Frank E. Peretti

Infobox Writer
name = Frank E. Peretti


birthdate = birth date|1951|1|13|mf=y
birthplace = Canada
occupation = Christian Author
nationality = Canadian
genre = Christian fiction
notableworks = "This Present Darkness"

Frank E. Peretti (born January 13, 1951) is a best-selling contemporary Christian fiction novelist with more than twelve million copies of his work in print. Best known for his supernatural thriller titles "This Present Darkness" and "The Oath", he primarily focuses on Christian topics, especially those surrounding spiritual warfare. Born in Canada and raised in Seattle, Washington, Peretti has held ministry credentials with the Assemblies of God and now lives in northern Idaho with his wife.

Writing career

Early success

"This Present Darkness", released in 1986, achieved remarkable sales success, remaining on the Christian Booksellers Association's top ten best-sellers list for over 150 consecutive weeks; its story of a demonic struggle with the heavenly hosts for control of a small town captivated the imaginations of thousands of readers across the United States. Its sequel, "Piercing the Darkness", as also well-received, and, together, the two books have sold more than 3.5 million copies to date. He continued the children's series that "The Door in the Dragon's Throat" began during the late 80s, and also worked on "Prophet", which he released in 1992. "Prophet" combined Peretti's now-signature focus on the spiritual realm with the issue of abortion.

Developing his craft

Peretti reportedly felt bad about his early books' success and insisted that he had not yet developed his craft as a writer sufficiently. He began working with secular publishers and editors in an attempt to improve his writing. The result, "The Oath", published in 1995, has sold more than one million copies worldwide and was the recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction. "The Oath" left behind the world of angels and demons developed in his previous books but certainly didn't abandon the fantastic; the story centers around the siege of a fictional Washington mining town held by a vicious dragon.

In the mid-90s, Peretti picked up his children's series, the Cooper Kids Adventure series, publishing four more titles. He also wrote "The Visitation", a story of a small wheat town in eastern Washington visited by a man who claims to be a Jesus reincarnate. "The Visitation" was released in 1999.

Change of focus

The turn of the millennium saw Peretti's departure from writing his popular novels. He dwelled on the subject of bullying in his non-fiction titles "No More Victims" (2001) and "No More Bullies" (2003), and in his 2000 autobiographical story of childhood struggles with physical disfigurement and an examination of how society emotionally abuses and scars children, "The Wounded Spirit". He also wrote "Hangman's Curse" and "Nightmare Academy", the only two books in the short-lived science fiction Veritas Project series for teenagers.

Return to adult novels

Peretti's first novel of the new millennium, "Monster", is a thrilling novel that explores many angles of "survival of the fittest" and brings up objections to the evolutionary theory. Using the legend of Bigfoot as a starter, "Monster" is about a horrifying predator that terrorizes the woods of northern Idaho.

"House" was released in April 2006 and co-authored by Peretti with fellow supernatural author Ted Dekker. This latest novel follows in the footsteps of his 1990s works in its horror-based nature, but also incorporates the spiritual elements of his "Darkness" books.

Films of Peretti's work

"Tilly" was adapted into a short forty minute film by a pro-life group, Love Life America in 2002 and shown on both PAX TV and briefly on the EWTN show "Defending Life" before being released on DVD.

Later, 2002 saw a movie based on "Hangman's Curse" in which Frank Peretti had a small role as an eccentric professor. It had a limited release in theaters but appears to have been successful enough to encourage film producers to continue developing Peretti's books into films. "The Visitation" was also made into a film by Twentieth Century Fox. "House " is in post-production and set to be released into theaters in the Fall of 2008. Fact|date=January 2007.

Peretti is interested in making more films based on his books. He has written a screenplay for "Monster" Fact|date=January 2007 and is hoping to make films for "The Oath" and "This Present Darkness" a reality, but acknowledges that they will be high budget projects. (cite web|url = http://www.frankperetti.com/biography-119/frequentlyaskedquestions.htm|title = Frank Peretti FAQ)

Critical reviews

Frank Peretti has received overwhelmingly positive praise from many Christian book reviews, his books being heralded as telling entertaining stories with complex interwoven plots. [http://frankperetti.com/reviews2.htm] He has been described by Irving Hexham as a "sanctified Stephen King", and James Lewis suggests that the novels permit Christians to "indulge in reading good horror/adventure stories without the pangs of guilt they might feel reading secular stories". Fact|date=January 2007

