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)

Screamplays is coming

June 13, 2011

Today I received a box of Advance Reader Copies form Cemetery Dance (something I purchased; they don’t give me freebies) and much to my surprise one of the books was Screamplays which includes an introduction from Dean. Yes folks, similar to my book, this one’s been a long time coming. It lists a copyright date of 1997 and a publication date of 2011. My book might just be second in delayed publication to this book. (I was contracted in 2000.) I’ll get a scan of the cover up as soon as I can but at the moment, the computer my scanner is connected to is dead and in need of new RAM.

Update 6/14:
Yeah, those words were a bit dumb as the book was first published by Del Rey back in 1997. (My Koontz collection is so large, it’s easy to forget something in particular every one in a while.)

House of Odd available for pre-order

June 5, 2011

The third Odd manga, House of Odd, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. No cover image is yet available. It will be released on 28 February 2012.

Jeffrey Catherine Jones documentary

May 29, 2011

Via Boing Boing this week I found out that there’s a documentary about the life on John Catherine Jones int he works. The filmmakers are looking for donations. More information about the project and several videos can be found at macab films presents.

RE: Dean's faith

May 29, 2011

For those interested in more information about Dean’s Catholic faith, or for those completists in the house, get yourself a copy of Recovering Faith: Stories of Catholics Who Came Home by Lorene Hanley Duquin. Dean’s features on the cover and on pages 133-139.

Welcome to The Dead Town

May 24, 2011

Frankenstein: The Dead Town was released today. Here’s the trailer for this book along with the trailer for the whole series.

Retro film review

May 22, 2011

The great site IO9 recently posted a review of the film version of Phantoms. Have I even mentioned I actually own the “space suit” worn by Clifton Powell (Gen. Leland Copperfield) in that film? It’s even stained by black goo. Unfortunately, the helmet has seen better days.
 

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

The Catholic side of Odd Thomas

May 14, 2011

For those interested in something that explores the religious side of the Odd Thomas books Patheos.com has an article you’ll be interested in.

A common lament among Catholic readers is that there are no great modern Catholic writers. They often cite works from the 1940s-60s by authors such as Flannery O’Connor, Graham Greene, and Walker Percy to underscore their point.

The truth is that there are a number of wonderful Catholic authors writing today who, like the authors above, write interesting and absorbing fiction that the average reader would not readily identify as Catholic. Yet Catholicism defines the underlying world view and subtly pervades their novels in readily identifiable ways if one is looking for evidence.

Possibly the most prolific and well known of these is Dean Koontz, whose suspenseful books often combine elements of science fiction, horror, mystery, and the supernatural, leavened with the occasional touch of humor. His books are frequently on the New York Times bestseller lists and many have been adapted for film and television movies…

Source: Patheos.com

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

Koontz contribution in upcoming anthology honoring Ray Bradbury

May 9, 2011

Publishers Weekly 4/25/2011:

Bradbury, Revisited
Ray Bradbury biographer (and former PW Midwest correspondent) Sam Weller sold his third book about the sci-fi author, Live Forever: An Anthology of All New Stories in Honor of Ray Bradbury. AgentJudith Ehrlich brokered the deal for Weller, selling world English rights to William Morrow’s Jennifer Brehl at auction. Bradbury is writing the introduction to the book, and Weller is co-editing the title with Mort Castle.

Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews 4/30/2011:

Some of you have known I’ve been working with my good friend, uber-writer, seven-time Stoker nominee and all-around great guy, Mort Castle, on a secret Bradbury-related project for about a year and a half. I’ve tweeted hints about this for a few months now. Now that it’s happening and ink is being inked (much praise to our agent Judith Ehrlich and our editor Jennifer Brehl), I’m free to tell you Live Forever! is the project. We’ll have contributions from Neil Gaiman, Audrey Niffenegger, Joe Hill, Alice Hoffman, David Morrell, Dean Koontz, Kelly Link, Tom Monteleone, Lee Martin, Robert R. McCammon, Ramsey Campbell, Dan Chaon, Harlan Ellison and many, many others who wish to tip their auctorial chapeaus to Mr. Bradbury. Hell, there are even stories in this bookish beast from two guys named Castle and Weller.

Cheaper mass markets and a new trade

May 2, 2011

Today sees the release of The Eyes of Darkness in a Berkley trade paperback along with Dark Rivers of the Heart, Icebound, and Winter Moon as $5.99 mass market editions from Bantam.

77 Shadow Street

April 30, 2011

According to Amazon.com the next novel from dean will be titled 77 Shadow Street and will be released in hardcover (along with large print, eBook, and audio) on 27 December 2011. (Not the day after Christmas like back in the 90s but close enough.) As of yet, no synopsis or cover art is available.

Twilight Eyes coming to TV

April 29, 2011

According to various sources coming across the feeds this morning  it looks likt Twilight Eyes is going to be adapted for a series on Starz.

Koontz has shied away from TV in the past few years and no book of his has been adapted to the small screen in a decade. His former agent at WMA, Rob Lee, now head of his own production company Bayonne Entertainment, remembered Koontz once talking about Twilight Eyes as a potential miniseries. But Koontz wanted a longer treatment — 6-8 hours, something the broadcast networks, the primary longform buyers in the 1990s, were not interested in. Lee teamed with writer Stephen Tolkin, who had adapted two Koontz novels as TV movies, 1997’sIntensity and 1998’s Mr. Murder. The two pitched the idea for a Twilight Eyeslimited series to Koontz, and he gave them their blessing. To stay true to the book, which Lee described as “quite violent and sensual,” he decided to go to premium cable and pitched the project to Starz, which picked it up with a premium development deal. (Lee has a relationship with Albrecht and briefly worked under him at IMG.) While the events in the book take place even before the 1980s, the adaptation will be set in present day. Koontz, who is involved in the development process, is executive producing with Lee and Tolkin, who is writing the script.

Source: Deadline

The Book of Counted Sorrows

April 21, 2011

Did you know that The Book of Counted Sorrows was published as an eBook by Barnes & Noble Digital in 2001? As far as I can recall it was only available in the Microsoft Reader format. Through the magic of some newer technologies I was able to rescue my old copy from the bowels of nearly dead technologies and present you here with the copyright page (below) and the “cover” (right). This of course, will be included in the Collector’s Guide but one of only a few eBook editions due to its rarity.