Latest Posts
What’s New & Updated June 22, 2020
June 22, 2020
The first week of the say job being re-opened to the public was a bit rougher than I’d expected so just one update this week.
- New cover scan of A Real Comer
Two recent interviews with Dean I’ve not mentioned yet
June 21, 2020
What’s New & Updated June 14, 2020
June 14, 2020
I’m a day early this week because my day job is re-opening to the public tomorrow. So while Monday is typically part of my “weekend” I’ll be back in the building. This also means that next week’s update might be super light but I’ll continue to do my best as I re-adjust back to my “normal” schedule.
- The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy to Appendix D
- “The Sex Machine” by Lee Griffin to Appendix F
Dean sells one home, buys another
June 13, 2020
Dean Koontz Sells California Home to ‘Undercover Billionaire’ Glenn Stearns for $50 Million (Mansion Global)
Dean Koontz picks up another Shady Canyon home in Irvine for $10.5 million
What’s New & Updated June 8, 2020
June 8, 2020
Just a few items this week but I was finally able to check off the last piece of content from Sandworm #5 that’s been on my to-do list for over a month now so I consider that a win.
- Photos of the numbered and lettered Charnel House editions of Odd Thomas
- This letter is written in a moment of venom-filled disgust.
Dean Gets Corny
June 7, 2020
Did you see Dean’s recent tweet and Facebook post about Gerda’s baked corn recipe?
Well did you know that this recipe has been published twice? Check out the entry for The Best Baked Corn.
Oh, and there’s a chance I might have a few spare copies floating around for those interested…
What’s New & Updated June 1, 2020
June 1, 2020
First the pandemic, now civil-unrest, including here in Lincoln, NE and in the immediate vicinity of my day job in Omaha, NE. There’s a lot on my plate right now outside of this site. As a result, I’ve just got the one update this week that I entered in several days ago.
Please stay safe everyone!
- Elsewhere cover
Elsewhere prologue and US cover courtesy of Entertainment Weekly
May 26, 2020
Dean Koontz needs no introduction, but his newest novel does — at least, a small one. The author is set to release the thriller Elsewhere on Oct. 20; it follows a father and daughter who come into possession of a very mysterious object, which the local eccentric who passed it on to them called “the key to everything.” The key comes with a warning that it must never be used, but of course that doesn’t exactly happen.
EW is exclusively revealing the cover above, and below you can read the first excerpt, of the novel’s creepy prologue.
Read the prologue @ Entertainment Weekly
What’s New & Updated May 25, 2020
May 25, 2020
Did you notice Dean’s new work of extremely short fiction posted on Facebook and Twitter this past week? Check it out below.
- UK eBook cover for Elsewhere
- Third A Gallery of Nudes reprint cover to Appendix F
- “When Bob woke after death…”
What’s New & Updated May 18, 2020
May 18, 2020
One fanzine, four new entries. Pule a letter that I ran out of time to get to today so expect that next week.
- Original title for The Bad Place
- Midnight Movie Monographs: The Brood by Stephen R. Bissette to Demon Seed (Film)
- Devoted Australian Trade Paperback
- A Gallery of Nudes reprint cover to Appendix F
- Mindswamp (column)
- Review of Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
- Review of From the Land of Fear by Harlan Ellison
- Review of Nightshades and Damnations by Gerald Kersh
What’s New & Updated May 11, 2020
May 11, 2020
A couple of new things came in the mail today but I only had time to get the more common item (Midnight) up since the mail delivery was extra late today. So, look for some more interesting items next week.
- eBook originals in chronological order added to Appendix H
- Midnight (DRK) LP HC details & cover
- Shattered by K.R. Dwyer, Dutch paperback image
What’s New & Updated May 4, 2020
May 4, 2020
Not a lot of new content this week but I was able to fill a small hole in my collection with the cassette version of City of Night, so I consider that a tick in the win column.
- Devoted UK HC photo
- Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein Book Two City of Night cassette image, length, and cover price
What’s New & Updates April 27, 2020
April 27, 2020
I’m trying to get more done but the current environment isn’t helping. But I did get two items added. Here’s hoping everyone is sating safe.
- Two promotional posters for What the Night Knows.
What’s New & Updated April 20, 2020
April 20, 2020
Only one new item this week but it’s another in the “just when you think you’ve found everything” category. In this case it’s a fourth appearance of Dean’s “Godzilla Versus Megadeth” which was reprinted in an Ohio concert venue’s promotional newspaper in July 1995. Go figure.
- Rock & Roll at the Newport appearance of “Godzilla Versus Medageth”
What’s New & Updated April 13, 2020
April 13, 2020
Another week and a handful of new content. New normal still isn’t normal but I’m trying to add something every day or two. This doesn’t mean I’m not researching and filing daily. Just the number of articles mentioning The Eyes of Darkness lately are adding about 10 items a day to my files. So, without further ado, this weeks additions & updates.
