James Frey

American writer
the author of A Million Little Pieces

James Christopher Frey (born September 12, 1969) is an American writer and businessman. His first two books, A Million Little Pieces (2003) and My Friend Leonard (2005), were bestsellers marketed as memoirs. Large parts of the stories were later found to be exaggerated or fabricated, sparking a media controversy. His 2008 novel Bright Shiny Morning was also a bestseller. Frey is 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 by Frey and others, under the collective pen name Pittacus Lore. Frey's first book of the series, I Am Number Four (2010), was made into a feature film by DreamWorks Pictures. He is also the CEO of NYXL, an esports organization based in New York.

Frey was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a Denison University alumnus, a history major from the class of 1992.

Frey wrote the screenplays to the films Kissing a Fool and Sugar: The Fall of the West, the latter of which he also directed. Both were produced in 1998. Doubleday published A Million Little Pieces in April 2003, which Frey wrote and marketed as a memoir of drug addiction, crime, and an eventual journey to sobriety. Initial reception was mostly positive, with Amazon. com editors selecting it as their favorite book of that year; and Frey followed it up with the sequel My Friend Leonard in 2005. The second book centered on the father son relationship which Frey formed with his friend Leonard, from the Hazelden addiction treatment program. My Friend Leonard was published in June 2005 by Riverhead and became a bestseller. Significant parts of the two books, initially promoted as factual, later were revealed to have been invented by Frey (see ). Despite the controversy, Frey signed a new three book, seven figure deal in late 2007 with HarperCollins to release his novel Bright Shiny Morning, published May 13, 2008. Bright Shiny Morning appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and received mixed reviews. The New York Times' Janet Maslin, who had been one of Frey's detractors, gave the book a rave review. In 2011, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, depicted as "the last book of the Bible" was released on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. Frey self published e editions of the book. A self professed atheist, Frey suggested this work has reflected his attempt to write about a god that he "might actually believe in." In August 2012, Frey published "A Moving Story," chronicling the workplace organizing of a New York moving company, on the website Libcom. On October 7, 2014, Endgame: The Calling, the first book in a trilogy of novellas by Frey and Nils Johnson Shelton, was published by HarperCollins. It was turned into an augmented reality game by Google's Niantic Labs, and 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights. The premise of the novella is that aliens created human life on Earth and 12 ancient lines are destined to train a player 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. On November 18, 2015, Pepsi released "Black Knight Decoded," a fictional narrative imagining a conspiracy involving the Black Knight satellite legend. Frey was credited as the writer. In 2019, Frey came up with the story idea for the film Queen & Slim, which Lena Waithe turned into a screenplay.

On January 8, 2006, The Smoking Gun website published an article called "A Million Little Lies: Exposing James Frey's Fiction Addiction," alleging that Frey fabricated large parts of his memoirs, including details about his criminal record. One incident in the book that came under particular scrutiny was a 1986 train automobile collision in St. Joseph Township, Michigan. The website stated that Frey was never incarcerated and that he had greatly exaggerated the circumstances 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 an 87 day jail sentence. In the police report that TSG uncovered, Frey was held at a police station for no more than five hours before posting a bond of a few hundred dollars for some minor offenses. The arresting officer, according to TSG, recalled Frey as having been polite and cooperative. The book's hardcover (Doubleday) and paperback (Anchor Books) publishers initially stood by Frey, but examination of the evidence caused the publishers to alter their stances. As a consequence, the publishers decided to include a publisher's note and an author's note from Frey as disclaimers to be included in future publications. The Minneapolis Star Tribune had questioned Frey's claims as early as 2003. Frey responded by saying, "I've never denied I've altered small details." In a May 2003 interview, Frey claimed that his publisher had fact checked his first book.