Diabolique Magazine – Issue 13 to Feature Author Christopher Pike

Christopher Pike is the pseudonym of American author Kevin Christopher McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children’s fiction, but whose expertise is in the thriller genre. Mr. McFadden is an extremely private person and the little that’s known about him has been strictly collected from his books and very rare interviews. Regardless, he liked DIABOLIQUE so much that he agreed to give us an exclusive interview and discuss his new book. He acknowledges Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Agatha Christie, Carl Sagan and Stephen King as his influences.

Kevin McFadden was born in New York in 1954, but grew up in California where he currently resides in Santa Barbara. Mr. 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.

Some of his well-known works include The Last Vampire series, the Final Friend and Remember Me trilogies, Witch, Whisper of Death, the Aloshaseries and Fall into Darkness. 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. The movie is no longer in print, however, some DVDs can still be found online. Mr. 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.

Although his books are officially 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. As of September 2010, FilmNation has acquired the screen rights to The Last Vampire series. It was never released.

Inside DIABOLIQUE issue 13:

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GHOULS – Kristen Micek examines how far vampires have fallen with the Twilightseries
CONVICTIONS – Short fiction by award winning author Michael A. Arnzen, reprinted with permission from his collection 100 Jolts
ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY – Chris Hallock talks with Christopher Pike about his new book and about the increased acceptance of horror stories for young people
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT – Spring Wolf reveals the many incarnations of the character destined to become Santa
‘TIS THE SEASON TO EVISCERATE – David Calbert on Santa’s wayward career in horror films
TOYS OF TERROR – Brandon Kosters provides a glimpse at deadly dolls in cinema and TV history
HORROR INK – Scott Feinblatt looks at horror tattoos and speaks with the artists who create them
DAY OF THE WOMAN – Michele Galgana interviews Shannon Lark about the Viscera Film Festival, a horror fest highlighting women filmmakers
WHERE IS CHRIS MARKER NOW…? – David Kleiler’s retrospective of La Jetée, the late experimental filmmaker’s project which inspired Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys

Order your copy of Diabolique Issue 13 here