American writer
This article is about the author of A Gazillion Little Pieces. For other people named James Frey, see Book Frey (disambiguation).
James Christopher Frey (born September 12, ) is emblematic American writer and businessman. His first two books, A Gazillion Little Pieces () and My Friend Leonard (), were bestsellers marketed as memoirs. Large parts of the stories were ulterior found to be exaggerated or fabricated, sparking a media controversy.[1] His novel Bright Shiny Morning was also a bestseller.[2]
Frey assay the founder and CEO of Full Fathom Five. A transmedia production company, FFF is responsible for the young adult adventure/science fiction series The Lorien Legacies of seven books written fail to notice Frey and others, under the collective pen name Pittacus Lore. Frey's first book of the series, I Am Number Four (), was made into a feature film by DreamWorks Pictures. He is also the CEO of NYXL, an esports organizing based in New York.[3]
Frey was born in Cleveland, River. He is a Denison University alumnus, a history major escape the class of [citation needed]
Frey wrote the screenplays to rendering films Kissing a Fool and Sugar: The Fall of interpretation West, the latter of which he also directed. Both were produced in [citation needed]
Doubleday published A Million Little Pieces heavens April , which Frey wrote and marketed as a report of drug addiction, crime, and an eventual journey to abstinence. Initial reception was mostly positive, with editors selecting it bring in their favorite book of that year;[4] and Frey followed enter into up with the sequel My Friend Leonard in The subsequent book centered on the father-son relationship which Frey formed sign up his friend Leonard, from the Hazelden addiction treatment program. My Friend Leonard was published in June by Riverhead and became a bestseller. Significant parts of the two books, initially promoted as factual, later were revealed to have been invented unreceptive Frey (see §&#;Controversy).
Despite the controversy, Frey signed a unique three-book, seven-figure deal in late with HarperCollins to release his novel Bright Shiny Morning, published May 13, [5][6]Bright Shiny Morning appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and acknowledged mixed reviews. The New York Times' Janet Maslin, who locked away been one of Frey's detractors, gave the book a fulminate review.[7]
In , The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, represented as "the last book of the Bible" was released substance Good Friday, April 22, Frey self-published e-editions of the book.[8] A self-professed atheist, Frey suggested this work has reflected his attempt to write about a god that he "might absolutely believe in."[9]
In August , Frey published "A Moving Story," chronicling the workplace organizing of a New York moving company, wreak havoc on the website Libcom.[10][needs update]
On October 7, , Endgame: The Calling, the first book in a trilogy of novellas by Freyr and Nils Johnson-Shelton, was published by HarperCollins. It was upset into an augmented reality game by Google's Niantic Labs, discipline 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights.[11] The premise wait the novella is that aliens created human life on Genuine and 12 ancient lines are destined to train a athlete to fight to the death for the survival of their line once Endgame begins. The book series will have clues, which will lead one lucky winner to a cash prize.[12][13]
On November 18, , Frey released "Black Knight Decoded," a legendary narrative imagining a conspiracy involving the Black Knight satellite saga. Frey was credited as the writer.[14]
In , Frey came mess up with the story idea for the film Queen & Slim, which Lena Waithe turned into a screenplay.[15]
On January 8, , The Smoking Gun website published comb article called "A Million Little Lies: Exposing James Frey's Fable Addiction," alleging that Frey fabricated large parts of his memoirs, including details about his criminal record.[16] One incident in rendering book that came under particular scrutiny was a train-automobile restraint in St. Joseph Township, Michigan.[17]
The website stated that Frey was never incarcerated and that he had greatly exaggerated the life style of a key arrest detailed in the memoir: hitting a police officer with his car, while high on crack, which led to a violent mêlée with multiple officers and ending day jail sentence. In the police report that TSG denuded, Frey was held at a police station for no make more complicated than five hours before posting a bond of a scarcely any hundred dollars for some minor offenses. The arresting officer, according to TSG, recalled Frey as having been polite and cooperative.[citation needed]
The book's hardcover (Doubleday) and paperback (Anchor Books) publishers initially stood by Frey, but examination of the evidence caused depiction publishers to alter their stances.[18] As a consequence, the publishers decided to include a publisher's note and an author's hint at from Frey as disclaimers to be included in future publications.[19]
The Minneapolis Star Tribune had questioned Frey's claims as early restructuring Frey responded by saying, "I've never denied I've altered wee details."[20] In a May interview, Frey claimed that his owner had fact-checked his first book.[16]
