{"id":17031,"date":"2022-05-26T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=17031"},"modified":"2022-05-22T16:15:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T20:15:28","slug":"cemetery-dance-interview-aaron-dries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/cemetery-dance-interview-aaron-dries\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cemetery Dance Interview: Feeding the Ending with Aaron Dries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Aaron
Aaron Dries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aaron Dries is an Australian powerhouse of an author and filmmaker. His debut novel, <\/span>House of Sighs<\/span><\/i>, was first published with the title <\/span>Disunity<\/span><\/i> for Leisure Books\/Rue Morgue\/Chizine Publications\u2019 FRESH BLOOD Contest and had been influenced by a local murder that took place in Aaron\u2019s teen years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aaron has been compared to the late great Jack Ketchum and, considering the intricate beauty laced throughout the grotesque underbelly of the human condition explored in both men\u2019s work, this is not an unfair comparison.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other titles from Aaron Dries include <\/span>The Fallen Boys<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>No Place For Sinners<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Where the Dead Go To Die<\/span><\/i> (with Mark Allan Gunnels) among others.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this conversation, we discuss the correlation of Aaron\u2019s writing and his background as a youth addictions counselor, his newest coming-of-age novella, <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i>, his upcoming collection of short stories, <\/span>Cut To Care<\/span><\/i>, and a whole lot more to convince you that Aaron Dries is here to influence your nightmares long into the night. Sit back and enjoy as we peel back the layers of humanity at it\u2019s most horrific and redeeming levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Interview conducted by\u00a0Rick Hipson<\/a>)<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

CEMETERY DANCE: Aaron, not only are you a very easy-going guy, very easily likable, but you also have an interesting background. Correct me if I\u2019m wrong, but I think you\u2019re your day job is in Youth Addiction Counselling, and you\u2019ve also worked in long-term care. You\u2019ve actually got a story set there, I believe.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I currently work in a LTC. Sorry, Long-Term Care Center for those that are wondering what the acronym is all about. So, your background obviously jumped out at me, and I really enjoyed the fact that you got this psychology background.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"coverThe first book I read of yours was <\/b>The Fallen Boys, which wa<\/i><\/b>s absolutely brilliant. The way you dove into the psychology of this lonely, broken child who by all accounts came from a pretty mundane family and of course, the tragedy that happens \u2014 without giving anything way \u2014 is that those closest to him, particularly his parents, his dad, get absolutely drawn into this wall of darkness with this poor boy. It was brilliant the way you outlined all of that. It got me thinking, as a youth addiction counselor, how much did your background play into these horrific roles that you enjoy playing in and creating for us?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

