Media
Jim Engster interviews Dean on WWNO
July 4, 2014
#1 New York Times Best Selling Author Dean Koontz has done it again with The City — a riveting soul-stirring story of Jonah Kirk. On today’s show, Koontz speaks of his latest novel which he says is his wife’s favorite.
Listen to the full show @ WWNO.org. The interview with Dean starts at approximately 37:00.
Call Me Ishmael: First Lines From New Books
July 4, 2014
“My name is Jonah Ellington Basie Hines Eldridge Wilson Hampton Armstrong Kirk.” —From “The City” by Dean Koontz
Read the full article @ The Wall Street Journal. (Which uses the original cover design in the article, so I do so here.)
Small error in The City ARC
July 4, 2014
With the number of ARCs I’ve read (as opposed to proofs) I’ve really not found a lot of errors in the texts. However I spotted this one at just about the end of The City‘s ARC. I’ve double-checked it against the trade hard cover and it was fixed.
What I find most interesting is the typo itself, “11” instead of “ll”. I’ve mainly experienced this type of error when it comes to optical character recognition (OCR) post scanning a text, as opposed to manual transcription. It makes me wonder why OCR would have been done on what I assume was a manuscript that was submitted electronically.
Gugu’s raw talent
July 4, 2014
The actress seems to be taking that lesson to heart. After Crowne, she made the fantasy mystery Odd Thomas, based on the Dean Koontz novel, with Tim Robbins and Willem Dafoe in New Mexico. And just this week, Beyond the Lights, in which she plays a young popstar groomed for fame, was released.
Read the full article @ DestinyConnect.com.
Loads Of Women Running From Houses: The Gothic Romance Paperback
June 28, 2014
I was hoping at least one Deanna Dwyer cover would have made an appearance but alas not.
THE Gothic horror tradition can be traced back to any number of sources. Mathew Lewis’ Monk is probably the best starting point: it has every Gothic convention you can imagine: darkened tombs, black misty forests, haunted hallways, satanic clergy. It would make one helluva movie, but it’s so nonlinear that I honestly don’t see how you could translate it to a screenplay.
It was Ann Radcliff’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) that really serves as the impetus for the “women running from houses” genre. What exactly is the “women running from houses” genre? I’m glad you asked. It refers to Gothic romance novels (generally paperback) which WITHOUT EXCEPTION pictured a woman running from a house on the cover. It’s really a bit insane when you think about it: for several decades an entire genre (a quite popular one at that) featured the exact same cover with very little variation. It’s mental.
Read the full article @ Anorak.co.uk.
Another The City giveaway
June 28, 2014
Random House has copies to give away. Head over to Random House Reader’s Circle to enter.
'Odd Thomas’ And The Historical Roots Of Bodachs
June 28, 2014
Being a monster nut, I was particularly intrigued by the bodachs. I knew the name “bodach” sounded familiar, so after I watched the film I went to my little library of monster books and started flipping through them. As it turns out, “bodach” is an old Scottish term for a “bogeyman” – and of course, “bogeyman” is in itself just a variant of “boggard” or “boggart” – a type of goblin or household spirit. However, the bodach isn’t just any goblin. Even in Scottish folklore, they can appear as omens of death.
Read the full article @ Suvudu.com.
Interesting marketing for Saint Odd
June 25, 2014
From the recent “Random Revelations” newsletter/advertisement from Random House aimed at librarians: Saint Odd marketed as an “adult book for teens.” Discuss…
Lots of Intensity
June 20, 2014
I think the one title that I have the most number of editions of is Intensity. Here’s a slideshow of all of the editions in my collection and some related material. (In no particular order.)
Horror in Vancouver: Jeff Goldblum and that Aerosmith chick in Britannia Mine
June 14, 2014
Vancouver has not been kind to Dean Koontz.
First you had his awesome 1987 suspense novel, Watchers, being turned into a godawful Corey Haim vehicle up here in 1988.
Then seven years later you had his fine 1982 supernatural thriller, Hideaway, becoming the type of B.C.-shot trainwreck he tried to sue to get his name off of.
As the Vancouver correspondent for Fangoria when they shot Hideaway back in 1994, I had no idea it was going to wind up being crap. I just wanted to go on the local set and hang out with Jeff Goldblum for a while.
