Talkin' Pets

March 15, 2014

Via the article Talkin’ Pets Turns 24 On April 5th, I found out that Dean once appeared on the show. Off to the Google machine I went and found that the show is posted as a podcast and that Dean was the guest for episode 14 broadcast on 1 September 2009 in promotion of A Big Little Life.
You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or just take a listen to that particular episode below. For more about the show check out TalkinPets.com.

On a related note, this article, says that David Tabatsky, editor of Beautiful Old Dogs, to which Dean contrbuted, appeared on the show on 9 November 2013 but I can’t find that recording.

Ask Dean: "What role have books played in your life?"

March 8, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af9vTCU0bxc

Even More Odd Thomas Film Reviews

March 1, 2014

Now that the film’s finally getting an official UR release there’s bound to be a lot of them…

• ‘Odd Thomas’ is oddly appealing – Kansas City Star
• I See Wacky, Weird Dead People: ‘Odd Thomas’ – Pop Matters
• Odd Thomas is the type of feel-good horror movie they made in the 80s – io9
• ‘Odd Thomas’ is oddly appealing – Charlotte Observer
• “Odd Thomas” another subpar Dean Koontz adaptation – The Denver Post

• ‘Odd Thomas’ gets the hero right, but not the tone – LA Times

• Fighting crime in an ‘Odd’ manner – Houston Chronicle
• ‘Odd Thomas’ review: Case closed – Chicago Tribune
• Eggs Over Easy, With a Side of Weird – New York Times
• Movie reviews: ‘Odd Thomas,’ ‘The Lunchbox,’ ‘Two Lives’ – NY Daily News
• ‘Odd Thomas’ is dead on arrival  – San Francisco Examiner
• The director of The Mummy brings Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas to the screen – The A.V. Club
• Can Hollywood Treat Dean Koontz Right with ‘Odd Thomas’? – Hollywood.com

• ‘Odd Thomas’ Is Comic Book Twaddle That Defies Analysis – New York Observer

• Check Your Adaptation Anticipation at the Door – Film School Rejects
• Odd One Out – Fort Worth Weekly

Horror in Vancouver: Watching Corey Haim make a dog of a movie in Lynn Canyon

February 16, 2014

For those of you that don’t have a copy of Fangoria #79, the author of the article on the filming of Watchers has just posted it online.

How many times can a genetically-altered life form leap off a cabin porch and menace two screaming females? Plenty, according to Jon Hess, director of Watchers, a film based on Dean R. Koontz’s best-selling 1987 novel.
On a soggy June night in the dense woods of Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Hess has had martial arts expert Philip Wong, dressed in a creature outfit designed by FX man David Miller, attempt the task more than 10 times. It’s the penultimate scene in the movie, wherein Barbara Williams and Lala Sloatman (Frank Zappa’s niece, by the way) try to escape the hybrid monster by making a mad dash for a pickup truck. But the monster, called the Outsider, beats them to it. Let’s hear it for genetically-altered life forms!
“It takes time,” explains the soft-spoken Hess, after they’ve finally gotten the trajectory of the beast just right. “We took a long time creating the monster, and during scheduling we didn’t have that much time to do any tests on film, so a great deal of that stuff is going slowly. But the second unit has picked up a lot of good stuff.”

Read the full article @ Straight.com.

The 11 Most Bizarre Frankenstein Monsters Ever Created

February 16, 2014

7) Deucalion, Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein Series

Dean Koontz’s five-volume Frankenstein books series is kind of insane. So, it starts out like the original novel, Doc creates the monster, monster kills his wife, they hate each other. But in this book, Dr. Frankenstein puts a bomb in the monster’s head, which doesn’t kill it, just scars half of his face. Both survive for hundreds of years, but while the monster starts pretentiously calling himself Deucalion (Prometheus’ son in Greek mythology) and looking for redemption, Dr. F decides his “new race” of synthetic people should replace all the old ones and basically tries to kill the human race. Deucalion, of course, tries to stop him with some local New Orleans cops, because he was programmed not to hurt his creator (back in the 1800s). Oh, and Deucalion can teleport and make small things like coins disappear, because he’s so smart, you see.

Read the full article @ io9.com.

Addison Timlin talks about her leading lady role in Dean-Koontz-penned Odd Thomas

February 16, 2014

“First and foremost,” Timlin says, “you have to share the character.”
“Stormy was not my own, I had to create a version of her. I had to find a way to capture how lovely her spirit was and I did read the books. There was plenty of highlighting and tons of notes. And since Anton helped find his character by training with a real fry cook, I ended up working at an ice cream parlor in New Mexico. Seriously.”

Read the full article @ MetroNews.ca.

Odd Thomas motion poster

February 8, 2014

Because static posters aren’t good enough any more…

You can also find it on movies.yahoo.com if the embedded version above isn’t working.

Win the UK DVD of Odd Thomas

February 8, 2014

Here’s another chance for UK residents to win a copy of Odd Thomas on DVD courtesy of Entertainment Focus. Entries are being accepted through February 14th, 2014.

More sites talking about the Odd Thomas film

February 8, 2014

This is what’s known as a link dump…

• Trailer for Long-Delayed ‘Odd Thomas’ Directed by Stephen Sommers
• ‘Odd Thomas’ Trailer: Bad Dean Koontz Novel Gets Bad Trailer
• CGI Monster ‘Odd Thomas’ To Hurt Your Eyes Later This Month…
• Anton Yelchin Is a Modern Day Ghostbuster in ‘Odd Thomas’ Trailer
• Final Artwork Reveal for Odd Thomas
• A First Look at Dean Koontz’s ‘Odd Thomas’: Trailer Released
• Long-Delayed Horror Movies Showing Movement: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Odd Thomas, Fear Paris
• The Odd Thomas trailer explains why bad things happen to good people

Official Odd Thomas US Release Date Announced

February 5, 2014

According to DeanKoontz.com:

The wait is over for all you Odd Thomas fans! The Odd Thomas movie is On Demand now and will be available for rent on iTunes and Amazon NEXT WEEK, 2/11/14! You can pre-order the movie beginning on 2/25/14, and the DVD, BluRay, and Digital Download will release on 3/25/14. Want to see Odd on the big screen? There will also be a limited theatrical release on 2/28/14 in 10 markets, including NY & LA. More to come!

