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The basics...
Christopher Pike is a writer of thrillers for teens. His real name is Kevin McFadden and he was born in Brooklyn, New York, in November 1954. He took his pen name from a character in the first Star Trek episode. Pike dropped out of college and spent some time working as a computer programmer and writing science fiction. He was not successful as a science fiction writer and he began to write teen thrillers. He started writing when he was twenty-one and had his first novel Slumber Party, published when he was twenty-eight in 1985. It became a bestseller as well as Pike's next two books, Weekend and Chain Letter, thus establishing him as one of America's best-selling authot of young-adult fiction. His first adult novel. According to Biography Today, "although his plots were occasionally far-fetched, Pike was so good at building and maintaining suspense that his readers didn't care. And unlike many other writers for young adults, Pike didn't talk down to his teenage audience. His books presented well-defined characters who, like teens everywhere, went to dances, threw parties, fell in love, and had trouble communicating with parents. But they often chose extreme or unusual ways to deal with their problems." In his early books, Pike often relied on young female narrators whose observations about people and events were essential to the novel's plot. He was fascinated by females in general, because they seemed more complex, and it was easier for them to show their fear. But young adults of both sexes started to buy his books. Pike's thrillers eventually led to a boom in the horror market for teenagers, replacing sports and adventure stories for boys as well as the romances that had traditionally attracted young female readers." For a further in depth look at Pike, the story behind the story teller including where to write him, here. |
