Hard-edged yet restless and heartfelt; laconic poems roughly hewn from behind prison walls.
– Cyril Wong, author of Infinity Diary
“Unique & Refreshing Poems by Tyler Dempsey,” NewPagesBlog, by C.L. Butler, April, 2020.
Tyler reading the two poems reviewed in Butler’s essay.
Video interview about Newspaper Drumsticks, writing, writing influences, story collection Time As A Sort Of Enemy, and Alaska.
Stories:
“Time as a Sort of Enemy,” Gob Pile Press, Summer 2022.
Referencing Green Day like Dempsey himself, this book is a walking contradiction in the best way: spare but full, clever but approachable, playful but emotionally resonant. Time as a Sort of Enemy will linger in your consciousness longer than any concept of time you might have. – Claire Hopple, it’s hard to say
Dempsey writes like characters are forcing their way out of him, exiting out of every orifice, hanging off of his eyelids and dangling from his nosehairs. He gets inside their heads while they climb out of his. And yet we only get glimpses, half thoughts and brief moments in time rather than the full all-encompassing picture. Because if we were to get it all, every intricate detail floating behind the pages and stories of Time as a Sort of Enemy, we might collapse under all that weight. – KKUURRTT, Good at Drugs
Time as a Sort of Enemy has a way of transporting you back to the good ole days before you even knew you were in the good ole days. Dempsey’s writing is like a 12pk of Bud on a hot summer night. Like smoking a bowl with your friends and shredding around town on your skateboards. It’s Monster Energy Drinks and Green Day. It’s staying up late and binge eating junk food until you puke your guts out, no regrets. Which is to say, Time as a Sort of Enemy totally fucks. – Shawn Berman, Editor of The Daily Drunk
Tyler Dempsey’s collection Time as a Sort of Enemy is poetry that punches like a kickdrum. Raw, quirky, and intricate observations about life and people that will stick with you long after you’ve read it. – Jules Archer, author of Little Feasts
TIME AS A SORT OF ENEMY is a strobe light in a vast warehouse, illuminating in brief pulses all of the dark corners. Here a stack of old photos and here a crinkled recipe and here a stack of dusty costumes. And here a gun. The characters that populate these stories live on the outskirts, hiding from responsibility, but they are desperate to be discovered. They want you to find them and love them and tell them that everything is going to be okay. Even if the end is in sight. – Josh Denslow, author of NOT EVERYONE IS SPECIAL and SUPER NORMAL
Read a review of “Time as a Sort of Enemy” by Scott Neuffer on trampset.
Novels:
“Consumption & Other Vices,” (forthcoming) Bear Creek Press, 2023.
Tyler Dempsey 