Not to mention that young lady from those hugely popular Aerosmith videos, Alicia Silverstone.
So here’s a shortened version of the set-visit piece I wrote for Fango 20 years ago. Please don’t feel like you have to actually watch Hideaway after reading it.
Read the full article @ Straight.com.
Signed copies of Saint Odd available
June 7, 2014
Barnes & Noble now has signed copies of Saint Odd available for pre-order on their Web site.
The City's Reading Group Guide
June 6, 2014
Did you notice the recently posted “Reading Group Guide” for The City that’s been posted over at DeanKoontz.com? Here’s one of the included questions:
10. Consider the role of race and identity throughout the narrative, and what it means to different characters. Think about Jonah’s narration as an African American boy coming of age during a time of national unrest, when race riots were the norm. What special insights into the era did you gain from Jonah’s unique perspective? Did anything about his attitude or his family’s attitude about race surprise you? What did you make of Mr. Yoshioka’s Manzanar “posse” and the relationships among them? How did the core values of the various characters inform their approach to this element of their lives?
A Designer Fights the Small Screen
June 6, 2014
Mr. Kalomirakis, 58, known as a pioneer of the modern home theater, has created hundreds of such projects across the globe through his 24-year-old company, TK Theaters. His clients include Eddie Murphy, Seth MacFarlane, Dean Koontz and Judd Apatow, among others. The creations cost $200,000 to $10 million, including a design fee of up to $100 a square foot.
Read the full article @ The Wall Street Journal.
If you’re interested in seeing photos of, and reading more about the theater he built for Dean, check out the book Great Escapes: New Designs for Home Theaters.
Social Justice
June 6, 2014
Would you like an advance copy of The City?
June 3, 2014
If you’re a LibraryThing member their June 2014 batch of early reviewer copies includes The City. No guarantees you’ll get one if you request, and chances are it won’t arrive until after the book is officially released, but it would be a nice addition to your collection, wouldn’t it?
Chase MP3-CD
May 29, 2014
Well, here’s something new… Up until this point all Dean Koontz audiobooks on MP3-CD (and every other MP3-CD audiobook I’ve ever seen,) have come in DVD-style plastic cases. But I just opened today’s mail and found that the MP3-CD version of Chase is housed in an orange Blu-ray-style plastic case with “AUDIOBOOK” stamped in shiny red at the top. (And no, the Amazon.com page for this item does not indicate this at all.) I wonder if this is BrillianceAudio specific or the shape of MP3-CD audiobook storage across the board.
Cemetery Dance has some great items on eBay right now
May 24, 2014
Including the following Dean Koontz items:
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From The Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz (Signed Limited Edition)
- False Memory by Dean Koontz (Signed Limited Edition)
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The House of Thunder by Dean R. Koontz (Signed Limited Edition)
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Dark Dreamers edited by Stanley Wiater (Signed Limited Edition)
Be sure to check out all of their auctions for other great deals.
Dump Toppers
May 23, 2014
A “dump” is something that you don’t see much in bookstores as much as you did back in the 80s & 90s thought they’re still around. Dumps are cardboard displays that usually have nine slots into which books were displayed face out. The “topper” for “header” was the artwork attached to the top of the dump to advertise the author and/or author on display.
Having previously worked for many years as a bookseller and these days just asking the store manager if I can have it when it was taken down, I’ve amassed a good-sized collection of this Koontz advertising memorabilia. Here’s a slideshow of my collection for your perusal.
(The one for Fear Nothing is actually motorized and switches between two images. If I actually still had a D cell battery in the house I believe it would still work.)
Two other boxes
May 20, 2014
Since I posted about boxed sets yesterday, today I figured I’d show you two other boxes in my collection. The first is a box that copies of From the Corner of His Eye were shipped in from the publisher to bookstores.
The second is the box that housed advance reading copies of By the Light of the Moon. In this case the book also came with a t-shirt.
Boxed Sets
May 19, 2014
Back in the 90s there were a bunch of Dean Koontz boxed sets released. Unfortunately, I don’t have any sort of list as to which books were released in which sets. However, I do have three of those boxes in my collection. Here they are, each pictures from two sides since each has two pieces of art/photography on the box.
