Book News
The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz is now online!
May 7, 2018
Welcome to the brand new online version of The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz!
What makes this version different than the previous two?
- This isn’t just a blog. The blog continues as part of this site, but there is SO MUCH MORE.
- This site contains the content of what was going to be in the many-years-late print book from Cemetery Dance Publications. There still may be a book someday, not for now, it’s all available to you, for free, here on this site.
Though today is the official launch date, there’s still a lot of content that’s not on the site yet. As of today, I’ve entered everything from G-Z with some exceptions.
For those of you that like stats, at the time of this post there are 445 guide entries containing 1,044 individual editions and the site as a whole has 1,270 images. By my estimates, only about 50% of the content is in the site right now.
Feel free to comment, submit new content, I just ask that you first read Noah Mitchell’s Foreword, my Introduction, the About the Guide page, and the FAQ, before asking too many questions. There are a lot of answers already on those pages.
In the weeks and months to come I’ll continue to enter more content slowly but surely. Be sure to keep an eye here, or on Facebook or Twitter for continuing news and new content announcements.
Behind the scenes
July 20, 2017
I’ve posted various images of my collection on this blog over the years, and if you head on over to the project’s Facebook page you can find photos of pretty much everything in the collection; 2,000+ items.
However, I don’t general talk about the behind-the-scenes items; the archives & the research. Well, here’s some photos of relevant shelves, piles, and boxes in my home office just to give you some idea of what has, and will go, into this multi-decade project.
This obviously is just a small part of the whole, but it’s a peek behind the scenes that pretty much one one’s ever seen outside of immediate friends and family.
If you’ve got a question about any of it, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to clarify.
2014 My Year in Blogging
January 1, 2015
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it. (Click the image below for the full report.)
Wilderness and Other Stories: What's on the discs?
September 9, 2014
I think I’ve finally be able to get all of the details from both the CD and MP3-CD editions of Wilderness and Other Stories. So, at the moment, here’s the entry for this title. I sill have to go through and enter these appearances on the pages for the individual stories. (Also, the images used here are from Amazon & Brilliance and don’t represent the dimensions of the released editions.)
Wilderness and Other Stories
(collection)
by Dean Koontz
Audio
September 9, 2104
Brilliance Audio
℗2014 Brilliance Audio
Performed by Dick Hill, MacLeod Andrews, Will Damron, & Tonya Eby
- Wilderness (59:01)
- Kittens (12:17)
- The Black Pumpkin (50:14)
- Down in the Darkness (1:14:47)
- The Scariest Thing I Know (18:04)
- We Three, Revised Edition (14:54)
- Ollie’s Hands (45:13)
- Bruno (1:11:41)
- The Night of the Storm, Revised Edition (56:20)
- Miss Attila the Hun (1:01:18)
- Hostage Situation (16:18)
- Hardshell (1:48:30)
- Trapped (1:52:29)
- Snatcher (48:31)
- Twilight of the Dawn (36:19)
(Lengths are approximate and may vary between the CD and MP3-CD format due to title and disc introductory material.)