Much of the negative reviews of Peretti's work are targeted at his earliest novels. Steve Rabey has criticized the novel for its "simplistic approach to good and evil" and "overdone" descriptions of New Age characters, but positively indicated its effective technique in heightening the story's tension by portraying the plot in the levels of human interaction and angelic-demonic influences. Fact|date=January 2007 J. Lanier Burns has found the style to be "engaging" with a vivid plot, but argued that the world view presented "is dualistic to an implausible, unbiblical extreme" and found a "disturbing lack of emphasis on the almightiness of God". Fact|date=January 2007. Michael Maudlin appreciates Peretti's works and fast-paced plots, but faults "Piercing the Darkness" for its "forced apologetics, stilted dialogue, and stereotyped characterizations". Fact|date=January 2007

Theological criticisms

Peretti's fictional portrayal of spiritual warfare reflects in part his background in the Assemblies of God and the contemporary focus of Pentecostal writings on the demonic. His concept of Territorial Spirits reigning over cities is paralleled in non-fiction works in theology and missions by Pentecostal writers such as C. Peter Wagner, Larry Lea, Ed Silvoso and Ed Murphy.

As his novels have been widely sold and read throughout Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, Peretti's fiction has excited the imaginations of pastors and non-clergy alike on the subject of spiritual warfare. Michael Maudlin reports that some readers have been so enthused they have declared that "This Present Darkness" is the best book ever written after the Bible. Others have added the novels to the list of textbooks recommended for use in Bible college courses on non-Christian religions. Fact|date=January 2007

Some critical reservations have been expressed by a number of Evangelical and Pentecostal writers that many readers are using Peretti's novels as manuals on prayer, exorcism, spiritual warfare and as guidebooks about the New Age. For example, Kim Riddlebarger expresses alarm that many readers have "redefined their entire worldview based upon a novel" and insists that the Bible does not call upon Christians to "engage in spiritual warfare as a combat between angels and demons." ("This Present Paranoia", pp 278 and 279).

Irving Hexham rejects Peretti's depiction of the New Age as confirming a negative stereotype. Hexham observes that Peretti's novels reflect the anxieties that many fundamentalist and evangelical Christians have about secular society, the mass media, the social sciences and tertiary education. He is also disturbed "to see the way Frank Peretti has become a popular and oft-quoted authority on the New Age" because "his actual qualifications in religious matters are minimal". ("The Evangelical Response to the New Age", p. 157).

Scholars in the field of Christian missions, such as Paul G. Hiebert and A. Scott Moreau, detect an unbiblical theology of demons in the novels. Hiebert indicates that Peretti's novels reflect a much wider cultural problem, namely the lingering influence of pre-Christian religious ideology. Fact|date=January 2007

Bibliography

Cooper Kids Adventure Series

Title	Year	Summary
"The Door in the Dragon's Throat"	1985	In the first book in the series, Dr. Jake Cooper and his two children arrive in the Middle-Eastern country of Nepur to help the president solve the mystery of the Dragon's Throat, a big hole in the desert. Deep inside is a massive door, but what is behind it? Treasure from a lost kingdom, or some ancient evil? They find out in the dramatic climax!
"Escape from the Island of Aquarius"	1986	The Cooper family go in search of a missing missionary who disappeared many years ago on a mysterious island.
"The Tombs of Anak"	1987
"Trapped at the Bottom of the Sea"	1988	Lila boards the Mac 5302, only to find out the plane was being hijacked. She insisted on leaving her father's teaching expedition to go back to the United States to stay with her aunt. Now she is a prisoner in a locked, top secret weapons pod with no way of escape...
"The Secret of the Desert Stone"	1996	The Coopers try to work out the origin of a massive stone that has appeared overnight separating a native tribe from the country's capital.
"The Deadly Curse of Toco-rey"	1996
"The Legend of Annie Murphy"	1997
"Mayday at Two Thousand Five Hundred Feet", aka "Flying Blind"	1998	Taking flying lessons with his uncle, Jay is forced to fly without sight when his uncle is knocked unconscious.

The Veritas Project Series

# "Hangman's Curse" (2001)
# "Nightmare Academy" (2002)

Adult Novels

* "This Present Darkness" (1986)
* "Piercing the Darkness" (1988)
* "Tilly" (1988)
* "" (1991)
* "Prophet" (1992)
* "The Oath" (1995)
* "The Visitation" (1999)
* "Monster" (2005)
* "House" (2006; with Ted Dekker)

Non-fiction

* "The Wounded Spirit" (2000)
* "No More Victims" (2001)
* "No More Bullies" (2003)

Filmography

In addition to his appearance in "Hangman's Curse", Peretti has had a voice role in "Flo, the Lying Fly", the second computer animated entry in the "Hermie and Friends" series for children. He has also made a number of videos (and associated audio tapes and books) in which he takes on the persona of Mr. Henry, a slightly eccentric inventor and Bible teacher. While the format is unusual, it contains none of the controversial theology of his adults' books. House, a book he co-authored with Ted Dekker, is also being filmed and is in post-production.

External links

* [http://www.frankperetti.com/ Official site]