Aaron Starmer (born 1976 in northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) is an American author of young adult fiction novels, known for ''The Riverman Trilogy'' and ''Spontaneous''. As of June 2016, he was working on another novel, entitled ''Meme''. In 2016, it was reported that

Awesomeness Films AwesomenessTV Holdings, LLC, often shortened to Awesomeness, is an American digital media and entertainment network company owned by Paramount Global. Established in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola, the company operated a network init ...

had bought the rights to adapt ''Spontaneous'' into a movie of the same name, which was released in 2020. He has also co-authored a book about camping along with Catharine Wells and Timothy Starmer. Also in 2016, Starmer appeared at the annual

Texas Book Festival The Texas Book Festival is a free annual book festival held in downtown Austin, Texas. The festival takes place each fall in October or November and includes programming for children and adults. It is one of the largest and most critically acc ...

Biography

Starmer was born in northern

and raised in suburban

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, where he graduated from

Fayetteville–Manlius High School Fayetteville–Manlius High School (also F-M High School or FMHS) is a comprehensive New York public high school on East Seneca Turnpike in the Town of Manlius, serving grades 9–12 in the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District. It is ...

. He received a B.A. degree from

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey, United States. It has a wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three schools. While affiliated with the Methodism, Me ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. A longtime resident of

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

, he now lives in a former schoolhouse in northern

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

with his wife and daughter.

Reception

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' named ''The Riverman'', the first book of ''the Riverman Trilogy'', one of the best books of 2014. Brian Truitt, writing for ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', gave ''Spontaneous'' 3 out of 4 stars, writing that "...Starmer’s originality and well-paced plot give needed life to a story filled with random death." A ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' reviewer lauded that Stramer, through ''Meme'', "crafts a

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

-flavored

revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

thriller that stabs at the heart of 21st-century isolation".

Books

*''The Best in Tent Camping: New York State'' (

Menasha Ridge Press Menasha () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago and Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winn ...

, 2007) *''Dweeb'' (

Delacorte Press Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

Yearling Books Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the followi ...

, 2009) *''The Only Ones'' (Delacorte/Yearling, 2011) *''The Riverman Trilogy'', which consists of the following three books: **''The Riverman'' (

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, 2014) **''The Whisper'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015) **''The Storyteller'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016) *''Spontaneous'' (

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

, 2016) *''Meme'' (2020) *The ''Locker 37'' Series (

Penguin Workshop Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...

) **''LOCKER 37: THE MAGIC ERASER'' (2020) **''LOCKER 37: THE REWINDABLE CLOCK'' (2020) **''LOCKER 37: THE RIDICULOUS AND WONDERFUL RAINBOW HAT'' (2020) **''LOCKER 37: THE INTERDIMENSIONAL FISH STICKS'' (2020) * ''A Million Views'' (

, 2022)

References

External links

*
Interview
with

Bookish Bookish.com is a content discovery and ecommerce website, which launched in February 2013, devoted to books. The site allows users to browse an extensive database of books and authors, add books to user-created digital "shelves", get custom boo ...

American young adult novelists 1976 births Living people Writers from California Drew University alumni New York University alumni Writers from Syracuse, New York Novelists from New York (state) American male novelists 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers {{US-child-writer-stub