Oddkins film?

September 29, 2019

Titley penned the first live-action “Scooby-Doo” movie, “Cheaper by the Dozen,” and “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” His latest feature film projects include adaptations of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” “Arabian Nights,” and Dean Koontz’s “Oddkins.”

Read the full article, none of the rest of which has anything to do with Dean, @ jg-tc.com

Regarding Certain Fanzines and Piers Anthony

September 28, 2019

Here’s what Dean has to say about letters with his name on them in Fanzines:

“In the earliest couple of years of his career, Dean wrote a few letters and articles for science-fiction fanzines. He was not prolific in this area because he was too busy writing fiction to pay the bills and to learn his craft. Therefore, in 1991, Dean was shocked to learn that a person he had previously worked with professionally had, beginning in 1969 and continuing at least through the early 1970s, been writing letters in Dean’s name to individuals and had submitted letters, and even some articles, in Dean’s name to fanzines. The name “X” will do until the full story can be told in Dean’s memoirs. All of this information was first disclosed to Dean in 1991 when X provided a written admission of these activities, although he could not remember everyone to whom these forged letters and articles had been sent. Consequently, any fanzine appearances by Dean after 1968 are highly suspect unless they were submitted with a cover letter on his own letterhead of that time.”

Source: https://www.deankoontz.com/about-dean/collectors

Several of those letters involve author Piers Anthony. Here’s what he’s had to say about the matter over the years both in print and in an email to me:

“Sometimes they [authors] escape by writing the same material, but getting the genre label removed; Dean Koontz’s sales took off when he finally prevailed on his publisher to do that…”
“These were by no means the only writers with whom I interacted: in the course of my career I brushed with most of the figures of the field, and some who are on the fringes, like Stephen King, whose daughter was a fan of mine, and Dean Koontz, with home I used to battle in the fanzines, before we both got too successful to have time for that sort of thing…
“Once Dean Koontz wrote [in Fosfax], commenting on something I had said. He and I had fought savagely in bygone days, but had no wish to do so now…”

Piers Anthony, How Precious Was That While, TOR, July 2001, p185,241,246

I [interviewer Charles Platt] manage to break in here to ask if his wife doesn’t mind this non-stop work obsession.
“No, my wife understands, I mean, she had to quit her job because it got to the point where her total wages went to pay the tax on my income, and she got disgusted with that. You see, I used to earn $500 a year, $1,000, and then $5,000, but when I started earning $70,000, and then $100,000, and I suspect it’ll be about $150,000 this year, I have launched into the big time. I used to have arguments, I had one with Dean Koontz, he was saying he was earning almost $100,000, and he didn’t need to pay attention to nitwits like me. Well, I don’t know how Dean Koontz is doing now, he’s writing cheap novels pseudonymously, so I suspect the positions are reversed. I am now earning it, but I don’t make any claims to being suddenly a genius because I make a lot of money. The money, as you know, is likely to be inversely proportional to merit, and my most thoughtful pieces are likely to earn less than my least thoughtful. When I’m doing a Xanth novel, I go through it about double the rate of anything else. For Avon Books.I write science fiction, for Del Rey Books I write fantasy, I wrote A Spell for Chameleon for them, it won the British Fantasy Award, and then the subsequent one started selling better and better, and started paying. It’s nice to write what you like, but you don’t necessarily get rich on it. I may be one of the most commercial writers you’ll interview, in the sense that I write the cheap stuff that sells big…”

Dream Makers Volume II by Charles Platt, Berkley, 1983, p105, and
Dream Makers: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers at Work, New and Revised Profiles by Charles Platt, Ungar, 2007, p223

“That’s interesting. He must have forgotten. He did have letters in fanzines, and he and I interacted, sometimes sharply, there. As I recall, he even published a short-lived fanzine of his own. I sent a review of one of his early books to it, but it folded before that saw publication.
“If you want to be accurate you will need to check with some old-time fanzine collector who can show you those interactions. There was one where I commented that even Dean Koontz had achieved good success and he responded with four pages of vilification of me. I think he was not proud of that, especially after my published response. I really pasted him back. I wonder whether anyone would have scanned old fanzines into the Internet? That might be an avenue to explore. Your guide will be seriously incomplete without that information.”

Email response from Piers Anthony when asked about those letters by the author of this site, 18 July 2008

Jazz radio show host and drummer Michael Hanson dies at 78

September 26, 2019

Hanson enjoyed a few side ventures, including being a sought-after reader of audio books. He did a number for bestselling horror writer Dean Koontz.

