Jake Aurelian's Blog

In September 2011, I heard that Roddy Piper​ was having emergency surgery on his neck; I sent him an e-mail with my love and prayers, and his reply was as follows: "Thanks Jake. I miss u. Maybe we could finally work together [I wanted to bring him to the area for a comedy show]. If I die u can have a fresh cadaver..love me." On Friday night, when I received the sad word from my buddy and long-time Piper fan Mark Gray​ that Roddy passed away, I was immediately in shock and felt like I was going to vomit; I was at an event and momentarily left, and on the drive home, my mind was flashing all over the place, remembering various things including Roddy's words from that e-mail from four years ago ... and how, as a kid, Roddy Piper was a childhood hero ... and as Little Jake played with Roddy Piper action figures and watched Piper on TV, the child-me would've never believed that, as an adult, I'd know the man and receive correspondence from him--morbidly willing me his body no less. Because of the personal nature, until this weekend, I haven't really talked about the particulars publicly; knowing Piper truly meant something to me and not just as a lifelong fan; his kindness and support helped me during a turbulent and dark period of my life...

I've been blessed to know and be able to call several other of my childhood heroes friends, and per usual, meeting Roddy Piper in 2004 was via random and unexpected circumstances--which seems to be the typical theme of my life. I purchased some Roddy Piper memorabilia (simply listed something to the effect of "rare Roddy Piper court documents") on eBay, and after the auction's close, I received an e-mail from a police officer in Oregon who provided his phone number and explained that the seller was Roddy Piper's convicted stalker, and it was illegal for the guy to sell the items. Initially, I thought it could be a hoax, but I called and talked to the officer who provided all the details ... and during the call, I mentioned to the officer that, at the time, I was dealing with a stalker of my own who was on the four year plan. In short, I could relate to the situation. Once I received the eBay order, I sent the contents (court documents re: the stalker case and an audio tape of Piper that the stalker had made) to the police department. Days later, I received a phone call from Roddy Piper. The officer gave my info to Roddy and told him that I was also dealing with a stalker ... so when I answered the phone and heard that distinctive Roddy Piper voice, we didn't talk about my lifelong love of his work ... or how They Live was my favorite all-time film ... nor did I ask him any questions about his career. Instead, we talked about our respective situation. Just a coupla guys sharing dark nightmare stories of harassment and how it affected our lives. Dealing with the multifaceted stress from a long-term stalker was not something that many people in my circle at the time understood--especially since I was a guy dealing with a female stalker--and this was an incredibly hard time for me because, for various reasons, I felt as though I was all alone ... but the one person who understood, who could relate and share experiences was Roddy Piper. One of my childhood heroes was there for me when I needed the support. Pretty surreal. And learning that this bigger than life superhero was also affected by a stalker's harassment helped me understand that what I was experiencing was natural. And this really helped with my healing.

Roddy called me regularly just to check on me and see if my situation was improving. A couple of times, he called me to ask my opinion on things--which really blew me away! Approximately one year later, I met Roddy in-person with my friend Sara Ortiz​ in Chicago; when he realized who I was, he grabbed me in a big hug ... and from there on, whenever Roddy was in the area, we'd touch base, and I'd go see him at the shows. He always treated me like gold; he was very genuine, very kind, and he always introduced me to his entourage as "the guy who helped me and my family." I guess my gesture of returning the eBay items meant just as much to him as his support meant to me. (Roddy was so very proud of his family and children; in one of the last e-mails I received from him, he described the pride he had in his children.)

For several consecutive years, Roddy Piper was my Halloween costume ... an in all of my books, I have referenced Roddy ... and for a reason ... I love his career ... and his personal kindness and support made me love Roddy and his career even more ... he was an instantly recognizable character who influenced and inspired my work ... from short stories ("Gunfighter's Seat" in Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & The Women Who Screwed Me Over and "She Said" from We Leave With Our Guns Out! ) wherein the narrator (ie: me) is named "Nada" (after Roddy's character, John Nada, in They Live) to countless literary, stand-up comedy and comedy video references to They Live, They Live revelation moments, Hoffman glasses, Roddy Piper coconuts and chewing bubblegum and kicking ass. John Nada is even the Vice President in the two Ripper the Clown novels. The last time I saw Roddy, two summers ago, I told him how he always appeared in my books, and I gave him copies; the smile on his face was like I handed him a million dollars; he was genuinely touched. When I told him I was doing comedy, he told me he was proud of me. But that meeting was bittersweet because I instinctively knew he was not in good health; it broke my heart, and it troubled me for weeks, and I feared it would be the last time I saw him ... and it was. And now, it makes me sad that I'll never see Roddy being rowdy on TV again, but it makes me sadder to think that I'll never be able to go to another show and talk with him again; seeing Roddy always made me feel like a kid again. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reach out to me over the past couple days. I appreciate the kindness. And God bless Kitty Toombs​ and Roddy's family.