CD
12 Compact Sicac / 13 Hours : 41 Minutes
ISBN: 978-1-4805-7437-3
Cover Price: $14.99
- Wilderness (Disc 1, Tracks 1-11)
- Kittens (Disc 1, Tracks 12-14)
- The Black Pumpkin (Disc 1, Track 15 & Disc 2, Tracks 1-10)
- Down in the Darkness (Disc 2, Tracks 11-15 & Disc 3, Tracks 1-9)
- The Scaries Thing I Know (Disc 3, Tracks 10-12)
- We Three (Disc 3, Tracks 13-14 & Disc 4, Tracks 1-7)
- Ollie’s Hands (Disc 4, Tracks 8-15)
- Bruno (Disc 4, Tracks 16-19 & Disc 5, Tracks 1-10)
- The Night of the Storm (Disc 5, Tracks 11-15 & Disc 6, Tracks 1-8)
- Miss Attila the Hun (Disc 6, Tracks 9-18 & Disc 7, Tracks 1-8)
- Hostage Situation (Disc 7, Tracks 9-11)
- Hardshell (Disc 7, Tracks 12-18 & Disc 8, Tracks 1-10)
- Trapped (Disc 8, Tracks 11-17 & Disc 9, Tracks 1-19 & Disc 10, Tracks 1-3)
- Snatcher (Disc 10, Tracks 4-11)
- Twilight of the Dawn (Disc 10, Tracks 12-14 & Disc 11, Tracks 1-10 & Disc 12, Tracks 1-7)
- End Credits (Disc 12, Track 8)
MP3-CD
13 hours: 43 minutes of listening1 MP3 Disc
ISBN: 978-1-4805-7439-7
Cover Price: $9.99
- Wilderness (Tracks 1-6)
- Kittens (Track 7)
- The Black Pumpkin (Tracks 8-11)
- Down in the Darkness (Tracks 12-16)
- The Scariest Thing I Know (Track 17)
- We Three, Revised Edition (Tracks 18-25)
- Ollie’s Hands (Tracks 26-27)
- Bruno (Tracks 28-32)
- The Night of the Storm, Revised Edition (Tracks 33-35)
- Miss Attila the Hun (Tracks 36-51)
- Hostage Situation (Track 52)
- Hardshell (Tracks 53-59)
- Trapped (Tracks 60-76)
- Snatcher (Tracks 77-78)
- Twilight of the Dawn (Tracks 79-83)
The City ARC
May 13, 2014
Look what I got in the mail today!
Manuscript update
March 9, 2014
So, some of you (ok, probably all of you) are wondering what’s up with the book this blog is representing. Well, I do have an update.
As a result of the Google Hangout I did with Dean a few weeks ago he sent me a nice note saying that “I am working on my contribution to the bibliography soon.” He also requested that I send him the latest copy of the manuscript. I just sent the manuscript to Cemetery Dance and they’ll be printing all 709 pages of it and send it to Dean this week.
As soon as we get Dean’s Foreword and his answers to some questions we will be locking the manuscript and starting the editing and publishing process.
Thanks for your continued support and patience.
My scanner is the soundtrack to my dreams
June 9, 2013
I was hoping to claim that I’d broken the 1000 items scanned mark by the end of today but I’m just over 950 and I need to give it a rest. I swear I can hear my scanner even when it’s turned off. Anyway, here’s an example of one of the more obscure items I’ve unboxed.
Fun Fact #1: The Door to December was released in the US under the name Richard Paige while in the UK it was issued as a Leigh Nichols book.
Fun Fact #2: Time Thieves was only released as an Ace Double paperback in the US. In the UK it earned a hard cover release.
The scanning has begun
May 19, 2013
On of the best features of the book will be as many full-color cover images of book, magazine, and everything else I have been able to ever get my hands on. Years ago when this project was started I managed to scan everything I had at what was then an appropriate resolution of 75dpi. Since then we’ve discovered that with changing technology those scans are now basically useless. So, I’ve embarked on the massive task of re-scanning everything as 320dpi TIFF files. I wouldn’t say its a boring project but it is a bit tedious at times.
If you interested in a quality sample, click on the image in this post for a full-sized version. (If your browser doesn’t open TIFF files directly, save the link and open it in your graphics program of choice.)
Latest version off to Dean & what's next
December 19, 2012
I’ve just sent off what is most likely the nearly final version of the manuscript, along with a letter containing 23 questions and clarification requests, off to Dean. According to this last letter to me the plan is that he’ll answer these questions and write his introduction to the book. At that point the manuscript will be locked and Cemetery Dance will take over to begin the editing and layout of the book.
Yes folks, we’re heading into the final stages!
In the mean time I still have plenty of work to do and holes to fill in. Here’s what is still to be done while waiting for Dean’s response and some other tidbits:
- The title has been changed to The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz 1964-2012. Officially, anything published after 2012 will not be included. (It’s got to stop somewhere.) However, since the paperback edition of Odd Interlude is being released on January 1, 2013 it will be included. Depending on when we lock the manuscript, one or two other 2013 items may sneak in.
