Christopher Pike, master of thriller, sci-fi, and the supernatural, has reemerged from the shadows to publish his latest book, MAGIC FIRE. It's an eerie story about a boy who is a pyromaniac and also has the power to start fires --- a dangerous combination. TBB had a special opportunity to speak with Pike about his latest book, his own fascination with pyromania, the popularity of THE LAST VAMPIRE series, and hear about his next novel, THE GRAVE. Don't miss your chance to find out more about Pike, the author with boundless imagination for horror and suspense.

TBB: Your stories are extra-frightening because they overlap mundane high school situations with the supernatural realm, and they threaten ordinary high school seniors with otherworldly events. How did you initially choose this successful formula of horror, hauntings, and unrequited loves?
       CP: I am often asked about my formulas. As far as I know, I don't have any. When I sit down to plot a story I do not think of specific elements I will put in. I just try to write a good story, a natural story. By natural I mean something that does not have the feel of being constructed. Many books and movies are purposely designed to push certain buttons, a type of storytelling I dislike.

TBB: In your latest book, MAGIC FIRE, the main character, Mark Charm, is a pyromaniac and has the ability to start fires --- this is reminiscent of Stephen King's FIRESTARTER. What inspired you to write about this topic?
       CP: Mark's ability to start fires with his mind is not that important in the book, especially when the book is seen as a whole. But I have always been a bit of a pyromaniac myself. When we have big fires in Southern California, I am in heaven. I love to watch them and smell them, get real close. But I have never started any myself, not yet.

TBB: Do you know the outcome of a horror novel or thriller when you begin writing it? Do you outline your work ahead of time, or do you simply write from start to finish?
      CP: I usually have an outline, although lately I have started several books without knowing the ending. But when I started writing I used to plot each chapter in great detail. Now I take it more as it comes.

TBB: Have you ever radically changed a book's ending at the last minute? That is, do you sometimes decide that a particular character isn't really a murderer or that a certain character should or shouldn't die a gruesome death?
      CP: Yes. I have gone up to the last page of a book and either allowed a character to live that I thought I would kill, or vice versa. Often the story forces the decision on me. I did not want Sita in THE LAST VAMPIRE to die, or Lauren in THE SEASON OF PASSAGE. Both of these characters I fought to save, but they slipped away somehow. Lately, I have leaned toward sad endings. I find myself killing more and more of my most loved characters. I must be developing a mean streak.

TBB: As a teenager, you read Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov; today, you acknowledge Stephen King as an inspiration. Who else do you read? Do you read mostly horror and sci-fi, or do you have other tastes in fiction and nonfiction that you haven't divulged?
      CP: I actually don't read that much horror or sci-fi, at least not in the last few years. I read more straight thrillers, James Patterson and Elmore Leonard-people like that. But I still like a good horror book, I just don't find many. I also read a lot of nonfiction these days: science and history and real life mysteries.

TBB: Early in THE STAR GROUP, one of your characters (a fiction writer himself) foreshadows the plot of your novel MAGIC FIRE. How many novels do you work on at once? What is your writing process?
      CP: I usually work on one book at a time, if I want to get it done. But I have several cooking at once. I almost always write late at night.

TBB: In the introductions to the stories in TALES OF TERROR, you mention that you "used to" base doomed characters on your then- girlfriends. Do you think that it is safe for fiction writers to fantasize about the death of a friend for the sake of a plot? Do you still include friends (and enemies) in your narratives --- and why or why not?
      CP: I was teasing. I almost never use a real person in my stories. I find the connections too distracting. However, when people ask to be in a book, they usually want to be a villain and they always want to die a gruesome death. I don't know why that is, maybe I have strange friends.

TBB: In TALES OF TERROR, you suggest that characters (like Sita) sometimes speak through you. Meanwhile, you're quite a prolific novelist, so you have to do a lot of "listening" to these characters. Do you try to focus on one voice at a time, and do certain strong characters sometimes battle for attention?
      CP: Yes, I often have a few stories battling for attention in my head. But whenever I work on several projects at once, it is always a disaster. In the end I have to set everything aside and just do the one book. At the same time, I occasionally have a character come that pushes everyone else out of the way. Sita in The Last Vampire series was such a character, as was Shari Cooper in the Remember Me series. Their voice just came, I don't feel like I consciously created them.