Christopher Pike (author)

For other people of the same name, see Christopher Pike (disambiguation).

Kevin Christopher McFadden
Born	11/12/1954 New York, New York
Pen name	Christopher Pike
Occupation	Author
Nationality	American
Period	1985–present
Genres	Horror, Thriller, Science fiction, Young adult
Influences Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Agatha Christie, Stephen King
Influenced Aprilynne Pike

Christopher Pike is the pseudonym of American author Kevin Christopher McFadden^[1] (born November 12, 1954). He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction, but whose expertise is in the thriller genre.^[2] The pseudonym Christopher Pike is allegedly a reference to the captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in the Star Trek: The Original Series pilot.^[3] (He is not, however, related to Star Trek actress Gates McFadden.)

History

Kevin McFadden was born in New York in 1954, but grew up in California where he currently resides in Santa Barbara.^[4] As a college dropout, Pike turned to house painting and programmed computers prior to becoming a bestselling author.^[5] Pike was unsuccessful as a budding science fiction and adult mystery author, until his work was discovered by an editor who suggested he try writing a teen thriller. This suggestion resulted in Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend.

Well-known works include The Last Vampire series, the Final Friends and Remember Me trilogies, Witch, Whisper of Death, the Alosha series and Fall into Darkness. According to Amazon.com, Pike currently has four titles available on Audiobook cassette/CD: Fall Into Darkness, Witch, Bury Me Deep and Falling.^[6]

On November 25, 1996, Fall Into Darkness was released as a television movie directed by Mark Sobel, starring Tatyana Ali and Jonathan Brandis. This movie was produced by Christopher Pike Productions.^[7] The movie is no longer in print, however, some DVDs can still be found online.^[8]

Also in 1996, fans created a website based on Pike's novel The Midnight Club to discuss the author and share their stories.^[9] This site no longer exists.

McFadden is also the author of the popular children's series Spooksville and the adult novels: Sati, The Season of Passage, The Listeners, The Cold One, The Blind Mirror and Falling.

McFadden is an extremely private person; the little known about him is collected from his books and very rare interviews.^[10] In the "About the Author" section of several of his books, McFadden lists his interests as astronomy, meditation, reading, running, surfing and making sure his books are prominently displayed in his local bookshop. He acknowledges Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Agatha Christie, Carl Sagan and Stephen King as his influences.^[11]

Although his books are known as thrillers, they are often more focused on aspects of science fiction, spirituality, and whodunit. References to Egyptian, Greek and Hindu mythology are also common.

According to the Simon & Schuster author page, The Last Vampire (Thirst) series and the Alosha series are slated to be released as feature films.^[12] As of September 2010, FilmNation has acquired the screen rights to The Last Vampire series.^[13]

Because Pike didn't have time to write the sequel to The Cold One,^[14] tentatively titled Seedling, and the fact that the next book in the Alosha series, Nemi, has yet to be written, fans have begun an online petition for the completion of Nemi at ipetition.com.

Works/Publications

Young adult fiction

• Slumber Party (1985)
• Weekend (1986)
• The Tachyon Web (1986)
• Last Act (1988)
• Spellbound (1988)
• Gimme a Kiss (1988)
• Scavenger Hunt (1989)
• Fall into Darkness (1990)
• See You Later (1990)
• Witch (1990)
• Whisper of Death (1991)
• Die Softly (1991)
• Bury Me Deep (1991)
• Master of Murder (1992)
• Monster (1992)
• Road to Nowhere (1993)
• The Eternal Enemy (1993)
• The Immortal (1993)
• The Wicked Heart (1993)
• The Midnight Club (1994)
• The Lost Mind (1995)
• The Visitor (1995)
• The Starlight Crystal (1996)
• The Star Group (1997)
• Execution of Innocence (1997)
• Hollow Skull (1998)
• Magic Fire (1999)
• The Grave (1999)
• The Secret of Ka (2010)
• To Die For – Omnibus collects Slumber Party and Weekend (2010)
• Time of Death – Omnibus collects Bury Me Deep and Chain Letter (2011)
• Master of Murder – Omnibus collects Last Act and Master of Murder (2011)
• Witch World (TBA)

