Latest Posts
No, there is not a film version of Santa's Twin
December 5, 2014
According to this article, ‘“Santa’s Twin,” based on the children’s book by Dean Koontz, will be the featured film’ at an event tomorrow morning at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, KS tomorrow.
The existance of such a film was news to me so I contacted the group hosting the presentation and it was news to them too. They’re doing a Santa’s Twin story-time, not showing a film version.
Curl up with Odd & Stormy next Thursday
December 5, 2014
You won’t find it on a map: 11 fictional places that have appeared in multiple works
December 4, 2014
4. Santa Mira, California
Alien imposters. Invisible men. Malevolent mask-makers. The sleepy California community of Santa Mira has played host to all these horrors, and several others, since director Don Siegal and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring first introduced it in 1956’s sci-fi classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. Modeled after the very real Mill Valley, California—where Jack Finney actually set his 1955 book The Body Snatchers, the film’s source material—Santa Mira is the platonic ideal of safe, clean, small-town America. That makes it, in turn, the perfect ground zero for a supernatural conspiracy, as the friendly facade provides an ideal smokescreen for insidious activities. No wonder other writers and filmmakers have appropriated the fictional locale; it’s appeared, or at least been mentioned, in no less than nine other sci-fi properties, many featuring “replaced” humans—the phantoms of Dean Koontz’s Phantoms, the robot henchmen of Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, the DNAliens of Ben 10: Alien Force. It’s a town fit only for pod people, or maybe for those willing to risk life, limb, and identity for a little breezy West Coast weather.
Read the full article @ A.V. Club.
Autographed copies of The City still available
December 4, 2014
It looks like Books-A-Million still has autographed copies of The City still available on their site for just $23.19. Grab one while you can. This edition has the same ISBN as the one that was offered by Barnes & Noble.
Have you seen the Innocence paperback commercial?
December 4, 2014
We hold each other hostage…
December 4, 2014
Publisher Interview: Richard Chizmar
November 29, 2014
The Black Cat Horror Blog sits down with the owner/founder of Cemetery Dance Publications, Richard Chizmar. Cemetery Dance Publications is a two-time World Fantasy Award winner, a four-time International Horror Critics Guild Award winner, and has been awarded/nominated for just about every other thing in existence when it comes to publishing. Do yourself a favor and, after the interview, sign-up for their magazine subscription–you won’t regret it!
TBC: It’s December 1988, and Cemetery Dance issue # 1 just hit the stands. Did you ever think Cemetery Dance would become what is it today? Or that you’d get to work with the top talent in horror–King, Koontz, Little, Ketchum, Matheson, etc.
Richard: Well, I knew I wanted to, and I knew I was willing to do whatever work was necessary to make it happen…but did I absolutely know it? Nope. But I definitely dreamed it and chased it with everything I had.
TBC: Which authors/books inspired your love for the horror genre?
Richard: Stephen King’s novella “The Monkey” is what made me want to be a writer. That led to all his novels. Also, the early Koontz paperbacks from Berkley. Before that, I read the usual horror comics. Loved THE TWILIGHT ZONE and any scary movie I could find on television. But Stephen King was definitely to blame for all this.
Read the full interview @ The Black Cat Horror Blog.
Dean Koontz: Semi-libertarian
November 29, 2014
Mega-bestselling author Dean Koontz declines to call himself a libertarian. But Publishers Weekly chastised him for allowing his “libertarian views” to seep into his novels; Koontz complains that all politicians “get corrupted by power;” and he admits to being at least “semi-libertarian” on most issues.
But let’s take Koontz at his word; he’s just a semi-libertarian — albeit one who trumpets his distrust of government, power and politicians at almost every opportunity. Some examples:
• In an online chat on CNN.com (September 10, 2001), Koontz said, “Any time I’m looking for a good psychopath [as a character for a novel], I first check out the current crop of Congressmen and see what they are up to.”
• In The Dean Koontz Companion (Headline Book Publishing, 1994), Koontz said, “It had become apparent to me that the worst enemy of the working man and woman is the state, and that the average person is safest in a country that struggles to limit the size of the state.”
Read the full article @ TheAdvocates.org.
Dean Koontz's 'Innocence" and Pheromones of Love and War
November 29, 2014
Pity Addison, the protagonist of Dean Koontz’s novel Innocence: Anyone who catches a glimpse of his face attacks him. He doesn’t understand why: There’s nothing unusual about his features, and he isn’t looking for a fight. By all accounts, he’s an everyday person who through no fault of his own, has become an enemy of humankind. The danger forces him to seek shelter beneath the city streets. There, in the darkness of the sewers, he meets a man who may be able to help him.
Addison’s condition is eventually explained, and chances are that very few readers will have guessed what it is before the big reveal. The answer changes the way Addison sees the world forever. Some of Koontz’s fans may experience revelations of their own.
The animal kingdom provides plenty of examples of seemingly inexplicable and unprovoked behavior caused by factors invisible to the human eye. None of this has anything to do with what’s causing people to attack Addison, by the way, so don’t worry about spoilers!
Read the full article @ Suvudu.
