A Further Look into the Christopher Pike
Christopher Pike’s real name is Kevin Christopher McFadden (von Ruff). He was born November 12 of 1954 in New York City, New York. He grew up in California and attended college for a short amount of time before he dropped out where he then worked different jobs. Some of the jobs Pike worked was house painting and computer programming. Pike started writing books in 1985.
Christopher Pike is his false name, which is mostly used by an author. Pike is a popular author in horror novels for teenagers. Some of the books he has written are: Slumber Party, Weekend, Chain Letter, Thirst (book 1-5), and the Spooksville series for children. He is New York Times bestselling author of Thirst No. 1 and Thirst No. 2, Remember Me, The Secret of Ka, and more than forty teen thrillers (Pike).
Pike is best known for his series Thirst and the Spooksville series. Pike writes mostly fiction series and novels. His fiction series include: Alosha (1-3), Chain Letter (1-2, Chained Together), Christopher
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Pike’s Tales of Terror (1-2), Final Friends (1-3, Until the End), Remember me (1-3, Volume one and two), Spookesville (1-24), The Last Vampire (1-6, Red Dice and Phantom, Evil Thirst and Creatures of Forever), Thirst (1-3), Witch World (1-2). Pike has 35 different novels as well, most were written in 1986-1999. His newer ones The Blind Mirror written in 2003, The Secret of Ka written in 2010, and Strange Girl was written in 2015 (von Ruff). Pike has 4 Omnibus’ which are “a volume containing several novels or other items previously published separately (Omnibus)”. Pike also has 15 short fiction books. (von Ruff) The time period that Pike wrote most of his novels in was during the 1990s. Pike’s work took place during the time period of the 20th and the 21st century. Technological advances during the 20th century allowed cheaper production of books, resulting in a significant rise in production of popular literature (World Heritage Encyclopedia). During this time, Pike was writing and publishing many different novels. During the 20th century, WWI, WWII, and the Cold War took place. These wars were violent, unable to tell what was going to happen next/unpredictable, and lives were lost. This was also something that took place in Pike’s work. His books had death, were unpredictable, and the reader was always guessing what was going to happen. The genre that Christopher Pike is best known for is horror or teen thrillers.
When Pike first started writing, he wrote science fiction and adult mystery, but his editor suggested moving to teen thrillers (Christopher Pike (Author)). Some other genres Pike has written are Science Fiction and young adult. “On November 25, 1996, his book Fall Into Darkness was adapted into a television movie of the same name, produced by his company Christopher Pike Productions” (Christopher Pike (Author)).
I consider Pike to be an important author to literature because he gives his horror/thriller books a different perspective. Like many other horror/thriller books everything starts out perfect for the characters until one day it turns into a mystery filled with unanswered questions and most likely death. In Pike’s books, he provides details and makes the reader question all of the moves the characters make and sends the reader on a journey throughout the
story. Christopher Pike’s books have a way of drawing the reader in and engulfing them in the storyline. His teenage thriller/horror novels are unexpected and keep the reader guessing throughout the whole book. They have a way of making the reader want more of the story and not wanting to put the book down. Even though most of Pike’s work is in the early to mid-1900s, they still offer many of the qualities of a book written in modern day. A reader isn’t able to tell that these books are older which gives him a quality that in literature I find important. If the work can stay intriguing throughout decades and into a new century, the author has succeeded in creating a piece of work that will hopefully be taught or read in classes. The common themes presented in the author’s work are anything can happen when you least expect it, anything can happen in an instant, and in the end the mastermind behind the plot takes a character(s) hostage and their plot is revealed. Also, most of the characters in Pike’s books are teenage girls in high school around junior or senior year who were often headstrong but acted older than their age. From the two books I have read from Christopher Pike, Slumber Party and Weekend, I believe “Slumber Party” exemplifies Pike’s take on the “human condition” because even though all these girls were close friends, they still ended up being back stabbed and lied to. Pike makes it clear that even though you