The first essential fact to know about Christopher Pike is that he
isn't Christopher Pike, confusing huh? Well, it's actually a pen name
taken from a Star Trek captain in the hit 1960s T.V show. His real name is
Kevin McFadden, he was born in November 1954 in New York, however these days
he lives in the more warmer climate of Santa Barbara, California. He is a
very private person, which is to be respected, but sadly it means biographical
details are few and far between and there are virtually no publicity pictures
of him, so no-one really knows what he looks like . What is known is that
he dropped out of university and worked as, amongst other things, a computer
programmer before turning to writing full-time. His hobbies include running,
astronomy, reading, meditation and surfing, he is currently single.
Like all writers, Christopher Pike had to deal with many rejection letters
before finally achieving sucess, his first books were Weekend and Slumber
Party published in 1985 when he was only 28 years old. They were an instant
hit in America, and quickly became popular with teenagers worldwide. He has
now sold millions of books and is acknowledged as the master of teen horror.
However, he has been quoted as saying his books are not written for teenagers,
just written about them. This important difference may be a crucial
factor in his sucess, terating his audience with the maturity, respect and
intelligence given to adult readers has earned their loyalty, and gained
older fans no longer in their adolescence.
His books transcend the usual horror fare, rather than focusing on
stomuch-churning blood and guts violence, he prefers to invoke a response
from redaers by playing on much deeper, primitive feelings, psychological
terrors that lurk in the deepest corners of the human mind. The fear of death,
heightened in teenagers just starting to live their own life, and that of
the unknown, the worst creatures, human or otherwise, that the imagination
can conjure up. A prime example of this is the novel 'Whisper of Death',
in this a group of friends are trapped alone in a nightmare world created
by a demonic ex-schoolfriend who kills them off one by one, the horror builds
gradually as they realise their isolation and discover what fate has in store
for them, the female narrator's fear and gut-wrenching despair at knowing
she is going to die, horribly, and nothing will stop it is perfectly described
and deeply unsettling.
Such is the power of his writing. Christopher Pike has created a world in
which he puts teenagers in mind-blowing situations but manages to make them
realistic, well-rounded characters who take drugs, drink, sleep with each
other, commit horrifc crimes and occasionally don't turn out to be human
anyway. In this place, as in real life, good guys do bad things and there
aren't always happy endings. Whatever the key to his sucess may be, with
over 40 titles in print, it looks set to continue. Even though Christopher
Pike maintains a mystery about himself as deep as any of the plots in his
books, his popularity endures, and long may it continue to do so.
N.B. This biography is based upon another website which in turn obtained
most of its facts from several other websites on this brilliant author. I
would like to show my appreciation of their hard work in obtaining this essential
facts.