- Devoted CD Audiobook & Australian trade HC
- Elsewhere added to Appendix H
- Clip from Cursed Films containing the mask from The Funhouse film
- “The Horror in Novels” by John Coyne to Appendix G
- “Life’s Work” (Interview) to Appendix B
- Poisoned Pen Bookstore interview to Appendix B
Dean’s statement on his “prediction” of COVID-19
April 9, 2020
What’s New & Updated April 6, 2020
April 6, 2020
I’m slowly finding my new normal working from home so I’m starting to get some new content into the site. No promises on weekly updates but here’s one for now.
- Devoted Trade HC, MP3-CD, and Kindle details
- Elsewhere
- “Odds and Ends”
- “To My Faithful Readers”
- Useless News Spring 2020
Updates are on hiatus
March 16, 2020
Good morning everyone. My day job is at a public-service non-profit. While we’ve close our building, we’re keeping our staff employed by moving as much of our services as possible online. As a result, I’m completely focusing on this for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. This site’s not going anywhere, but please don’t expect any updates with any regularity.
Stay safe everyone!
Michael
What’s New & Updated March 9, 2020
March 9, 2020
This week has been nothing but Eyes of Darkness prediction work. From my extensive blog post debunking the whole thing, to just trying to archive all of the articles mentioning it. So,while there’s no official content updates from this past week, if you’d like to dive into the conspiracy theory, feel free to check out the several pages of bookmarks I’ve already archived.
The end-all be-all blog post debunking how Dean Koontz “predicted” the coronavirus
March 4, 2020
It would be impossible for me to send the following response to everyone tweeting that Dean “predicted” the coronavirus:
Nope. In 1981 version it was “Gorki-400” from Russia. Was not Whuan from China until 1996 revision. And images of 2020 date is from a Sylvia Browne book, not a Koontz book.
By ya know what? I’ve sent it to a heck of a lot of people. Trouble is, my little response doesn’t ever cover all of the claims presented and doesn’t give me a lot of room to back it up. So, henceforth, my new response tweet will be “nope” and a link to this page. Enjoy!
Claim: Dean predicted the corona virus in his 1981 book The Eyes of Darkness
A couple of base-level problems:
- Coronavirus is a family of viruses. SARS is a coronavirus. MERS is a coronavirus. Even some forms of the common cold. The current virus is COVID-19. So at best, he “predicted” COVID-19, not coronaviruses. (Way to start an argument Mr. Pedantic.)
- In the 1981 book The Eyes of Darkness by Leigh Nichols (yes a pseudonym of Dean’s) the virus is named “Gorki-400” and is from Russia. Russians are convenient bad guys in 1981 due to the existence of the Soviet Union. (Ah the simpler times of the Regan-era.)
- The original Twitter post that started all this used a photo of a vaguely current mass market paperback edition. (Can’t tell what printing the tweeter used but that edition was released in 1996 and was the “current” cover until 2008.) It’s obvious the author of that tweet saw the 1981 copyright date in a much more recent edition and thought “Hey! He wrote this is 1981! How prescient!”
Claim: Ok, it was changed from Gorki-400 to Wuhan-400 in the re-release under his own name in 1989?
Yes, the book was re-released under his own name by Dark Harvest in 1989. Guess what? Still “Gorki-400” in that edition. It wasn’t until the 1996 re-re-release that the name of the virus was changed to “Wuhan-400” and it’s origin moved to China. (The relevant Snopes article originally said “1989.” Later said it had changed “by 2008.” As of this writing it just points out that the Amazon.com preview that shows “Wuhan-400” is from a 2008 release.)
Claim: In The Eyes of Darkness Dean specified that a world-wide virus would happen in 2020.
More recent versions of the twitter post have added an additional photo of some text stating “In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like virus will spread throughout the globe…” In no way do any of these re-tweets point out this this image is not from a page of any edition of The Eyes of Darkness, nor even of any Dean Koontz book. It’s a page from 2008’s End of Days by Sylvia Browne. I’ll let you read about her and her “predictions.” (I’ll wait.) Oh, and that’s just a few years after SARS (2003) so hell, I could have “predicted” it would happen again.
Claim: But “Wuhan-400.” “In around 2020.” 20 times 20 = 400
Nope. Not making this up. It’s out there. Score one for frickin’ numerology.
Claim: So he revised the book and wrote “Wuhan-400” in 1996. That’s still a 24-year-old prediction. What say you?
A few final points:
- Dean revised a whole bunch of his older novels in the mid 1990s.
- By 1996 the Soviet Union was no more so who’s the new “bad guy” for the story that would make sense at the time? China.
- The Wuhan Institute of Virology was founded in 1956. A minimal amount of research in 1995, even sans-internet, would have made that a good choice of a “source” within China.
Lastly, if you’re still not convinced by all of this it still couldn’t have been Dean who “predicted” it first. The Simpsons beat him by 3 years in 1993. Better yet, the film Akira beat that by another 5 years in 1988. I’ll let you decide.
Update 27 March 2020: Dean’s opinion on the matter…