Aaron Starmer (born 1976 in northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) 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 Awesomeness (abbreviation of AwesomenessTV) is an American-based film and television studio as well as a multi-channel based multilingual television network owned by Paramount Digital Studios, a division of Paramount Global. Established in Jun ...

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 fair held in Austin, Texas. The festival takes place in late October or early November. It is one of the top book festivals in the United States. Beginnings The festival was established in 1995 by L ...

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, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, 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 t ...

. He received a B.A. degree from

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) 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. Tho ...

degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. A longtime resident of

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

, he now lives in a former schoolhouse in northern

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

with his wife and daughter.

Reception

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' 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'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', 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 B ...

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

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

-flavored

revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

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 Calumet and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winnebago County, and 2,209 were in Calumet County. The city is located mostly in Winne ...

, 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 American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 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 LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

, 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 initially ...

) **''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 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