Frank E. Peretti
Encyclopedia
Frank Edward Peretti is a New York Times best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novel
s primarily focus on the supernatural. To date, his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Peretti is best known for his novels This Present Darkness
(1986) and The Oath
(1995). Peretti has held ministry credentials with the Assemblies of God
, and formerly played the banjo in a bluegrass band called Northern Cross. He now lives in northern Idaho
with his wife, Barbara.
, and then assisted his father in pastoring a small Assembly of God church. In 1983, he gave up his pastoring position and began taking construction jobs to make ends meet.
(1985). A year later, he published This Present Darkness
(1986), his most famous and popular novel to date. This Present Darkness was not an immediate success, but gradually word began to spread, and then sales rocketed sky-high. The book remained on the Christian Booksellers Association's top ten best-sellers list for over 150 consecutive weeks, and has currently sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Peretti followed This Present Darkness
with a sequel, Piercing the Darkness
(1989), another tremendous success. Combined, This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness have sold 3.5 million copies.
Peretti also took the characters from his first work The Door in the Dragon's Throat
and used them to write The Cooper Kids Adventure Series, releasing three more titles that contained the same Indiana Jones
-style adventures similar to The Door in the Dragon's Throat.
Throughout the 1990s, Peretti continued to write fulltime, releasing Prophet (1992), The Oath
(1995), and the The Visitation (1999), as well as adding 4 more titles to The Cooper Kids Adventure Series. The Oath
, generally regarded as one of Peretti's greater works, has sold more than one million copies, and received the ECPA
Gold Medallion Book Award
for Best Fiction in 1996. The Visitation landed at #19 on the New York Times Bestseller list and was adapted into a film in 2006.
titles No More Victims (2001) and No More Bullies (2003), and in his autobiographical
The Wounded Spirit (2000), he relates his childhood struggles with physical disfigurement and examines how society emotionally abuses and scars children.
In 2001, Peretti released Hangman's Curse
, the first book in The Veritas Project series for teens. The book was an instant hit among both teens and adults, and was made into a low-budget film in 2004. The second book in The Veritas Project, Nightmare Academy
, was published in 2002 with equal success. The two books together sold more than 500,000 copies according to Thomas Nelson
Publishers. Peretti has mentioned that there may be more possible entries into The Veritas Project in the future.
Peretti's first full-length novel after 2000 was the thriller, Monster (2005), which played with Bigfoot
legend and explored issues surrounding the "survival of the fittest
" and creationist-based objections to evolution
. Monster hit the New York Times Bestseller list at #34 on its first week and rose to #29 on its second week.
In April 2006, Peretti and fellow supernatural author Ted Dekker
co-authored the novel House. It received mixed reviews from Peretti and Dekker fans, but was popular enough to inspire a movie based on the book. Starring Michael Madsen
, the movie debuted at theaters in 2008.
In April 2010, it was announced that Peretti had signed with Howard Books (a division of Simon & Schuster
) for a new novel to be published in late 2011.
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
. It was directed by Stephen Vidano and produced by IMS Productions.
In 2004 Hangman's Curse
was made into a film, in which Peretti himself 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 in 2006.
House was released in select theaters on November 7, 2008.
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.
, 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.
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 dangers of the New Age movement. 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).
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s primarily focus on the supernatural. To date, his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Peretti is best known for his novels This Present Darkness
This Present Darkness
This Present Darkness is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986 by Crossway Books, This Present Darkness was Peretti's first published novel for adults and shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer, and spiritual warfare as demons and angels interact and struggle for...
(1986) and The Oath
The Oath (Peretti)
The Oath is an allegorical 1995 contemporary Christian fiction horror/fantasy novel by Frank E. Peretti. The recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction, The Oath is one of Peretti's most critically acclaimed and layered novels, having sold over one million copies worldwide...
(1995). Peretti has held ministry credentials with the Assemblies of God
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
, and formerly played the banjo in a bluegrass band called Northern Cross. He now lives in northern Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
with his wife, Barbara.
Biography
Frank E. Peretti was born in Canada and raised in Seattle, Washington.Peretti was a natural storyteller who, as a child in Seattle, regularly told stories to neighborhood children. After graduating from high school, he began playing banjo with a local bluegrass group. Later, he studied English, screen writing and film at UCLAUniversity of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, and then assisted his father in pastoring a small Assembly of God church. In 1983, he gave up his pastoring position and began taking construction jobs to make ends meet.
Early Writing Career
While working at a ski factory, Peretti wrote and published a well-received adventure story for kids, The Door in the Dragon's ThroatThe Door in the Dragon's Throat
The Door in the Dragon's Throat is the first novel in the Cooper Kids Adventure Series by Frank E. Peretti, published in 1985. The novel introduces us to Dr...
