BIOGRAPHY Jon Aristides is the pseudonym of an academic and writer who divides his time between Italy, Thailand and the Middle East. He was born in England forty-two years ago. His First book, The Mask Of Priam, which was published by Kudos Press in the summer of 2001, was critically acclaimed as the first utterance of a new and important voice in the field of fantasy/horror fiction. However, it is very hard to pigeon-hole Aristides's work. "Etrusco", is an elegiac story of lost love coming around again (even if it is also a perfectly crafted tale of the supernatural!) The title story, "The Mask Of Priam", is a vicious tale of the loveless and the lost in a city of ancient mosques and artifacts. The unexpected twist in the ending, is a stunning tour-de-force. Jon Aristides's new book of short stories, The Black Scarab Of Amun-Ra, was published by American Book Publishers in the first part of 2004. It continues and develops the obsessive themes that were introduced to the reading public in The Mask Of Priam. The interest in the diverse ways in which very different characters face their final hour is once again prominent. However, the writing in a story like "The Lines of Fate" is quite exquisite: Aristides weaves a web of the finest intricacy in his exploration of lost and obsessive love. Jon Aristides is currently working on a novel about the years 1933-1945.