AARON DRIES: Well, yes, the current day job, and it fluctuates between certain different disciplines, is in youth work, I\u2019m currently working specifically in homelessness, in the homelessness sector. I have in the past worked in age-care specific services, advocacy, and mental health generally for people who struggled to get government-funded supports. I currently work in homelessness, and I guess you know what this is like working with people; it can take\u2026 People often will, you\u2019ll say what it is that you do, and they\u2019ll go, \u201cGosh, that must be rewarding.\u201d And you know what? Look, yeah, it is, but what I really want you to say is, \u201cGosh, that must be really hard,\u201d because that\u2019s the truth of it. There\u2019s not a day where I sit there and I put my feet up and go, \u201cI\u2019ve done a rewarding day\u2019s work.\u201d I put my feet up, and I go, \u201cI ache everywhere, and I\u2019m so emotionally drained, and I\u2019m just churning with these emotions that I need to process in some sort of healthy way.\u201d And I will literally lift up my laptop, and my self care regime is to just sweat all the toxins of the day literally onto the page.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just about putting the bad stuff down. I\u2019m not being overly dramatic, but by day I see the best and the worst in people, and that universe is incredibly chaotic and it\u2019s often merciless. Writing for me is taking all of my complicated feelings about everything that I do between the hours of nine to five and trying to put it into something that I can rationalize and make sense of. And to try to make it beautiful and into some degree have some continuity. Although my stuff is really, really bleak, I think it\u2019s bleak with a silver lining, that there\u2019s little glimmers of hope there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"coverI think it\u2019s becoming intrinsically tied to my day job. It really, really is. My recent one, <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i>, definitely tapped into that. I\u2019ve got a collection of short stories coming out next year, which is called <\/span>Cut to Care<\/span><\/i>, which is a collection of short stories that is all built around the cost of caring, about caring about something too much, about somebody caring about you too much, about not caring enough. They\u2019re all psychological horror stories built around that theme, and they are essentially cries from the front line. They\u2019re the stories of nurses and emergency workers and social workers and the people that they work with. That to me has been a massive purge over the last two years during COVID when the commitment that it took to write a novel just wasn\u2019t something that I could master really, because the world went into Hell in a hand basket to some degree. I\u2019m extraordinarily grateful that I\u2019ve managed to remain employed through that time, but I\u2019ve never been busier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, I needed to get those toxins out and then piece the universe back together in a healthy way.\u00a0 I needed to be able to do it in a manner that worked for me in terms of my time frame, which is why short fiction became my go-to over the last year and a half, and I\u2019m really happy with this short story collection. It\u2019s coming out next year, but it\u2019s exactly what you\u2019re talking about. You\u2019re right. It definitely plays in, and always has, and for as long as I continue to work in this industry, which I always will because I love it as much as it doesn\u2019t love you back, it\u2019ll continue to be so.\u00a0 It\u2019s really part of my self care routine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s commendable because it\u2019s like digging ditches all day and then you come home and start pumping the iron and lifting weights. I imagine there\u2019s a bit of a transitional period to push through and maybe psyche yourself up for the writing. As you\u2019re writing the words that is your self care and you\u2019re no doubt utilizing some of the wicked traumas that you\u2019re hearing about day in and day out because these are the people that you\u2019re helping, do you find that you\u2019ve gotten some unexpected insights maybe into your own psyche as you steer from the day work to the writing work? Perhaps even some insight into the psyche of some of the people that you\u2019re helping out, or maybe had some <\/b>Ah ha!<\/i><\/b> moments like \u201cHey, I have a better idea of how to direct this person or how to direct myself through self care,\u201d or other such therapeutic brain blasts?<\/b><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a really interesting question. I think the things that I\u2019ve learned through working in this particular industry is that I, like anyone else, love to think that I have the resiliency to never be affected by it except I do have that vulnerability. I think that if I didn\u2019t and wasn\u2019t at risk of it, I wouldn\u2019t be well-suited to it. That\u2019s what empathy is. One of the great boundaries that you need to learn to adapt your thinking is to be able to empathize with people but not to sympathize, because that leads to a slippery slope to really doing yourself in because you start to see yourself continuously in those that you are helping. What I do is I cut that off, and that\u2019s where the writing aspect comes in. That\u2019s where I get to sympathize with people. <\/span><\/p>\n

The thing I\u2019ve learned is I am susceptible to vicarious trauma, that it is something that\u2019s not just this theoretical thing they warn you about. It is something that absolutely does happen, and if you don\u2019t address it, it is like acid chewing through your day and your body and your home life. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve absolutely learned. I\u2019ve definitely looked and worked with people who I can see myself in, and that is often quite rattling. People who you realize if I had made one or two decisions different in my life, then I could be the one in need of desperate assistance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, me too.<\/b><\/p>\n

But also there are moments where you do see people where, and I\u2019m just very grateful for the privileges that have been awarded to me which include, for example, not inheriting an addiction in vitro. You know what I mean? Or, not having acquired brain injuries or addictions that were formed or trauma that was inherited before I was even born or in my early development. I have really strong boundaries, but humanity does slip through. I think it is that vulnerability that makes you well-suited to the role. I guess those are the things I\u2019ve seen and learned about myself. I do need to allow myself to feel sad about things sometimes, or to be excited about what I learned from people out on the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There will be people who I meet who have insights about the universe that I\u2019ve never thought of before, and it comes from hitting rock bottom in certain circumstances in ways that I haven\u2019t fortunately had to in my life. Whilst I\u2019ve never taken someone\u2019s story, I\u2019ve certainly tapped into the way it\u2019s made me feel when it comes to my fiction. I genuinely have, and often that comes around to having to look for hope in the utter darkness of despair, and it\u2019s there somewhere. You may only see the shape of hope, but it might be somebody in the corner waiting for you. That\u2019s where the horror element kind of kicks in to some degree, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Absolutely. I think that\u2019s where I guess the <\/b>what if<\/i><\/b> is. It\u2019s like, \u201cWell, what if I get out of here alive but then what if I don\u2019t?\u201d It\u2019s a very precarious balance.<\/b><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why endings are very important to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