(1985). A year later, he published This Present Darkness
This Present Darkness
This Present Darkness is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986 by Crossway Books, This Present Darkness was Peretti's first published novel for adults and shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer, and spiritual warfare as demons and angels interact and struggle for...
(1986), his most famous and popular novel to date. This Present Darkness was not an immediate success, but gradually word began to spread, and then sales rocketed sky-high. The book remained on the Christian Booksellers Association's top ten best-sellers list for over 150 consecutive weeks, and has currently sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Peretti followed This Present Darkness
This Present Darkness
This Present Darkness is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986 by Crossway Books, This Present Darkness was Peretti's first published novel for adults and shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer, and spiritual warfare as demons and angels interact and struggle for...
with a sequel, Piercing the Darkness
Piercing the Darkness
Piercing the Darkness, which was published in 1988, is a sequel to Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness. It shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer and the spiritual realm. Piercing the Darkness won the ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for best fiction in 1990...
(1989), another tremendous success. Combined, This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness have sold 3.5 million copies.
Peretti also took the characters from his first work The Door in the Dragon's Throat
The Door in the Dragon's Throat
The Door in the Dragon's Throat is the first novel in the Cooper Kids Adventure Series by Frank E. Peretti, published in 1985. The novel introduces us to Dr...
and used them to write The Cooper Kids Adventure Series, releasing three more titles that contained the same Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
-style adventures similar to The Door in the Dragon's Throat.
Throughout the 1990s, Peretti continued to write fulltime, releasing Prophet (1992), The Oath
The Oath (Peretti)
The Oath is an allegorical 1995 contemporary Christian fiction horror/fantasy novel by Frank E. Peretti. The recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction, The Oath is one of Peretti's most critically acclaimed and layered novels, having sold over one million copies worldwide...
(1995), and the The Visitation (1999), as well as adding 4 more titles to The Cooper Kids Adventure Series. The Oath
The Oath (Peretti)
The Oath is an allegorical 1995 contemporary Christian fiction horror/fantasy novel by Frank E. Peretti. The recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction, The Oath is one of Peretti's most critically acclaimed and layered novels, having sold over one million copies worldwide...
, generally regarded as one of Peretti's greater works, has sold more than one million copies, and received the ECPA
Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
The is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian content worldwide...
Gold Medallion Book Award
Gold Medallion Book Award
The Christian Book Award is an annual award given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association to honor Christian content in several categories, including Bibles, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, Bible Reference, and Non-Fiction. Winners are announced each year at the industry's Executive...
for Best Fiction in 1996. The Visitation landed at #19 on the New York Times Bestseller list and was adapted into a film in 2006.
Later Writing Career
The turn of the millennium saw Peretti's departure from writing his popular novels. He dwellt on the subject of bullying in his non-fictionNon-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
titles No More Victims (2001) and No More Bullies (2003), and in his autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
The Wounded Spirit (2000), he relates his childhood struggles with physical disfigurement and examines how society emotionally abuses and scars children.
In 2001, Peretti released Hangman's Curse
Hangman's Curse
Hangman's Curse is a 2001 novel by Frank E. Peretti. It is the first book in the Veritas Project series for teenagers.-Plot overview:The story centers around an apparently supernatural case taken by a family of investigators who make up the Veritas Project...
, the first book in The Veritas Project series for teens. The book was an instant hit among both teens and adults, and was made into a low-budget film in 2004. The second book in The Veritas Project, Nightmare Academy
Nightmare Academy
Nightmare Academy is a Christian fictional novel and is the second novel in the Veritas Project series authored by Frank Peretti. It takes place in an academy run by faculty who supposedly work for the U.S. government. However, it is really an organization entirely outside of the government,...
, was published in 2002 with equal success. The two books together sold more than 500,000 copies according to Thomas Nelson
Thomas Nelson (publisher)
Thomas Nelson is a publishing firm that began in Scotland in 1798 as the namesake of its founder. Its former US division is currently the sixth largest American trade publisher and the world's largest Christian publisher. It is owned by the private equity firm Kohlberg & Company...
Publishers. Peretti has mentioned that there may be more possible entries into The Veritas Project in the future.
Peretti's first full-length novel after 2000 was the thriller, Monster (2005), which played with Bigfoot
Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
legend and explored issues surrounding the "survival of the fittest
Survival of the fittest
"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase originating in evolutionary theory, as an alternative description of Natural selection. The phrase is today commonly used in contexts that are incompatible with the original meaning as intended by its first two proponents: British polymath philosopher Herbert...
