The Guide

Introduction

“I love deadlines. I love the wooshing sound they make as they go by.”
– Douglas Adams

“So how’s your Dean Koontz book coming along?” I’ve been hearing that question monthly, if not weekly, and sometimes daily, from friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances for nearly twenty year now.

As some of you may know, this was originally slated to be published as a book by Cemetery Dance Publications in the Fall of 2001. Even for a small press, it’s a tad bit late. I know that many people have been patiently waiting for it since the original announcement.  And for your patience, I can not express sa much gratitude as you deserve. However, for me it has been a much longer journey, one of 30 years.

My love of Dean Koontz’s work began when I was an employee of Waldenbooks store #1475 in Greece, NY. I read Lightning when it came out in 1988 and have been hooked on reading Dean ever since. But about a year into my reading of Dean’s then in-print backlist a guy came into the store and Dean Koontz came up. “I’ve read  everything he’s ever written,” I stated with confidence. (Hey, I worked in a bookstore and had both Books-In-Print and the Ingram catalog at my disposal. I knew what I was talking about.)

“No you haven’t,” he replied.

And so it began…

This site is the end result of the the research I have been performing and the collection I have been building for nearly half as long as I’ve been alive. It started out as a one-page list of titles and pseudonyms. In 1997 it became my final project for my Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University at Albany. Now all of it is available here, for you, for free. I should be relieved.

I would be, if I thought the I was done.

Since Dean is still writing, my work continues. If he ever stops I might be able to finally catch up but I’m not encouraging him to ever stop. I always thought that once the “book” was done I could take a year off from this project and then pick it up again. (At least that’ll give my wallet a short breather.) But, as Noah points out in his foreword, this format allows for constant updating, and with Dean currently publishing multiple novels per year, I don’t see myself taking off any time soon.

“Films are never completed, they are only abandoned.”
– Stephen Speilberg

Michael Sauers
Lincoln, Nebraska
April 2018

For details on what is, and is not, included in this site, head on over to About the Guide.