Additionally, a whole bunch of sites have been pointing to the new trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5HBnqLiSMOo
 

Win the UK DVD of Odd Thomas

February 1, 2014

This contest is sponsored by The Big Gay Picture Show and is open to UK residents only. Must enter by 11.59pm on February 14th, 2013.

After almost 2 centuries, the Frankenstein monster 1s still going strong in popular culture

January 26, 2014

The Frankenstein monster first lumbered into existence in 1818 in Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus,” a work that many have called the first science-fiction story.

…

-Frankenstein in print
Mary Shelley, who was only 18 when she began writing Frankenstein, surely had no idea her creepy creation would inspire countless other novels, including “The Frankenstein Wheel” (1972) by Paul W. Fairman, “Frankenstein Lives Again” (1981) by Donald F. Glut, “I Am Frankenstein” (1996) by Dean C. Anderson, “Monster: A Novel of Frankenstein” (2012) by Dave Zeltserman and the five-volume series collectively known as “Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein.”
For those who like pictures with their words, Frankenstein comic books have existed since 1940 with the publication of Prize Comics No. 7, which featured the “New Adventures of Frankenstein.” More attainable comics include Marvel’s The Monster of Frankenstein (1973), DC’s Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. (2011) and Image’s Frankenstein Mobster (2003), which features a conflicted creature stitched together from the body parts of one cop and three bad guys.

Read the full article @ The Anchorage Daily News.

Canadians: See Odd Thomas in the theater February 13th

January 26, 2014

CHEAP THRILLS And THE BATTERY Among Titles In Raven Banner’s Next Sinister Cinema Series
It was just the other day that we announced Raven Banner is including Cabin Fever: Patient Zero in this year’s slate. And now we also have all the films included in their Sinister Cinema Series in partnership with Cineplex Entertainment. These films will enjoy one-night engagements at 28 cinemas across Canada, including three new venues for our friends in the Maritimes. Also part of the program this spring are Cheap Thrills, The Battery, Odd Thomas and In Fear. All the dates are below.
Odd Thomas – Thursday February 13
Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) adapts Dean Koontz’s best-selling book Odd Thomas concerning a clairvoyant short-order cook (Anton Yelchin) who tries to prevent a supernatural catastrophe that he senses is linked to a mysterious loner. Willem Dafoe, Addison Timlin and Patton Oswalt co-star.

Read the full article and find locations @ TwitchFilm.com.

Win Odd Thomas on DVD

January 26, 2014

Unfortunately it’s only open to UK residents, so even I can’t enter.
Details @ HeyUGuys.co.uk.

Dean Koontz Hangout recording

January 23, 2014

Recorded on 23 January 2104.

Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania

January 18, 2014

The Libraries at Pennsylvania State University have a site titled the “Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania” which has an entry for Dean.

Koontz, Dean Ray
Born: July 9, 1945, in Everett, Pennsylvania
Vocations: Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Screenwriter, Teacher
Geographic Connection to Pennsylvania: Everett, Bedford County; Shippensburg & Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County
Keywords:Atlantic Monthly; Beastchild; Gerda Ann Cerra; Chase; Brian Coffey; Deanna Dwyer; Fear Nothing; Frankenstein; Hugo Award; In Odd We Trust;Mechanicsburg Area Senior HS; Science Fiction; Shippensburg University; Star Quest; Suspense Fiction; The Book of Counted Sorrows; Whispers
Abstract: Born in Everett on July 9, 1945, Dean Koontz grew up in Bedford where he developed a love for books at a young age. After graduating from Shippensburg University, Koontz taught high school English in Mechanicsburg. Supported by his wife, Gerda, Koontz was able to publish his first science fiction novel, Star Quest. With Chase in 1972 and Whispers in 1980, Dean Koontz became a number one bestselling writer, writing novels across genres under several pseudonyms. Today, Koontz is one of the top contemporary American writers, having written over 60 books with more than 300 million copies in print.

Read the full entry @ PABook.Libraries.PSU.edu.

Odd Thomas on DVD & Blu-ray in Germany

January 18, 2014

Looks like the Germans are up next for a release of the Odd Thomas film for home viewing. DVD, Blu-ray, and “Steelbook” Blu-ray editions are due out on January 20, 2014.
A German review of this Blu-ray release can be foudn @ Weser-Kurier.de.

430 eBook Singles Were Published in 2013: Thin Reads

January 18, 2014

Elmore Leonard’s The Trespassers and Confession, previously unpublished stories written in 1958, were among the fiction titles, as was Dean Koontz’s Wilderness. Nathaniel Philbrick’s shortThe First Thanksgiving and Robert Caro’s JFK assassination account Dallas, November 22, 1963were notable nonfiction eBook singles published last year.

Read the full article @ MediaBistro.com.

Harlan Ellison's Watching

January 15, 2014

Ellison did a series of commentaries for the SciFi Channel show Sci-Fi Buzz back in the early days of the network. Some of these are now available on YouTube and this one, episode #19, mentions Dean. (Original air-date unknown at this time.)

Join me in the Dean Koontz Hangout on January 23rd

January 15, 2014

It looks like I’m going to be one of the official participants in the Google+ hangout with Dean Koontz on January 23rd. Full details can be found on Google+.