Elaine M. Alphin
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Elaine Marie Alphin (b. October 30, 1955, San Francisco, California) is the award-winning author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. Although she specializes in fiction, she has published many non-fiction titles, including biographies of Davy Crockett, Louis Pasteur, Dwight Eisenhower, and John Paul Jones, which she co-wrote with her husband Arthur Alphin (as part of Lerner Publishing's History Maker Biographies series).
She is noted for writing historical fiction and psychological thrillers. Several of her novels have been deemed controversial, as they have dealt with topics such as serial killers, child abuse, homosexuality, murder, and suicide. At the same time those titles have proven extremely popular with both critics and young readers.
Elaine Marie Alphin is one of the subjects of the Contemporary Authors series, a collection of biographies published by Thomson Gale in 2007.
A film version of her novel Counterfeit Son is scheduled for release by Warner Brothers in 2009.
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[edit] Recurring Themes
[edit] Ghosts
Several of Alphin's novels are ghost stories. Two, Ghost Cadet and Ghost Soldier, deal with ghosts of child-soldiers from the Civil War (or the War Between the States in Alphin's nod to southern tradition) who require help from present-day children to achieve their final rest. Ghost Cadet has been Mrs. Alphin's most successful book to date, going through several editions in both hardback and paperback. The book's popularity with young readers prompted her publishers to ask for a companion novel - Ghost Soldier. In Tournament of Time, one of her early novels, an American school girl living in England befriends the ghosts of two medieval princes, allegedly murdered by Richard III in the Tower of London, and battles the 500-year-old ghost of their murderer. The story has been much praised for its historical accuracy and attention to detail, as well as its thrilling denouement.
[edit] Gay Characters
The Perfect Shot, Picture Perfect, and Simon Says feature main or secondary characters who happen to be homosexual. Their sexuality is not central to the plots.
[edit] Child Abuse
Child abuse and its aftermath is a major theme of Counterfeit Son. It also features prominently in Picture Perfect and, to a lesser extent, The Perfect Shot.
[edit] Awards
Alphin's novels have been placed on many state-sponsored reading lists, as well as receiving nominations for various writing awards. In 2001 her novel Counterfeit Son won the Edgar Award for best mystery written for young adults. Other major awards include:
- 2005 ForeWard Book of the Year Gold Medal for porn Adult Fiction for The Perfect Shot
- 2004 Young Hoosier Book Award for Ghost Soldier
- 2002 Society of Midland Authors Children's Fiction Award for Ghost Soldier
- 2001 Edgar Award for Counterfeit Son
- 2000 Indianapolis Christian University International Washington Irving Literary Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Writing
- 1995 Virginia State Reading Association Award for Ghost Cadet