can be really close to someone, they can always manage to hide secrets, no matter how big or small. The “human condition” of Pike’s characters signals that everyone will handle certain events differently, whether it is through lying, trying to forget about it, moving on from it and forgiving, or seeking revenge. Being human makes us more the same than different no matter what gender, race, or age all of us are because we all find a way to handle different situations. People need to learn who to trust because on the surface we are able to hide many different things such as emotions and thoughts but it is what we all hide deep down inside that maybe not many people know about us. No matter what age, race, or gender we are, we all have to learn who to trust and who not to trust. For example, in Christopher Pike’s book “Slumber Party”, the characters Lara, Rachael, Dana, and Mindy thought they could trust their friend Nell who they have known since they were kids but they found out she had lied to them about her sister, Nicole, being dead and at the end of the book about her sister dying in an accident, lying to her sister about what happened, all the main characters were involved in, Nell tries to kill them all in the end but ends up letting herself die. This passage from “Slumber Party” is from the end of the story when Nell kidnaps and ties up the other girls, Lara, Rachael, Dana, and Mindy, and Nicole is seeking out answers from the accident during her childhood: “Lara poured gasoline on me!” Nicole shouted. “Brandy, she was trying to put you out,” Rachael said. “And I did put you out. And I burned my hands doing so.” Nicole shook her head. “That’s not how it happened. Nell put me out. Nell saved me.” “Nell tried to,” Lara said. “We all tried.” “No! You didn’t even want me there. You all hated me!” Lara decided that the moment had come. “You’re wrong, Nicole. Nell was the only one who didn’t want you there. She was the one who spelled your name on the Ouija board as the demon. She was the one who pointed the planchette at you. Nell caused the accident!” In the end, Nicole finds out her sister lied to her about the other girls wanting her to die and that it truly was an accident. However, Nell wasn’t willing to give up her plan and make the other girls pay, Lara had to make the difficult decision of life or death and fire a flare gun that she had at the floor around Nell: The flare shot through Nell’s legs, ricocheting off the back wall, landing like a squirming snake in front of Nell on her right, where it detonated. The kerosene lit immediately, swallowing flames engulfing her like a hungry maw. Yet she stood her ground silently, not moving. A glimpse through the incandescence revealed an expression of acceptance. Lara thought she had never seen Nell so peaceful. Up until her childhood friend’s face began to melt. “Nell!!!” Nicole screamed, running clumsily, uselessly to her sister’s aid. Lara tried to trip her to stop her, but she was too slow. On the borders of the spreading bonfire, Nicole wavered before plunging her hands, two of the only parts of her body that had not been burned before, foolishly into the flames. Finally dropping to her knees, Nell made a shoving gesture, as if to say get back. Then she fell forward and was lost. Nell dies in the fire, even though Nicole tried to drag her out but Nell pushed her away and let herself burn. Nicole continues to have the close bond with the other girls after they get out of the building and wait for first responders and firefighters. This is a good example about “human condition” because even though these girls were close friends they ended up being hurt by the one they trusted. Life is full of struggles and no matter what age, gender, or race a person is, they will go through something that will test their character and their strength to keep moving forward. These girls were willing to help Nicole out even after she was in on Nell’s plan to kill them, but after finding out Nell lied to her about the accident that almost killed her, Nicole could no longer go through with the plan.
David Nelson Crosthwait Jr. is one of the lesser known inventors. He’s the designer that made the heating system for the spectacular Radio Music Hall and Rockefeller Center in New York City. Crosthwait was born on May 27, 1898, Nashville, Tennessee and died on February 25, West Lafayette, Indiana. He went to school and grew up in Kansas city, Missouri. His parents, David Nelson and Minnie Harris supported him in his early life well. Crosthwait excels in math and science. He was accepted to Purdue University and graduate at the young age of 15 in 1913 with a B.S in engineering. C.A Dunham Company immediately hired him as a researcher engineer for the company with his skill.
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