- Wait! “His first poem wasn’t published until 1965,” you say. Yes, I have one item I’ve included from 1964. It’s seriously obscure, and isn’t poetry or prose. I’ll leave that one as a mystery for you to discover when the book’s published.
- While we’re waiting for Dean’s response I’m going to continue to try and fill in the known holes. Want to help, check out the “Needed” entries on this site. Fill in a blank and get your name in the books acknowledgements.
- I may have mentioned this before but when I started scanning all the book covers back over a decade ago, 75dpi was plenty. It isn’t any more. Now everything needs to be re-scanned at 320dpi. Basically, this means I’ve got a 1000+ item scanning project to look forward to which will be slow-going since scanning at that high of a resolution isn’t fast work. I’m thinking that early in 2013 I’ll be taking a week off from my day job just to sit at my desk and scan scan scan.
So, that’s the news for now. Please stay tuned since as this project proceeds I’ll keep everyone posted right here.
Filling in the holes and finding new items
October 17, 2012
For those that have been following along for a while now, you still may not understand what’s taking so long. I keep promising that I’m getting closer to being done, and then it takes longer than you would think is needed. Well, here’s a good example and a bad example.
First I want to thank Joe Stefko of Charnel House. I sent him a list of about two dozen questions about release dates, page counts, original list prices, and ISBNs, and he came through with an answer to each and every one. From this one e-mail I’ve been able to fill in more holes than ever before.
The other is this auction from 2004 in which there are about 20 items listed that I had no idea ever existed. Folks, there are screenplays listed here, both by Dean and by others, that I’ve never heard of. Just check it out. The Koontz items start at lot #92. Luckily, the auction house even found me one last printed copy of the auction’s catalog and sent me a copy for free. But, now I’ve got 20 new items to add to the manuscript and conferences that will keep me on the road for the next two weeks.
So yes, this book is late, but the end is in sight, and I can guarantee that I am not ignoring it.
Thanks for your continued patience!
Oddkins eBook
August 16, 2012
Looks like Oddkins is coming out at an eBook on September 4th. (So far I can only find a listing for the Kindle version.)
This might also be a good place to mention that the Collector’s Guide will not be including eBook editions unless they’re somehow unique. For example the recent “eBook only” originals such as Odd Interlude.
Does your Odd Apocalypse have a sticker?
August 4, 2012
I just got back from Barnes & Noble and now own two copies of the trade hardcover edition of Odd Apocalypse. Why? Well, their copies had stickers on the covers that the one I purchased from Amazon.com didn’t. Here’s a photo of the two followed by a zoom-in on the sticker in question.
Reaching out to Charnel House
July 21, 2012
Just as a small update I just sent out an e-mail to Joe Stefko @ Charnel House asking for his assistance in filling in the details I’m missing about some of his details. If anyone knows Mr. Stefko and would be willing to encourage his assistance I’d greatly appreciate it.
Exciting news and updates!
July 4, 2012
I just got Dean’s latest edits/comments and it’s only two pages long, which may sound like a lot but compared to previous versions of the manuscript this is a very small amount.
All I need to do next is keep up with the updates of newly released material (a constant project) and integrate his comments and corrections in to the manuscript. At that point Dean will be doing one last review and writing his afterword. I can’t say much on that front as I don’t exactly know what he’s going to say but I have some ideas and let’s just say it’s going to be well worth the wait.
On the Cemetery Dance front, you may not have noticed, but this book is listed as “Out of Print” and currently not available for ordering. That was done a while back when the status of this project was unclear. Once things get more locked down in the next few months or so, CD will be relaunching the project including significant promotion and advertising.
So, at this point CD is aiming for a 2013 release. As details become more clear I’ll of course post them here. As for how you can help, there’s still a handful of items that are missing information that I’d love to get filled in prior to publication. Please take a moment to head over to the Information Needed page and see if there’s anything you can help me out with. If you can provide me with verifiable information that fills in a hole, I’ll do my best to list you in the book’s thanks. (A list that is already considerable in length due to the number of folks that have assisted me over the years.)
Thanks for your continued patience!