A hundred percent.<\/b><\/p>\n

Because with my works \u2026 Yes, I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed with at least the three books that I\u2019ve read of yours so far, the endings are very much a part of the story. Whether it\u2019s intentional or not, everything seems to lead up to that ending and everything feeds that ending. In a sense, the ending also tends to feed the story that came before it. You can usually tell when a writer didn\u2019t know how to end the story. I\u2019s like \u201cWell, my story\u2019s finished, so \u2026 and then world blew up.\u201d Or the story\u2019s finale simply strolls off into the sunset until it fades away without much of an impact. Your stories don\u2019t do that, especially with <\/b>The Fallen Boys<\/i><\/b>. That ending. Holy crap. Now, I\u2019m not just saying this because you\u2019re here, I\u2019ve actually got a couple of women in the laundry room where I work at hooked on your stuff, and they all felt the same way I did after reading <\/b>The Fallen Boys<\/i><\/b>. Like, man, that ending in particular just absolutely sticks with you.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, thank you for saying that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have a couple of young children so everything is exemplified as well, and wow I sure felt the trauma.<\/b><\/p>\n

I really, really appreciate you saying that. Also, you know what you were saying before about the things that you learned from the people that you meet and work with, well, I feel as though, from what you said just then, I literally feel as though I just learned something about myself and my writing process that I\u2019ve never really been conscious of until you said it just then, which is that everything feeds towards the ending, and once you get to the ending, you realize that everything is fed towards the beginning. I\u2019ve never really realized that. That\u2019s actually very, very true. I may not know the moment that I start off a book exactly how I want it to end, but I know exactly before I start writing how I want the reader to feel by the ending. For me, emotional continuity in that respect is extraordinarily important to me. They say you\u2019ve only got one opportunity to make a first impression. You\u2019ve only got one opportunity to end a book right, and for me, it\u2019s not a game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not in the game to mess that up because I know what it feels like to be a reader. I write because I read, and I know that there is sometimes where I\u2019ll close something and I\u2019m like, \u201cI wish that had hit another button.\u201d And that may not detract from the overall experience, but to me it\u2019s something that is massively important. So, thank you for saying those kind words. I really, genuinely feel as though I hadn\u2019t realized that\u2019s what I do because there\u2019s not anything that I\u2019ve ever written in which I don\u2019t feel as though the ending has been reverse-engineered from the first line. Yeah, thank you. That\u2019s actually really, really great of you to say. It also helps because I\u2019m currently working on projects at the moment, and I\u2019m like, \u201cWow. That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing already. I get it.\u201d But, thank you. That\u2019s awesome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"coverI\u2019m glad I could bring that insight. To move on and talk about <\/b>Dirty Heads<\/i><\/b> which I\u2019ve been really excited to talk to you about as well. The way it was written was just incredible. It\u2019s very abstract. There\u2019s a lot of things that you left up for interpretations that could be certainly construed in various ways.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Quite frankly the structure of the story should\u2019ve been awkward, but it wasn\u2019t. You essentially started out with what felt to me like a street journal, where the main character, Heath Spooner, you\u2019re right in his head. He\u2019s talking about things as they\u2019re happening, running from this unseen entity that\u2019s right on his heels like hellhounds, and you\u2019re not really sure what the connection is there, but he\u2019s got some kind of intimate knowledge of this thing. You don\u2019t know why or how it generated. And then when he gets to the destination he\u2019s going to at that particular moment in the opening of the book, it\u2019s almost very cinematic where all of a sudden it\u2019s like this camera which pans out to provide more of an overhead view of his life. The majority of the book is told through a flashback, which for me personally doesn\u2019t usually work but it works so well in this because you\u2019re still getting into his head, but not now you\u2019re also getting into the heads of the people that are in his circle, between his friends, his bullies, his family, the people that he kind of bumps around with in his life.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

