Aaron Dries

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.