Koontz News
Thoughts on 77 Shadow Street
November 11, 2011
This morning I finished 77 Shadow Street and I just thought I’d share some thoughts without supplying any spoilers.
- This is Dean’s first (correct me if I’m wrong) haunted house story.
- Of course, being a Koontz novel, what you think of as a haunted house, and what Dean thinks of as a haunted house may not exactly match.
- This book has one of the largest number of characters of any of his novels I can think of.
- It also has what might be the least amount of character dialogue as any other of his novels. In some places there are stretches of 20 or more pages without any dialogue. To me this made it read much differently from most of Dean’s novels.
- Lastly, all of the action takes place in one of the shortest time periods of his available work. (I think some of the Brian Coffey mysteries occurred in short time frames, but seeing as they’re not generally available…)
The other comment I have is that this ARC seems to have a large number of errors in it. Granted, advance copies are prone to having errors but I found three, and that many from a major publisher (Bantam) is pretty uncommon in my experience. The errors I found were:
- The second-to-last paragraph on page 151 starting “Mickey’s mother has helped him to refine his sixth sense…” is repeated just two paragraphs later at the top of page 152.
- The second full paragraph on page 299 starts “and they retreated quickly form the bathroom threshold.” At a minimum, “and” should be capitalized but it reads as if some text is missing.
- The start of the fifth line of paragraph one on page 345 reads “mom’sl lyrics”. It should be “mom’s lyrics”.
I assume these errors will be fixed in the final publication.
More Odd & others in July 2012
November 11, 2011
It looks like there are going to be at least one new title and two re-releases on 31 July 2012. They are:
- Odd Apocalypse (Hardcover & Large Print)
- Sole Survivor (Premium Paperback)
- Tick Tock (Premium Paperback)
Midnight trade paperback released
November 8, 2011
Sorry I’m a week late with this one but just wanted to record officially that the Berkley trade paperback edition of Midnight was released on November 1st.
77 Shadow Street advance copies released
November 1, 2011
Look what I got in the mail today! Last I looked there were a few more copies available on eBay. (Click image for full-size version.)
House of Odd delayed a bit
October 31, 2011
Amazon.com is now reporting that House Of Odd will be released on March 20th.
Sacrifice by John Farris
October 14, 2011
Just got my hands on copy #20 of 100 of John Farris’ Sacrifice as published by Centipede Press. I mention it here of course because it contains a three page introduction in appreciation of Mr. Farris’ work. The book is autographed by Mr. Farris but not by Dean.
It was actually published back in August of 2010 and despite being a regular customer and admirer of Centipede Press books I’d somehow missed this one ’till now.
Two new trade paperbacks in June 2012
October 14, 2011
Looking out a but further it looks like both Dark Rivers of the Heart and False Memory are scheduled to get Bantam trade paperback releases on 26 June 2012. Of course, as usual, no cover images yet.
New edition of Forever Odd in April 2012
September 23, 2011
After Life Expectancy the next book to get the premium paperback treatment will be Forever Odd. Amazon lists the release date as April 24, 2012 but does not yet have a cover image.
New edition of Live Expectancy forthcoming
September 19, 2011
It looks like Life Expectancy will be the next book to get the premium paperback treatment. Amazon lists the release date as May 26, 2012 but does not yet have a cover image.
Dean is well paid
August 23, 2011
Dean is currently the 7th most highest paid writer this year according to Forbes.
The Funhouse on Blu-ray reviews
August 10, 2011
I’ve got my copy of The Funhosue of Blu-ray but I’ve not yet had a chance to watch it yet. For those not familiar with the film here’s the trailer and a few reviews of this release.
- Disc Spotlight: Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse (Blu-ray)
This one actually mentions that dean wrote the novelization. - UK Blu-Ray Review: Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Funhouse’
- The Funhouse: Savant Blu-ray Review
- Hellnotes: THE FUNHOUSE – BLU-RAY REVIEW
- Flickering Myth: Blu-ray Review – The Funhouse (1981)
Trouble for Odd Thomas film?
August 8, 2011
From Entertainment Law Digest:
Film distributor Kathy Morgan International sued Fusion Films and Two Out of Ten Productions, claiming they owe $540,000 for the company’s work as a sales agent for the upcoming movie adaptation of Dean Koontz’s novel, “Odd Thomas.”
Breathless at Borders
August 5, 2011
I went to the three closing Borders stores in Omaha last night and all three of them had copies of the UK hard cover edition of Breathless on their bargain shelves for just $5.99. Then, they took another 25% off for the going-out-of-business sale. So, if you’ve got a Borders in your area you may want to go take a look.
The Funhouse in blu
July 19, 2011
According to the folks over at twitch, Arrow Video released Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse on Blu-ray yesterday. Unfortunately (for my budget), it’s currently only available in the UK but is playable in all regions. You can read the review on the twitch Web site and orders it directly from Arrow Video (£21.99) or Amazon.co.uk (£16.99).
Covers released for three forthcoming titles
July 19, 2011
Midnight trade paperback, 1 November 2011
77 Shadow Street, 27 December 2011
House of Odd, 28 February 2012
Bargain Hunting in Barnes & Noble
June 27, 2011
I was in a few different Barnes & Noble stores over the weekend and noticed a lot of Dean’s titles in the bargain sections. The prices ranged from $3.98 to $7.98. So, if you’re looking for a bargain head on over to your local B&N or check online and see if you can find any of the following titles:
- A Big Little Life (HC)
- Dean Koontz Frankenstein: Dead and Alive (Large Print TPBK)
- Relentless (HC)
- Twilight Eyes (TPBK)
- Your Heart Belongs to Me (Large Print TPBK)
Jeffrey Catherine Jones, 1944-2011
May 22, 2011
Jeffery Catherine Jones, cover artist for Dark of the Woods, passed away on May 18th. Port Out, Starboard Home has a tribute.
News from Useless News
May 22, 2011
The Spring 2011 issue of Dean’s newsletter Useless News is out and contains the following interesting items:
- Odd Apocalypse, the fifth Odd Thomas novel will be released in June 2012.
- House of Odd, the third Odd Thomas graphic novel will be released “later this year”.
- A Big Little Life will be released in paperback in July 2011.
- The paperback edition of What the Night Knows will contain the novella Darkness Under the Sun.
- The novel 77 Shadow Street will be released in December 2011 (as already mentioned on this blog).
- Both I, Trixie Who is Dog and Trixie & Jinx are to be published as “interactive ebooks”. No release date was given.
50 Cent lands role in Odd Thomas
May 18, 2011
It looks like rapper 50 Cent has been cast as Shamus Cocobolo the blind deejay in the forthcoming Odd Thomas film.
Source: Bloody Disgusting
Anton Yelchin Talks Upcoming Odd Thomas Film Adaptation
May 14, 2011
DreadCentral.com was recently able to talk to Anton Yelchin about his forthcoming roll as Odd Thomas on screen. Here’s a brief excerpt:
“But now that I’ve been able to read both versions of Odd’s story, I’ve been going through the book to see what I can try and get back into the script version because there’s just a lot in the book that you can’t get into the script. But in terms of capturing the essential nature of who Odd is and his relationship with Stormy, his relationship with The Chief, and this sort of fear that builds in him that something terrible is coming that he can’t completely see, it captures all of that really well. And the love story really works, I think. I know Dean Koontz is very happy with the script and thinks it works. I think my goal is going to be to try and bring little things back from the book that maybe dialogue-wise I really liked that aren’t in the script. You know, make him as utilitarian as possible because in the book it’s very clear- despite his abilities, his biggest dream is to work at a tire shop.”
Source: DreadCentral.com