Michael
Virgin Art
June 14, 2012
If you’re a Koontz book collector like me you know that there are different editions and covers and finding all of them (or at least all the first editions in English) can be a daunting task. But, enter the world of comics and you’ve got some learning to do as I have.
I’ve collected comics in the past (i.e. the 1980s) and still read a handful of titles these days but I was not experienced in the fine art of variant covers and “dealer incentives”. For this post let’s just use Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein Volume 2 Issue #1 as an example.
Turns out this particular issue was issued with three different covers. The first was the “standard” cover. The second was the “virgin art” cover, meaning that the art was there but there was no wording including the title, issue number, etc. The third featured the same art at the standard but in “negative”. (Shown left-to-right below.)
The dealer incentive part of this story is what makes the non-standard covers more collectible. In this case the virgin art version was only sold to comic shops that ordered 15 copies of the standard cover version. This is known as a “1-for-15 incentive”. The negative cover in this case only had 250 printed and was released as a “Dynamic Forces exclusive”.
Well, I think I’ve explained that well enough. (If someone knows more about comics than I please feel free to fill in details in the comments.) Oh, and this is a simple example. Maybe in a future post I’ll talk about the six different versions of Dean Koontz’s Nevermore Issue #1 from Dynamite. (Which ignores the version from Dabel Brothers, a completely different publisher…)
Things are starting to fall into place
March 11, 2012
I’ve been working most of the weekend cleaning off my “outstanding items” shelf and there’s just one item left on it right now. And, in the process of figuring out what known holes are in the manuscript I’ve managed to get them all posted to the site. If you’re looking to help fill in those holes, just seen what there is to see in the help category. Surprisingly there’s less there than I expected.
Also, I’m prepping the next draft to head off to CD and then to Dean for his approval. In the mean time I’ll of course keep working on filling in the holes and adding new material.
Now, as for the scanning project ahead of me… Well, I’ll save that story for another time.
The Bad Place trade paperback
January 26, 2012
Somehow I’d missed that back on January 3rd, Berkley released it’s latest trade paperback reprint, this time of The Bad Place which includes the 2004 Afterword by Dean.
Edward Lee writes like Dean Koontz?
January 16, 2012
Here’s another one for the ephemera appendix…
I’m a Dean Koontz fan obviously. I’m also a big fan of Edward Lee. Would I say these two authors are anything like each other? Most definitely not. Dean leans toward the subtle, while Ed is anything but subtle. So, much to my surprise I find the following statement on the back of the Necro Publications release of Edward Lee’s Ghouls:
“A novel of unrelenting horror in the tradition of Dean Koontz.”
Granted this book was originally published by Pinnacle in 1988 so maybe this text is being reprinted from a much less extreme time in Ed Lee’s life but I must admit this comparison, in my experience, is a bit of a stretch. When I get to reading it, I’ll see if I can post something that might explain it all.
77 Shadow Street copyright error?
January 1, 2012
I received my copy of the large print edition of 77 Shadow Street the other day and just noticed that it has the following copyright statement:
Copyright © 2010 by Dean Koontz
As you can probably guess all the other editions list a 2011 copyright date. I’m assuming this is an error but it’s things like this that the Collector’s Guide is designed to point out.
The Girl on the Glider by Brian Keene
January 1, 2012
Just finally got around to reading Brian Keene’s The Girl on the Glider and it turns out that it had earned an entry in the ephemera section of the Collector’s Guide for the following paragraph on pages 78-79:
I’d also become distinctly aware that a number of people who I’d thought were my friends were my friends only because of who I am and not because of who I am. There is a distinction there, and I bet Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Dick Laymon would have commiserated . But I wasn’t going to ask King and Koontz for advice on shit like that, simply because I know how overwhelming it is when people do it to me. And Dick wasn’t around to ask. I considered trying to contact him via Ouija board or a medium. Ask him for advice on how to deal with all of the users and abusers and hangers-on in my life, and “Hey, Dick, while we’re at it, what can you tell me about the afterlife? Because I’ve got to tell you, my old mentor—I’m fucking scared of dying.”
There were only 537 copies of this title published by Cemetery Dance in 2010 and it’s long sold out, but it looks like Amazon.com has a copy or two available right now.