Featured Interview With Alex Aro
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Alex Aro, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, hometown of Rob Zombie. I now live in Salisbury, Massachusetts with my girlfriend Kelly, our son Levi and two dogs Peewee and Cody.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve wanted to be a writer since a young child. Goosebumps, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark and other young horror books were hugely influential to me. I even created my own Goosebumps knock off series and would pass them around class back in 4th grade. Over the years I continually honed my craft, taking inspiration from life around me and authors I respected.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My biggest influences now are Aimee Bender, Amber Sparks, Amy Hempel, Don DeLillo, Mark Danielewski, Franz Kafka, etc. I love surreal and dreamy stories. But honestly I’ll read anything as long as the writing is good. A great writer can make any subject interesting. As far as inspiration for writing, that can come from anywhere. Sometimes I draw from life, other times I hear a single word that speaks to me and from there a story sprouts in my head.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is a short story collection titled “A Lovely Appetite”. It is a collection of my work from the past fifteen years. I designed the book and layout as well. Some of the stories, such as “Skin” and “Frozen” were written during my college years back in 2005 and are where my current “voice” as a writer truly began. Most of the stories have been published in various journals and literary magazines throughout the past decade. For a little more information here is the blurb from the back of the book: Throughout the sixteen stories in this collection by Alex Aro, we encounter characters that question both the world and themselves. Some question desire, ultimately asking: what is it that I truly want? Others question love, anger, sadness, dreams and the truth of their realities. Regardless of their questions, each character yearns for meaning, seeking validity for the reasons why they exist in the world.
In “Body Language” we witness the dissolution of a relationship as the girlfriend begins removing pieces of her body in an attempt to reach her boyfriend. “Skin” shows us a man so obsessed with the skin of another woman that everything else in his life becomes hardened. And in “Devour”, lovers physically eat one another and sport the wounds as signs of affection. But what happens when the hunger runs out? The stories in A Lovely Appetite show us worlds and characters both strange and familiar, but will leave us questioning those same uncertainties and what it means to live.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles