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He may be the master of murder, but when it comes to revealing his true identity, he is also a master of mystery.
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.
Note: This biography couldn't have been written without the help of several websites who provided this author with the essential facts about Christopher Pike on which this page is based. I would like to express my acknowledgement and gratitude to all of them