Series

Cheerleaders

• Cheerleaders #2: Getting Even (1985)

Christopher Pike only wrote one book in this forty-seven book series. Other writers of this series include Caroline B. Cooney and Diane Hoh.^[15]

Chain Letter

• Chain Letter (1986)
• Chain Letter 2: The Ancient Evil (1992)
• Chained Together – Omnibus collects Chain Letter 1 and 2. (1994)

Final Friends

• Final Friends 1: The Party (1988)
• Final Friends 2: The Dance (1988)
• Final Friends 3: The Graduation (1989)
• Final Friends Trilogy – Omnibus collects Final Friends 1, 2 and 3. (1999)
• Until the End – Omnibus collects Final Friends 1, 2 and 3. (2011)

Remember Me (book series)

• Remember Me (1989)
• Remember Me 2: The Return (1994)
• Remember Me 3: The Last Story (1995)
• Remember Me – Omnibus collects Remember Me 1, 2 and 3. (2010)

The Last Vampire

• The Last Vampire (1994)
• The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood (1994)
• The Last Vampire 3: Red Dice (1995)
• The Last Vampire 4: Phantom (1996)
• The Last Vampire 5: Evil Thirst (1996)
• The Last Vampire 6: Creatures of Forever (1996)
• The Last Vampire 7: The Eternal Dawn (2010)
• The Last Vampire 8: The Shadow of Death (2011)

Thirst

• Thirst No. 1 – Omnibus collects The Last Vampire 1, 2 and 3. (2009)
• Thirst No. 2 – Omnibus collects The Last Vampire 4, 5 and 6. (2010)
• Thirst No. 3 – The Last Vampire 7: The Eternal Dawn (2010)
• Thirst No. 4 – The Last Vampire 8: The Shadow of Death (August 2011)

Spooksville

• Spooksville – series of 24 children's books (1995–1999)

Alosha

• Alosha (2004)
• The Shaktra (2005)
• The Yanti (2006)
• Nemi (TBA)

Short stories

• Tales of Terror – Six original short stories, includes a Master of Murder sequel: The Fan from Hell. (1997)
• Tales of Terror #2 – Five original short stories, includes a Master of Murder sequel: The Burning Witch. (1998)

Anthologies

• Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror by 13 Masters of Horror – ed. T. Pines; contains Pike's stories Collect Call and Collect Call 2: The Black Walker. (1991)
• 666: The Number of the Beast – contains Pike's story Saving Face. (2007)

Adult fiction

• Sati (1990)
• The Season of Passage (1992)
• The Listeners (1995)
• The Cold One (1995)
• Seedling (planned sequel to The Cold One never written)^[16]
• The Blind Mirror (2003)
• Falling (2007)
• The Sixth Door (TBA)

References

1. ^ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/christopher-pike/
2. ^ http://www.biblio.com/christopher-pike~104629~author
3. ^ http://www.biblio.com/christopher-pike~104629~author
4. ^ http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Christopher-Pike/1080960/biography
5. ^ http://www.bookrags.com/biography/christopher-pike-aya/
6. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Pike/e/B000AQ2YH6
7. ^ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0237134/
8. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005RZQW
9. ^ http://www.answers.com/topic/christopher-pike-1
10. ^ Jacket Flap: Christopher Pike biography
11. ^ http://www.biblio.com/christopher-pike~104629~author
12. ^ http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Christopher-Pike/1080960/biography
13. ^ http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/36464/filmnation-to-show-us-the-last-vampire
14. ^ http://likepike.blogspot.com/2010/02/christopher-pike-fan-club.html
15. ^ http://www.mymcpl.org/cfapps/juvser/title.cfm?id=1054
16. ^ http://likepike.blogspot.com/2010/02/christopher-pike-fan-club.html

External links

• Who is Christopher Pike? — A biography on the author as written by Melissa Blease.
• Christopher Pike Fan Club Up to date news and information regarding Christopher Pike and his novels.
• Christopher Pike at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Persondata
Name	Pike, Christopher (pseudonym)
Alternative names	McFadden, Kevin
Short description	American writer
Date of birth	November, 1955
Place of birth	New York, New York
Date of death
Place of death