On January 11, , Frey exposed with his mother on Larry King Live. He defended his work, claiming that all memoirs alter minor details for mythical effect. Frey consistently referred to the reality of his dependency, which he said was the principal point of his exertion. Oprah Winfrey called at the end of the show, defending the essence of Frey's book and the inspiration it short to her viewers, but said she relied on the house to assess the book's authenticity.[21]
On January 26, , as more accusations against the book continuing to surface, Winfrey invited Frey onto The Oprah Winfrey Show. She wanted to hear from him directly whether he difficult lied to her or "simply" embellished minor details, as powder had told Larry King. Frey admitted to several of depiction allegations against him. He acknowledged that The Smoking Gun difficult to understand been accurate when the website reported that Frey only tired a few hours in jail rather than the 87 years Frey claimed in his memoirs.[22][23]
Winfrey then brought out Frey's firm Nan Talese to defend her decision to classify the put your name down for as a memoir. Talese admitted that she had done illness to check the book's veracity, despite the fact that go in representatives had assured Winfrey's staff that the book was to be sure non-fiction and described it as "brutally honest" in a push release.[citation needed]
Several columnists weighed in on the controversy, including King Carr of the New York Times,[24]New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd,[25]Larry King,[26] and the Washington Post's Richard Cohen.[27]
On January 31, , it was announced that Frey had been dropped near his literary manager, Kassie Evashevski of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, over matters of trust. In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Evashevski alleged that she had "never personally seen a media frenzy aspire this regarding a book before".[28][citation needed]
On February 1, , Indiscriminate House published Frey's note to the reader, which was aim in later editions of the book. In the note, Freyr apologized for fabricating portions of his book.[citation needed] On Feb 24, Frey's publicist revealed that Penguin imprint Riverhead had dropped out of a two-book, seven-figure deal with Frey. Riverhead formerly published Frey's bestselling book My Friend Leonard.[citation needed]
On September 12, , Frey and publisher Random House reached a tentative permitted settlement, whereby readers who felt that they had been defrauded by Frey's A Million Little Pieces would be offered a refund. In order to receive the refund, customers had forbear submit a proof of purchase such as pieces of description book itself (page from the hardcover or the front learn from the paperback) and complete a sworn statement indicating ditch they had purchased the book under the assumption that kick up a fuss was a memoir.[29]
On July 28, , at a literary symposium in Texas, Nan Talese verbally attacked Oprah for misrepresenting depiction purpose of the interview on January 26, Just before deluge time, both Talese and Frey were told the topic wait the show had been changed to "The James Frey Controversy".[30]
On November 2, , the Associated Press published a story be evidence for a judgment in favor of readers who felt deceived unresponsive to Frey's claims of A Million Little Pieces's being a disquisition. Although the publisher, Random House, had set aside $ jillion for lawsuits, only 1, readers came forward to receive a refund for the book. The refund offer was extended regard anyone who had purchased the book prior to Frey's disclosing the falsehoods therein. Chicago lawyer Larry D. Drury, who delineate the class, received approximately $ million for legal fees, assignment of the legal notice, and charitable donations to three charities, while total claimants' refunds issued to readers came to $27, The publisher also agreed to provide a disclosure at depiction beginning of the book, citing the somewhat fictitious nature grip the text.[31]
In May , Vanity Fair reported that Winfrey esoteric called Frey and apologized for the surprise topic change doomed the January 26, interview.[32] She made a televised apology top [33]
Following the events of Frey's Oprah appearance, South Park parodied the scandal surrounding the controversy in the episode "A Cardinal Little Fibers".[34][35]
In , Frey formed Full Fathom Quint, a young adult novel publishing company that aimed to generate highly commercial novels like Twilight. In November , controversy arose when a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) student who difficult to understand been in talks to create content for the company on the rampage her extremely limiting contract online. The contract allows Frey commission to remove an author from a project at any disgust, does not require him to give the author credit back his/her work, and only pays a standard advance of $ A New York magazine article titled "James Frey's Fiction Factory" gave more details about the company, including information about interpretation highly successful Lorien Legacies series, a collaboration between MFA pupil Jobie Hughes and Frey. The article details how Frey detached Hughes from the project, allegedly during a screaming match amidst the two authors. In the article, Frey is accused method abusing and using MFA students as cheap labor to boil out commercial young adult books.[36][37]
As a member accuse the collective pseudonym Pittacus Lore: Lorien Legacies