And then, to get to my point, once you arrive at the conclusion, you can certainly say it\u2019s ambiguous because it leaves much open for interpretation where you ponder over the true monsters of the book.\u00a0 Is the monster a part of this kid? Is it a separate thing? Did he create this monster? Am I the monster? Or is the monster in the rest of us who witnessed all the things that happened? I wanted to loop back round it and read the book again with the new perspective garnered from the finale.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Was that always your point, to leave things ambiguous enough to create that sort of re-readability?<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah, absolutely. And the older I get, the more important to me ambiguity is. It\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t love a conclusive ending as much as anyone else and won\u2019t continue to write endings in which this is a certain feeling that I want you to have. For me, in terms of the thematic kind of architecture of <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i>, it is a book about the anxieties surrounding uncertainty. Because it\u2019s essentially a coming-of-age novel in which we all know what that feels like. Literally every day is diving off the high board into a pool where you cannot see how shallow or deep it\u2019s going to be or what\u2019s in those waters. For me, the thematic kind of pin that I was resting every kind of plot mechanism and in terms of intended effect on the reader was it was all stemming from ambiguity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I do want my cake and yet I want to eat it too, because whilst I love ambiguity and I was definitely working with that, I didn\u2019t want a reader to be unsatisfied, and I think that the structure in terms of it starting off in the present and ending in the present but the whole middle chunk being a flashback is that again, it\u2019s that reverse engineering, that it\u2019s kind of a palindrome that the answers are mostly there, and if they\u2019re not there, it’s because\u2026 It is that Lovecraftian, the unfathomable. You know what I mean? Which is the joy of writing something that\u2019s slightly got cosmic underpinnings because, essentially, it\u2019s the story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But for me, that\u2019s okay in a story like this because, alright, I\u2019ll quote \u2014 I\u2019ll paraphrase terribly, Clive Barker. Unless you are directly quoting Clive Barker, you are doing a terrible job of paraphrasing him, because he\u2019s so beautiful and eloquent. <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i> is specifically about a young kid coming to terms with his sexuality. And he probably later in life will identify as being gay. Clive Barker wrote a really terrific book called <\/span>Sacrament<\/span><\/i>, in which he basically said, \u201cthe universe just keeps on trying to fuck up gay people, you know what I mean? They\u2019ll throw a plague at them. They\u2019ll throw prejudice. They\u2019ll throw insecurities. Either the universe will throw everything they can to kill homosexuality, and yet like magic, it keeps coming back and surviving, and there is no reason for it to do so, because everywhere, every day, kids are springing up in defiance of this cosmic fuck you!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, there is no answer there other than some sort of beautiful mystery that is intrinsically tied to at least my identity as a human being, and I want to play into that ball pit when it comes to <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i> specifically because the whole thing with <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i> is that it\u2019s the story of a kid not coming out to his friends. I love those stories, but I didn\u2019t want to write about that. I wanted to write about a child, and this is exactly how it was for me coming out to myself, which was that I had no idea. Everyone was like, \u201cAh, we always knew.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou could\u2019ve told me. You could\u2019ve given me a bit of a head\u2019s up.\u201d Because I had no idea until somebody gave me something in reality, which is exactly what\u2019s in the book, and I self-reflected and I went, BOOM! \u201cOh my gosh!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Then just like that, it all makes sense, eh?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

And the moment it does make sense, it should be something that\u2019s beautiful \u2018cause they say it gets better and it does for most people. But at the time, what happens is your entire universe turns on you and it feels as though some cosmic entity from outer space has just launched a grenade in your life that will absolutely destroy everything that you thought you knew about yourself and the way everyone saw you. That is exactly what <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i> is about. It\u2019s about the way that coming out to yourself for a certain period of your life, until you either come to terms with it or die from it, is a type of murder. It\u2019s a type of illness that cancels away all the things that will either kill you later in life, being prejudices and people who want to do you harm, or things that will mutate into the strongest and most resilient part of your life into the future. <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i>, whilst is a short little novella, encompasses that emotional journey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no reason to explain why and where it comes from because Heath Spooner, like myself or Clive Barker, have no idea where it comes from, whether it’s happening every day. That\u2019s why ambiguity was part of the theme. For me, all things serve the theme in regards to every metaphor that you have, every allegory that you make. It all needs to suit and fit and go in the flow of the theme; otherwise, it needs to be cut. In a really roundabout, esoteric way, I think that addresses the question, but at the same time it\u2019s appropriate that my answer should be ambiguous. [laughs]<\/span><\/p>\n