" and creationist-based objections to evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. Monster hit the New York Times Bestseller list at #34 on its first week and rose to #29 on its second week.
In April 2006, Peretti and fellow supernatural author Ted Dekker
Ted Dekker
Ted Dekker is a New York Times best-selling Christian author best known for mystery and thriller novels, though he has also made a name for himself among fantasy fans. Early in his career he wrote a number of books that would best be categorized as Religious thrillers...
co-authored the novel House. It received mixed reviews from Peretti and Dekker fans, but was popular enough to inspire a movie based on the book. Starring Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
, the movie debuted at theaters in 2008.
In April 2010, it was announced that Peretti had signed with Howard Books (a division of Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
) for a new novel to be published in late 2011.
Filmography
Tilly was adapted into a short forty minute film by a pro-lifePro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
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
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. It was directed by Stephen Vidano and produced by IMS Productions.
In 2004 Hangman's Curse
Hangman's Curse (film)
Hangman's Curse is a movie released in 2003 which is based on the 2001 Christian novel, Hangman's Curse written by Frank Peretti.-Cast:*David Keith as Nate Springfield*Mel Harris as Sarah Springfield*Leighton Meester as Elisha Springfield...
was made into a film, in which Peretti himself 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
The Visitation (film)
The Visitation is a 2006 supernatural dramatic thriller based on Frank Peretti's novel of the same name. The Robby Henson-directed film features a cast that includes Kelly Lynch, Edward Furlong, Priscilla Barnes and Martin Donovan.- Plot :...
by Twentieth Century Fox in 2006.
House was released in select theaters on November 7, 2008.
In addition to his appearance in Hangman's Curse, Peretti has had a voice role in Flo, the Lying Fly, the second computer animated
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
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.
Critical reviews
Frank Peretti has been hailed as "America's Hottest Christian Novelist" and a "sanctified Stephen King". He has received generally positive praise from many Christian book reviews, his books being heralded as telling entertaining stories with complex interwoven plots. http://frankperetti.com/reviews2.htm.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 WagnerC. Peter Wagner
Charles Peter Wagner Christian missionary, writer, teacher, and church growth specialist, notable for his controversial spiritual warfare practices and beliefs...
, Larry Lea
Larry Lea
-Early years:He attended and graduated from Dallas Baptist University where he met his first wife, Melva. He completed his graduate work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Larry and Melva married in 1972, and together they have 3 children. He became the youth pastor of...
, Ed Silvoso and Ed Murphy.
As his novels have been widely sold and read throughout Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
, Charismatic
Charismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
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.
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
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
, spiritual warfare and as guidebooks about dangers of the New Age movement. 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).
Novels
- This Present DarknessThis Present DarknessThis Present Darkness is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986 by Crossway Books, This Present Darkness was Peretti's first published novel for adults and shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer, and spiritual warfare as demons and angels interact and struggle for...
(1986) - Piercing the DarknessPiercing the DarknessPiercing the Darkness, which was published in 1988, is a sequel to Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness. It shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer and the spiritual realm. Piercing the Darkness won the ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for best fiction in 1990...
(1989) - Prophet (1992)
- The OathThe Oath (Peretti)The Oath is an allegorical 1995 contemporary Christian fiction horror/fantasy novel by Frank E. Peretti. The recipient of the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for Best Fiction, The Oath is one of Peretti's most critically acclaimed and layered novels, having sold over one million copies worldwide...
(1995) - The Visitation (1999)
- Monster (2005)
- House (2006; with Ted DekkerTed DekkerTed Dekker is a New York Times best-selling Christian author best known for mystery and thriller novels, though he has also made a name for himself among fantasy fans. Early in his career he wrote a number of books that would best be categorized as Religious thrillers...
)
The Cooper Kids Adventure Series
- The Door in the Dragon's ThroatThe Door in the Dragon's ThroatThe Door in the Dragon's Throat is the first novel in the Cooper Kids Adventure Series by Frank E. Peretti, published in 1985. The novel introduces us to Dr...
(1985) - Escape From The Island Of Aquarius (1986)
- The Tombs Of Anak (1987)
- Trapped at the Bottom of the Sea (1988)
- The Secret Of The Desert Stone (1995)
- The Deadly Curse Of Toco-Rey (1996)
- The Legend Of Annie Murphy (1996)
- Mayday At Two Thousand Five Hundred (formerly known as Flying Blind) (1997)
Non-fiction
- The Wounded Spirit (2000)
- No More Victims (2000)
- No More Bullies (2003)
Other Titles
- Tilly (1988)
- All Is Well: The Miracle of Christmas in July (2003)