Jake Aurelian graduated from the University of Illinois in 2000 with a degree in Media Studies/Communication & Rhetoric. Aurelian has taught English and media at the college level, and to date, has written 14 books (fiction; non-fiction; children's) and over 500 pop culture articles. Since 2012, his works of fiction have received 22 international literary awards.
Aurelian is the co-author of Michale Callahan's Too Politically Sensitive (2009, true crime/political). Too Politically Sensitive was featured on CBS' 48 Hours (three episodes), On the Case with Paula Zahn and Robert Redford's Death Row Stories on CNN.
Aurelian's collection of gritty, dark and quirky short fiction, Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & The Women Who Screwed Me Over: A Main Event of Fiction and Photography (2011) has received rave reviews on Amazon.com for its diversity of fiction genres, "the immaculate writing," the laugh-out-loud humor, "crazy scenarios" and the author's "addictive" storytelling.
Dead Wrestlers... was the recipient of a Finalist Award (Short Fiction) in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and received 2nd Place/Runner Up (General Fiction) in the 2012 Hollywood Book Festival. After reading Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & the Women Who Screwed Me Over, legendary and WWE hall of fame pro wrestler, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, posted on his Facebook page: "This is a very good book, folks, savvy stuff ... get your copy TODAY!"
Buzz Magazine article:
With Buzz Magazine: http://readbuzz.com/arts/2012/honest-words-and-gritty-pictures
We Leave With Our Guns Out!: A Festival of Photography and Fiction--the unofficial sequel to Dead Wrestlers...--was published in 2012.
Aurelian's Living Well is the Best Revenge: D.B. Cooper, The G-Heist Gang & The Missing Two Million (2012, crime fiction) received 1st Place (General Fiction) at the 2013 Hollywood Book Festival, Honorable Mention at both the 2013 New England Book Festival and 2013 London [England] Book Festival. In addition, Living Well... was the recipient of a Finalist Award (Novella) in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Told in a true crime style with an intense and powerfully unexpected ending, most readers believe that Living Well is the Best Revenge is a work of non-fiction.
What readers have said about Living Well is the Best Revenge: (via Twitter) "This is a great read in the bathtub during a lonely summer. Plot and character driven. Page dripping literary success." ... (Amazon review) "...the book's main character's are fleshed out in a manner that one can grasp at the humanity of each and the tragedy of their respective circumstances ...No sooner are you asking what's going to happen next in the plot, when Aurelian is telling you to wait, wait, it's coming but wait, and then giving it to you when you need it, the kind of timing you would expect from both a masterful stand up comedian and a Victorian novel writer on the order of Gaskell or Austen."
On Halloween 2012, Jake Aurelian took an obscure character from his fiction books, an angry clown named Ripper, and turned the character into a stand-up comedy and online comedy video gimmick; billed as "an unpredictable cartoon character come to life," Ripper the Clown morphs truth, fiction, pop culture and social commentary into comedy chaos. As his clown alter-ego, Aurelian performs material from his books; no other author has done anything even remotely similar, and the clown character quickly gained notice from NBC, award-winning movie producers and notables within the entertainment industry.
Ripper the Clown on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Rippertheclownshow
In 2014, Ripper the Clown evolved from an occasionally mentioned character in Aurelian's universe to the subject of his own satirical autobiography: The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Zombie--the book that simultaneously redefines and spoofs the zombie genre.
Before The Life & Mimes... was officially published, it received 2nd Place for General Fiction at the 2014 Hollywood California Book Festival (which awards books that should be movies or TV shows). In the interim, The Life & Mimes... received 1st Place for Fiction at the 2014 Halloween Book Festival (Los Angeles), 2nd place for Fiction at the London England Book Fest and Honorable Mention for Fiction at the 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival (Chicago), The New England Book Festival (Boston) and the 2015 Los Angeles Book Festival.
In May 2015, The Life & Mimes... received a Finalist award in the Humor/Comedy category at the prestigious 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The Indie Book Awards is considered "the Sundance of Book Awards" and (from their site) "...the Next Generation Indie Book Awards was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books..."
In her "Undead, and Drop Dead Funny" review of The Life & Mimes..., Jimin Shim of Smile Politely stated: "The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown wasn't just a book for me but an experience, and one unlike any other that I've had before. It was so different from anything else I've read--in more than one respect--and I appreciated the risks that Aurelian was willing to take enormously ... an ingeniously unconventional approach to the zombie genre ... Aurelian is also incredibly successful at causing his readers to suspend their disbelief, as he incorporates real life events, locations, and people (his own alter-ego included) and fictionalizes them just enough so that you're left wondering whether you're reading fiction or truth..."
Read the entire Smile Politely review of The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown at:
http://smilepolitely.com/arts/undead_and_drop_dead_funny/
Buzz Magazine article re: zombie book (Oct. 2014):
http://readbuzz.com/life/2014/clowing-around/
Buzz Magazine article (May 2015):
http://readbuzz.com/life/2015/an-author-a-clown-and-a-journey-of-fate-and-time/
The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown spawned into a Ripper the Clown comedy trilogy with subsequent installments: The Life & Mimes (& Various Times) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Time Traveler (2015) and The Life & Mimes (& Alien Invasion) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional UFO Abductee (2016). Both time travel and alien comedy novels have won numerous awards on the literary circuit. In 2017, Aurelian wrote and illustrated a children's version of The Life & Mimes (& Alien Invasion) of Ripper the Clown entitled, D.B. Cooper, Bigfoot, Rasputin, the Loch Ness Monster & Ripper the Clown: Get Abducted By Aliens! (2017).
Smile Politely review of The Life & Mimes (& Various Times) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Time Traveler:
http://smilepolitely.com/arts/just_in_time_for_some_clowning_around/
Smile Politely review of The Life & Mimes (& Alien Invasion) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional UFO Abductee:
http://www.smilepolitely.com/arts/an_unconventional_review_of_a_ufo_abductee/
In 2017, Aurelian wrote, produced, directed the independent feature film, The Stripper Ripper. Based on Aurelian's comedy novels, The Stripper Ripper spoofs the horror genre--Halloween, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, Kolchak the Night Stalker--with a slapstick twist reminiscent of The Three Stooges and WGN's Bozo.
Trailer:
https://www.facebook.com/ripper.theclown/videos/820507818150392/?l=4470776638007852367
Article about The Stripper Ripper:
https://www.commercial-news.com/news/local_news/local-film-to-spoof-classic-horror-movies/article_5627c9cb-c455-5803-ae6c-245f91449b5c.html
The Stripper Ripper DVD is available on eBay.
Aurelian's children's book, Pete the Picky Piranha (2014), was illustrated by award winning author, illustrator and watercolor artist, Mary Anne Lipousky-Butikas.
Jake Aurelian resides in Parts Unknown.