Check out my Roddy Piper tribute video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D3G9...

My They Live Chew Bubblegum - Kick Ass spoof video with new dedication to Roddy Piper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjBE0...

Greetings!

Some exciting stuff has been happening with my books as of late ... first, if you saw my earlier posts, you know that my first book, Too Politically Sensitive (2009, co-author) was featured on the July 19th episode of Robert Redford's CNN show, Death Row Stories. The episode is entitled "Murder in Paris" and it has been replayed several times since the original air-date. My co-author, Mike Callahan, was featured prominently in the episode. Here is the CNN article:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/us/deat...

In other news, The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Zombie (2014)—the novel that simultaneously redefines and spoofs the zombie genre--received its 7th literary award: Finalist at the 21015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for comedy/humor.

Check out my zombie comedy novel description and Amazon reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLP9TWS

This month, the sequel to Zombie Apocalypse was published--a time travel spoof entitled The Life & Mimes (& Various Times) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Time Traveler.

Barely published one week, and The Various Times received Honorable Mention at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival.

Amazon book link with reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1512151998/

Both Ripper the Clown novels are laced with dark humor and an array of pop culture references.

Below is the May 2015 Buzz Magazine cover story re: my clown, my books and comedy:

http://readbuzz.com/life/2015/an-auth...

Zombie and time travel book trailer #1 (featuring Brick Heck impersonation):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uQ_5...

Time travel book Trailer #2 (featuring live time travel!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc4xI...

And I also have a Goodreads Giveaway for The Life & Mimes (& Various Times) of Ripper the Clown ... the lucky winner will receive one signed copy, and the book will be awarded on Ripper the Clown's third birthday:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Thanks for reading, and check out my pop culture comedy channel on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Ripperth...

Thanks for reading!
Jake

Greetings!

A few cool and fun little bits of news...

My zombie comedy novel, The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Zombie), received a Finalist award at the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards--"the Sundance of book awards."

The Finalist award at Indie makes a grand total of seven literary awards for my zombie spoof. Check out the book and reviews on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Mimes-Zombie-Ap...

Smile Politely review of The Life & Mimes...

http://smilepolitely.com/arts/undead_...

And this month, my clown alter-ego received the cover of Buzz magazine; check out my interview re: the zombie book, the forthcoming sequel (due out in late June 2015) and doing stand-up comedy:

http://readbuzz.com/life/2015/an-auth...

And let's not forger a link to my Youtube Channel where the antics of Ripper the Clown jump from the book pages and into some "cartoon character come to life" action:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Ripperth...

Thanks to everyone for the continued support of my work, and for all the e-mails, reviews and comments!

Jake

Jake Aurelian

Promotion via BookGorilla.com:

$.99 for the Kindle edition of my multi-award-winning crime fiction novel:

Living Well is the Best Revenge: D.B. Cooper, The G-Heist Gang & The Missing Two Million

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Well-Bes...

Told in a true crime style, most readers believe "Living Well is the Best Revenge" is an intense work of non-fiction.

Literary awards:

First Place (General Fiction) in the 2013 Hollywood Book Festival

Finalist Award in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Honorable Mention (General Fiction) in the 2013 New England Book Festival

Honorable Mention (General Fiction) in the 2013 London (England) Book Festival

To celebrate the release of my new book, What You Are: A Novel of Short Fiction, I'm holding Goodreads giveaways for all of my award-winning fiction books!

Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & The Women Who Screwed Me Over [short fiction; all genres]:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

We Leave With Our Guns Out! [short fiction; all genres]:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Living Well is the Best Revenge: DB Cooper, the G-Heist Gang & the Missing Two Million [crime fiction]:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

What You Are: A Novel of Short Fiction [dark drama and humor]:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Check out the giveaways and enter to win!

Jake Aurelian

Check out my interview with Martin Lastrapes at InsideMartin.com:

http://www.martinlastrapes.com/2012/1...

Thanks yet again to Martin for the awesome interview questions and for his friendship, encouragement and support.

Enter to win a copy of my new novel, "Living Well is the Best Revenge: D.B. Cooper, The G-Heist Gang and the Missing Two Million," at:

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Today and tomorrow--Aug. 30 and 31st--my award winning collection of short fiction, "Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & The Women Who Screwed Me Over," is free on Amazon Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Wrestlers-Broke...

Greetings!

I just signed up for a Goodreads giveaway of my award-winning anthology entitled, "Dead Wrestlers, Broken Necks & The Women Who Screwed Me Over."

To enter, go here!

I was recently interviewed by the award-winning Buzz magazine (link below), and for me, this interview was as if my life had come full circle; during my senior year at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) I was a writer and editor at Buzz; I wrote quirky articles and conducted interviews, but now, over a decade later, not only did Buzz do an interview with me, but my interview was the cover story. A wonderful honor.

Thanks to Nick Martin at Buzz for the fun interview. You can read the article online at:

http://readbuzz.com/arts/2012/honest-...