Signed Saint Odd
November 28, 2014
Both Barnes & Noble and Target have signed copies of Saint Odd available for pre-order for $20.72 & $20.75 respectively. According to the order pages, these each have a different ISBN from the unsigned trade release like was done with The City.
Epic as always
November 28, 2014
A review of Apokalipsa Odda
November 27, 2014
Życie nie jest łatwe, jeśli w pracy jest się kucharzem, a w nocy nawiedzają człowieka duchy, które mają na ziemi niezałatwione sprawy i szukają jedynego człowieka, który jest im w stanie pomóc. W sumie po pewnym czasie staje się to pewnego rodzaju standardem. Trudność polega na początku na komunikacji, jak zrozumieć kogoś kto już nic nie może powiedzieć. Przyzwyczaić należy się również do tego, że jeden z dwóch posiadanych psów również jest duchem…
Dean Koontz to znany pisarz amerykański, specjalizujący się w thrillerach oraz horrorach. W jego dorobku jest kilkadziesiąt pozycji, z których większość ukazało się w języku polskim. Obecnie ukazuje się kolejna książka, wchodząca w skład cyklu o dość nietypowym kucharzu Oddzie Thomasie.
Read the full review @ inertia360. (Or an English version via Google Translate.)
Dean Koontz Newsletter, 25 November 2014
November 26, 2014
Happy Tuesday
November 25, 2014
Odd Thomas from Korea
November 24, 2014
I don’t go out of my way to purchase non-English editions but I’ve been known to pick up some used books and the current title from a country I’m visiting. However I recently saw the cover artwork for the Korean editions of the Odd Thomas books and I couldn’t resist. So, with the help of a librarian with a friend in South Korea, and then that friend’s co-worker, these beauties arrived today. (Click for large versions.)
The Innocence paperback comes out on Tuesday
November 21, 2014
See you in just a few days, INNOCENCE Paperback! P.S. This will be the first time Dean’s original e-short story, “Wilderness,” is in print!
10 reasons Catholics Should Read Dean Koontz
November 19, 2014
Are you looking for a spellbinding novel with deeply Catholic themes, compelling characters, and exquisite prose? Well, if you’ve been confining your search to Barnes and Noble’s family-friendly Christian fiction shelf, I’m here to tell you that you’re missing out.
As a reader, you have probably heard of Dean Koontz. He has sold 450 million copies of his books in 38 languages, making him one of the most successful writers in the world. And while his stories have been categorized as science fiction, fantasy, thriller, and horror, he’s also considered by many readers to be the world’s best Catholic author of fiction.
Here are the top ten reasons that Catholics should read Dean Koontz:
1) His protagonists are truly heroic
Read the full article @ aleteia.
31 Days of Halloween: 'Odd Thomas,' 'The Raven' and 'Jacob's Ladder'
November 16, 2014
If you’re searching for a movie that provides just enough entertainment and tension then this is your movie. There are emotional impacts that will hit you harder than you’ll likely expect, but again…not like in the book. Perfect for teens or adults looking for lighter fare, “Odd Thomas” is without a doubt a sleeper worth watching.
Oh, and do yourself a favor; read the books. Even the worst of them are great.
Read the full article @ HeraldExtra.com.
Halloween habits: the rise of horror in children's books
November 16, 2014
Terror was a book. It was Whispers, by Dean Koontz.
Whispers was an adult novel, discarded by my mother for being “too scary” and retrieved by me for the very same reason. I knew it wasn’t meant for children, but that’s the great thing about books: they don’t come with age restrictions!
At that age I was always at the library anyway, secretly reading what I shouldn’t: racy books, violent books, even a book about sex for boys. However, Whispers switched me on to terror, and it was thrillers I learned to love best of all.
I moved onto other Koontz books – Phantoms, Night Chills, Shattered – swopping them with friends, borrowing them from the library, and then I stumbled uponThe Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson. I was way to young to watch the film – those darned age restrictions again! – yet no one fretted that I was reading the book on which the film was based, because reading couldn’t hurt anyone… right?
Read the full article @ The Guardian.
Veronica Scott gets fellow authors' take on favorite scary books
November 16, 2014
Amy Bartol, author of Under Different Stars
Just the thought of Bodachs, the evil, shadowy creatures from Dean Koontz’s epic series Odd Thomas makes me pull my foot back onto the mattress and cover my toes at night. It could be a thousand degrees; it doesn’t matter. The blanket stays in place! If I let it slip, these shifty, malicious harbingers could steal into the world from a dark dimension and get me. In Koontz’s novels, Bodachs form packs and troll an area, drawn to a location in frenzied anticipation of a horrific event. The blanket is my only protection … well, that and sleeping with the light on.
S.E. Smith, author of Twin Dragons: Dragon Lords of Valdier
I love Dean Koontz. The first book I ever read of his was Watchers. I swear I had dreams, OK nightmares, for weeks afterwards. I loved Einstein, the golden retriever, and actually felt sorry for the Outsider. His books, while some are really out-there, pull me into their world. I think I have read most of his books and still keep some of them on my bookshelf for rereading, including his Odd Thomas series.
Read the full article @ USA Today.