Source: Madison Magazine
Photo from the original article

Koontz donation to Hoag Hospital

September 25, 2019

Dean and Gerda Koontz pledged $9 million to pay for a ViewRay MRIdian, an MRI-guided radiation-therapy system that allows for streaming real-time imaging of the radiation target and surrounding areas while a patient is being treated, which has not been available to doctors previously.

Dean Koontz is a best-selling author who writes science fiction, horror, and suspense books, some of which have been turned into films or television shows. Hong’s [sic] radiation and oncology center will be named for Koontz, who has been a patient at the hospital, and his wife.

Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Image: Hoag.org

What’s New & Updated September 22, 2019

September 22, 2019

Still on my odd work schedule and then spent three days in bed with one hell of a cold so there’s not much this time around.

• Landmark Audiobooks CD edition of Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: City of Night
• Six cover images to the “Various other pornographic titles” section of Appendix F: Collecting Errors

What’s New & Updated September 15, 2019

September 15, 2019

To be honest, nothing. Due to some scheduling issues with my day job I only get a one-day weekend this week so I’ve got two days worth of weekend things to do today. (I”ll get a three-day weekend in two weeks to make up for it.)

But in the interest of posting something, here are some photos I took for a Facebook group of my Koontz collection. They don’t show you everything but they’ll give you a sense of the size of the collection.

What’s New & Updated September 9, 2019

September 9, 2019

Here’s the rest of the pornographic content based on my research. I’ve been doing my best to cite all sources and cross reference as needed. Please let me know if you think I’ve missed something.

• Always Hard! as by Gracie Amber (denied)
• Anything for Joe as by Ann Griffin (denied)
• Aphrodisiac Girl by Dean & Gerda Koontz
• Updated notes on Bounce Girl
• Cursed! as by Linda Mitchell (denied)
• His Four Mistresses as by Bob Warner (denied)
• A Real Comer as by Ann Griffin (denied)
• Skin as by Jane Whitley (denied)
• A Witch’s Mouth as by Linda Mitchell (denied)
• Young Slut as by Alethea Rose (denied)
• Young Slut as by Jack Proctor (denied)
• Various other pornographic titles to Appendix F: Collecting Errors

What’s New & Updated September 3, 2019

September 3, 2019

Well, it’s been a about 18 months since this site launched and I can say that I’ve finally completed the move of all of the material in the printed manuscript to the site. This actually happened a few weeks ago, but wanted to be sure I hadn’t missed anything before I made this announcement.

So what’s next?

Well, there’s still new material to come out and old material to be found so that work continues. There’s also a bunch of items in two specific categories that were not to be included in the book: the erotica and the fanzines. Well, I’ll be including that material here starting this week.

But before I do, I highly encourage you to read the blog post titled Regarding the inclusion of certain pornographic titles and fanzine content on this site for important contextual information.

So, without further ado, here’s this week’s updates…

• “Dean’s Drive or Some Days in the Life of a Another Writer” (denied)
• Banger as by Ann Griffin (denied)
• The Banger’s Chick as by Ann Griffin (denied)
• Flesh as by Bob Warner (denied)
• Flesh Wager as by Ann Griffin (denied)
• Gracie’s Busy Week as by Henry Panzer (denied)
• Lay Me Down, But Not to Die as by unknown (denied)
• Oral Oracle as by Ely Grimes (denied)
• Share the Warm Flesh as by Gracie Amber (denied)
• Share the Warm Flesh as by Jeff Michaels (denied)
• Sharing as by Richard Young (denied)
• Skin Summer as by Ann Griffin (denied)
• Skin Summer as by Gracie Amber (denied)
• Sinful Summer as by Heidi Deepkiss (denied)
• Swappers’ Convention as by Daniel Webster (Denied)
• Thirteen and Ready! as by Ann Griffin (denied)

Regarding the inclusion of certain pornographic titles and fanzine content on this site

September 2, 2019

When it comes to certain pornographic novel and fanzine content, mostly from the 1970s, Dean denies most of this material as being either published without his knowledge, significantly edited without his input as to make it fundamentally not his work, or written by others and attaching his name without his permission. I mark these items as “denied” in the author field of those entries, and have quoted from DeanKoontz.com when he’s said something about these items specifically or as a category. In some cases I’ll be including quotes from others (Ted White and Piers Anthony for just two examples) that seem to counter what Dean has to say about that item. I am not definitively saying that Dean wrote this material, nor am I saying he didn’t. I am including it because people collect this material as part of their Dean Koontz collection. You’ll need to make your own decision.

I have also blurred certain parts of some book covers to reduce the adult nature of the content.

What’s New & Updated August 26, 2019

August 26, 2019

This week I was just plain lazy to be honest. The only two updates are thing I’ve already blogged about.

