Aaron D. Schneider

Greetings Dear Reader,

My name is Aaron D. Schneider and this is a little space to share a bit about myself and that… is a bit of a problem. You see I’m not the best at summarizing, I mean I have so many stories rattling around up here I have to get them out, so it’s going to be a challenge to make this concise.

Here goes…

There was much about my youth which might on the surface seem ordinary, comfortable, maybe even ideal. I had two parents who loved me, a roof always over my head, and opportunities to pursue dreams. My mother introduced me to the likes of Aslan and Bilbo Baggins, while my father read Scripture to me almost every single night when he was home. Very early on I was given the great gifts of being able to read and having a fertile imagination. It wasn’t long at all before I was consuming stories and poems from Shakespeare to Salvatore. I can’t pretend that there weren’t great blessings lavished on me even when I was too young to appreciate them.

Yet, for all that there were plenty of struggles along the way, many of my own making, but also many which I can take no credit for. From the difficulties of life as a military brat to a course of events that saw murder and sorrow setting up camp in my life, and there were twists and turns to my tale that saw me running to dark places in an effort to cope and control. Some of the scars of this I bear on my skin to this day for all the world to see and many more are in places that few will ever really know.

My life has been beauty wrapped in barbwire, a carnal calamity overshadowed by gratuitous grace.

Now I tell you all of this dear reader, because I want you to understand something. I am an author, and an orthodox Christian (note the little o if you please), and so in that sense I am a Christian author, but in another sense I am not. In the sense that I am, it is because I want every flawed piece of craftsmanship I pen to be a testament to the God who made me and his Son who saved me and his Spirit who is refining me. In the sense that I am not, it is because I don’t write stories which just appeal to modern American Christian sensibilities and proprietary preferences, and not just because I don’t want to, but I’m not sure I can. Art imitates life, and my life has been where even good men can do bad things and the hard pains of life sharpen the edges of broken people.

So where others can paint their portraits within the bounds of decency and good sense (and honestly I applaud them for it) I’m afraid I color outside the lines a bit. My stories will curse in anguish, shriek in terror,  and bleed from ragged wounds. There is horror and corruption and ignorance and cruelty to be found here, plumbing depths of ancient fears and the evil men do. Yet these pitch black shades bring out the raw lines of light of courage, hope, perseverance, and redemption. Dirty faced and world worn tales of the lowly exalted, crooked made straight, and the lost being found.

So these are not the typical stories perhaps, but they are my stories and maybe, just maybe, they’re your stories too. I hope we get a chance to find out together.

Sincerest Regards,

Aaron D. Schneider