I think in a lot of ways that\u2019s what I love about the ambiguity of the book <\/b>Dirty Heads<\/i><\/b> is it really made me think who the monster is and gave cause for self reflection. I really hope, like myself — and I\u2019d never suggest I\u2019m some major scholarly guy where I can provide all kinds of wonderful scholastic-sounding interpretations of every little sentence and stuff. I\u2019m not that guy, but hopefully other folks will reflect on that, too, and ponder like I did who the monster is. Hopefully they come to the conclusion where, and maybe I\u2019m wrong, I don\u2019t know if that was your intention, Aaron, but I came away realizing that the monster is me. and it\u2019s everybody, and how do you change that? I get the sense Heath has to come to grips with that realization and choose to either embrace it or keep on running from it.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Look, I\u2019ll say this much because I\u2019m cautious of spoilers for people who may be reading this, but I think that it\u2019s esoteric enough as a concept for us to discuss. Those monsters exist within Heath also, and I think that the thing I wanted to do with this particular book is that there is a clear distinction in the book between the monsters that come from just being raised a certain way, but being raised in a loving environment versus real true evil.\u00a0 I won\u2019t say what that is in the book, but it\u2019s there all the way through. Feedback I\u2019ve gotten from people is that they didn\u2019t see certain revelations coming on that first read but did on a second read. I\u2019m like, \u201cWell, good. That\u2019s exactly how you should feel because that\u2019s not just an evil, it\u2019s a deceit.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was nothing deceitful about Heath being raised in a heteronormative environment. I doubt the fact that he\u2019s in a room that was painted blue and that his sister was in a room that was painted pink, and that he goes to a Catholic school where the issue with homosexuality isn\u2019t that somebody may or may not be gay, but that somebody would call somebody gay because that is the offence. That a bully who is an obvious asshole is in an almost ant-farmish type of way programmed and needs to have that role. All of these things are natural, and so there\u2019s no real villainy there, and yet there is villainy in this book on the corners of every page. When you realize what it is, it makes the monster seem tame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These are all some of the parallels that are running at the same time, and I think that\u2019s tapping into what you\u2019re saying. The whole idea of the ending for those who get that far, is that it\u2019s all about anxiety. It\u2019s about somebody who literally lives with the fear of the unknown and who wishes that at some point in the future the rest of the world would know exactly how he felt if only for a day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My favorite moments in the book, well, there\u2019s two favorite moments in the book, and it\u2019s to do with the siblings and how they are working through what\u2019s happening to their family, and one of which is basically a conversation where Heath so desperately wants to confide in his younger sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember that one, walking home from school, yeah.<\/b><\/p>\n

Walking home from school, and she\u2019s really young and he doesn\u2019t need to say it; she already knows. And then she doesn\u2019t need to say it, but she kinda does say it later on, but she says it in a way that to me is such a child\u2019s way of exhibiting and voicing what he\u2019s worried about, which was \u201cAre boys allowed to have best friends?\u201d And she says it at a moment that shouldn\u2019t be there, like it\u2019s not the time or place but it\u2019s exactly the time and place that a child of that age would ask that because kids ask the most beautiful and weird and confronting things on their own schedules and it doesn\u2019t matter if the world\u2019s about to end. They want to know, and even if they already know the answer to the question, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I love that relationship. The power of hindsight, if I\u2019m looking at myself in terms of my own journey, is that it\u2019s really, really easy to look back and to be that angsty teen with my copy of <\/span>Girl, Interrupted <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Prozac Nation<\/span><\/i> under my belt, and to be giving everyone the finger and to dye my hair black; all this shit that I did and go fuck you, you know what I mean? Really that was just another way of me not addressing the monster, because love is sometimes inconvenient when all you want to do is allow yourself to be indulged in hatred, self-hatred, so that you can get through it and become something else. Love can be inconvenient, especially when it\u2019s the love of a sibling or a parent. I wanted to acknowledge that even when people are going through hell, sometimes if you\u2019re lucky enough there\u2019s love being shown to you that you don\u2019t see until you\u2019re much, much older. I hope that Heath, wherever he is now, remembers those conversations he had with his sister because that shit was real for her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s beautifully put. I think you might have partially answered my next question. I just have a couple more questions before we wrap it up and let you roll back into bed. [laughs]<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m having my second wind right now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is awesome. I was worried I was going to turn you into a zombie for a little while here.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