• “The Ballad of Jane Hawk” by David Benoit to The Night Window page
• Penn & Teller Fool Us to Appendix B

Moonlight Bay 3 and Jane Hawk 6 & 7

August 26, 2019

I’ve been looking for this article for a while. It’s from December 2017 so things could have (ok very probably) changed since then but here’s what Dean had to say about more Moonlight Bay and Jane Hawk books back then…

Q: There is much confusion over your “Moonlight Bay” trilogy. Is it finished or not? Where does Ride the Storm fit in? Please clarify.

A: My publisher at that time so disliked the second “Moonlight Bay” novel, Seize the Night (1998) that I stopped part way through Ride the Storm. I had been with Bantam for only two books and did not want to get into an argument that would require moving to another publishing house. I thought that if I wrote two or three other novels before finishing the “Moonlight Bay” trilogy, the publisher would receive the third book with more enthusiasm.

Numerous books—plus ups and downs in business relationships—ensued, new publishers came and went, and I never got back to Ride the Storm. It is my intention to finish the book for Bantam after I complete the 7th book in the Jane Hawk series.

Source: Dean Koontz Takes Readers On A ‘Techno-Thriller’ Ride In His New ‘Jane Hawk’ Series

Charnel House The Night Window Update

August 26, 2019

According to CharnelHouse.com:
” THE NIGHT WINDOW by Dean Koontz is now at the bindery. “

“The Ballad of Jane Hawk” by David Benoit

August 21, 2019

“Any Dean Koontz fans? This is his new heroine and surprise; the fictitious rogue FBI agent is a David Benoit fan!”

Read more and hear the track @ Jazziz & pre-order @ Amazon.com

The Silent Corner on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us

August 20, 2019

Look for further details in next week’s site update.

What’s New & Updated August 19, 2019

August 19, 2019

Today’s mostly reference day. One new large print cover image and three articles about Dean from the 2000s.

• The Key to Midnight – Revised (DK) Large Print Hardcover image

Updates to Appendix B:

• “Dean Koontz 1945-” in Supernatural Fiction Writers
• “KOONTZ, Dean R(ay) 1945-” in Contemporary Authors vol. 138
• “Dean Koontz” in American Horror Writers

What’s New & Updated August 12, 2019

August 12, 2019

Letters, letters, letters.

• re: An editorial by Lawrence M. Jennifer
• re: the “mutilation” of “Unseen Warriors”
• re: The editorial quality on “Shambolain”
• Dean Koontz Writes
• A response to a “swipe”
• re: The incorrect reporting on the forthcoming publication of Intensity
• re: The incorrect reporting of the third Frankenstein book being co-written by Ed Gorman
• re: Innocence appearing on the LibraryReads December 2013 Top Ten list

What’s New & Updated August 5, 2019

August 5, 2019

I’m back from my vacation, but of course, I found some new items during the trip along with one item that arrived in the mail. That’s what I’ve got for you this week plus a few other tidbits I snuck in at the last minute.

• Bookery’s Guide to Pulps & Related Magazines to Ephemera
• The Funhouse (revised) “lower price” CD audiobook
• “The Horrors of Science: The Creations of Dean R. Koontz” by Cosette Kies to Appendix B along with the beginnings of a clean-up of this page.
• Odd Apocalypse Library Edition CD audiobook
• Oddkins “lower price” CD audiobook
• Saga of Seven Suns Book 3: Horizon Storms by Kevin J. Anderson image to Ephemera

The Book Riot Podcast Episode 323: Canary of Disruption

August 5, 2019

The second story they discuss is Dean’s recent deal with Amazon. It’s not the best discussion as they don’t seem to be all that familiar with Dean or his work, but it does cover the issues rather well in general.

What’s New & Updated July 28, 2019

July 28, 2019

This update’s a day early since starting tomorrow I’m going completely off-line all week for a much needed break. As a result of the prep for that there’s not much this time around and please don’t expect much in the way of an update next time either.

• Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski to Ephemera
• Demon Seed film promotional posters sheet
• Publication date correction, and Fantastic, December 1969 mention of, “The Good Ship Lookoutworld”
• Original list price for the Saint Odd numbered edition (Thanks Bob!)

What’s New & Updated July 22, 2019

July 22, 2019

Well, what I wasn’t expecting to include in this week’s update was pages for two forthcoming books with Amazon as the publisher. But hey, some surprises are wonderful ones.

• Collected Works Volume One by Vanessa Reed to Ephemera
• Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, Untitled Bonus Story
• Devoted page created
• Dynamite 2019 Catalog to the Storm Surge page
• Nameless page created
• Saint Odd limited editions
• “Thank You, Mr. Vance” mass market paperback appearance
• Updated Dark Matter cover image for Alleged Letter from John W. Campbell to Dean Koontz