Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
I met Jerome on a busy city street in Baltimore, Maryland, when he was forty-five years old. On that particular day, I was out and about, enjoying a much-needed day off from work.
I wanted to purchase a sukiyaki sub. I parked my car in an area of
Former pizza boy, retail clerk, kitchen hand, aged care worker, video director and copywriter, Aaron Dries was born and raised in New South Wales, Australia. When asked why he writes horror, his standard reply is that when it comes to scaring people, writing pays slightly better than jumping out from behind doors. His second novel, The Fallen Boys, is just as—if not more—twisted than his debut. He
Background
Information
In 1984 Wes Craven unleashed Freddy Krueger on the world. That year also saw lonely children riding Luck Dragons in “The Neverending Story”. And somewhere between these two pop culture events, there was the relatively un-noticed birth of a ginger-haired child.
A child named Aaron.
Aaron Dries was raised in a small New South Wales town in Australia. The former video store clerk, pizza delivery boy, retail specialist, aged-care nurse, document scanner, video editor, commissioned artist and amateur filmmaker always had a strong interest in creating stories. Were it hand-drawn “X-files” comic books or home-made movies starring himself and his family (the best of which had Aaron running over a friend with a lawnmower, followed closely by a remake of “Scream” starring his brother as Drew Barrymore), there was always something in the works.
Aaron graduated from the University of Newcastle with a B.A of Communication under his wing, majoring in creative writing and video production. As a filmmaker, he won a number of awards for his short films at home and abroad, including Best Film at the Newcastle Film Festival for “Placebo”, coinciding with the publication of his earliest stories in literary magazines.
His first novel “House of Sighs” was originally written under the title “Disunity” for the Leisure Books / Rue Morgue/ Chizine Publications FRESH BLOOD Contest. The premise of the novel stemmed back to a local murder that took place in Aaron’s adolescence. A mother on his pizza delivery route shot and murdered her children before turning the gun upon herself. As was the case with everyone who read about the incident, Aaron’s mind churned with questions of morality. Why do bad things happen to good people? What is the origin of evil? What makes apparently sane people do insane acts? These questions would become the genesis for “House of Sighs” some years later.
As a writer, Aaron found inspiration in the works of Robert Bloch, Jack Ketchum, Stephen King, Ira Levin, Peter Straub and Richard Matheson. He gladly stands on the shoulders of giants.
Share
Save
[