All good.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Much appreciated of your time. I suppose you\u2019ve commented on this already but if you don\u2019t mind, what would you say tell anybody who\u2019s digesting our conversation right now while trying to come to grips with their own monsters, be it their sexuality, an alternative identity or even on the spectrum struggling to fit in with the rest of society and feeling any aversion from the so called normal will only induce more anxiety and further their fear?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s the Clive Barker thing. Sometimes our monsters are our most beautiful asset. Coming to realize that is very, very, very difficult and often very confronting. My advice to anyone going through that stuff is don\u2019t give up and to always ask for help. And these types of revelations make you feel incredibly alone, and whilst no one who is feeling that alone ever believes this, you are not alone. Being able to connect with others and to not be alone is easier now than it ever has been. Although don\u2019t read <\/span>The Fallen Boys<\/span><\/i> which kind of taps into that, which is a theme with my work because they all interconnect. Whilst that might sound hopeful in regards to <\/span>Dirty Heads<\/span><\/i>, it does feed into <\/span>The Fallen Boys<\/span><\/i> because all of these stories do interconnect in very, very subtle ways not everyone\u2019s picked up on. But yeah, don\u2019t give up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It really needs to be those who are supporting people who go through this type of stuff. When you realize you\u2019re something, that person\u2019s whole world changes. It\u2019s like it jolts out from under your feet. I can only speak about my experience but that meant, for me, rethinking my thoughts around children, marriage, schooling, work, relationships, sex, sexuality, news, clothes, everything. Everything had to change, and I got there, but not everyone does. That\u2019s why , for example, LGBTI+ kids kill themselves. That\u2019s why they kill themselves. It\u2019s because the earth doesn\u2019t just shift, it can crack, and you fall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I think that the message is to those who love those who are struggling — and it loops it back exactly into what we were talking about earlier in our conversation in regards to the people that we both work with — is be there. Empathize, and connect. Allow that person to emerge from their own because the more you try to yank them out of it, the more they will fall. It\u2019s inelegant and it\u2019s okay to make mistakes. It\u2019s okay to make mistakes when you care for someone. It is a crime to think that caring must be perfection because that is a trap.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more about Aaron Dries visit him on the web<\/a> or follow him on Twitter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Rick Hipson is a Canadian genre journalist living in Kitchener Ontario with his partner in crime, young spawn and two cats who insist they aren\u2019t vying for world domination. For over twenty years Rick has written for a variety of small press publications in print and online which no longer exist through, assumably, no fault of his own. He continues to share his love for dark culture entertainment through his film and book reviews, interviews and articles, which can be found through\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Rue Morgue Magazine, Cemetery Dance\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Hell Notes<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aaron Dries is an Australian powerhouse of an author and filmmaker. His debut novel, House of Sighs, was first published with the title Disunity for Leisure Books\/Rue Morgue\/Chizine Publications\u2019 FRESH BLOOD Contest and had been influenced by a local murder that took place in Aaron\u2019s teen years. Aaron has been compared to the late great … Continue Reading! “The Cemetery Dance Interview: Feeding the Ending with Aaron Dries”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[983,307,2207],"class_list":["post-17031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-aaron-dries","tag-interviews","tag-rick-hipson"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Cemetery Dance Interview: Feeding the Ending with Aaron Dries - 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