Author Q&A with Dean Koontz

June 8, 2006

First: In the e-mails you leave for me at the e-mail address given above, I'm being asked to send signed photos, books for charity auctions, and old socks for Old Sock Festivals. I'm happy to do all of that, but I must have a mailing address. Because of the popularity of "Author Q&A," I can't respond to every e-mail and seek addresses where needed. If you're asking for something that has to be sent by snail-mail, either leave an address where the snail can find you, or write to me at the post office box listed below:

Dean Koontz
PO Box 9529
Newport Beach, California 92658

 

Question #1

I found the first two Odd Thomas books enchanting. I'm in love with Oddie. If he were real, I'd do anything for him. Anything. Is there going to be a third book featuring him?–Rachel, Illinois

Only if you get control of yourself, Rachel. If you promise not to do anything that would require Odd to get a restraining order, then BROTHER ODD, the third in the series, will be in bookstores on 28 November 2006. The entire future of Odd's narrative depends on you. Well, the series also depends on me not being run down by a truck, but I always look six ways before stepping off a curb.

Question #2

FOREVER ODD was beautiful. But are you really going to send Odd to a monastery?–Roberto, Florida

I can't send Odd anywhere he doesn't want to go. From the first page of the first book, Odd took over his story and went places I had never imagined. Yes, he's taken himself to a monastery, but as a guest who works for his keep. He hasn't taken any vows. He wants to find a peaceful place in which to think about his future. Yeah, right. Like a bloodhound, trouble will always sniff at poor Odd's heels. And his new friends at the monastery, high in the California mountains, are every bit as eccentric as the folks of Pico Mundo.

Question #3

This has to be the question you get most often. Two words: Frankenstein Three. Oh, one other word: When?–Chao, Delaware

Writing the first two books, I discovered yet another character flaw in myself: I can't collaborate. None of the fault lies in those writers who tried to collaborate with me; they were great. But at the keyboard, I'm a fussy, stubborn, obsessive, impossible, single-minded, annoying nutcase who can become homicidal over a disagreement about commas. When not at the keyboard, of course, I'm an absolute sweetie, with a temperament somewhere between that of Spongebob Squarepants and Barney the Dinosaur, and everywhere I go, admiring angels sing a processional before me. After finishing the first two books, I decided not to try again with a collaborator but to plunge into the third novel myself. Hurricane Katrina presented an unprecedented narrative problem. After the tragedy and suffering endured by the citizens of New Orleans, I could not bring myself to set loose Victor and his creations to wreak more havoc on the city, so I had to figure how to include the hurricane and work around it in a graceful way. This slowed things down. But I expect to finish Book Three soon, for publication in winter 2007.

Question #4

Often, maybe not always, names of your characters have wonderful meaning. I laughed when Mark Ahriman showed up in FALSE MEMORY–"the Mark of Satan." In VELOCITY, the doctor who wants to let Barbara die is Jordan Ferrier–Jordan the river between life and death, and a ferry driver takes the dead to the other side. Valis in that book–doesn't he refer to the Vast Active Living Intelligence System in Philip K. Dick's novel Valis? And the guy named himself Valis. What an ego! But the lead characters' names in VELOCITY: Billy Wiles, Barbara Mandell. I don't get those. Do they have meaningful references?–Tom, Iowa

Very meaningful. In real life, Barbara Mandell's husband paid a lot of money at a Canine Companions for Independence fund-raising auction to have his wife's name used in one of my novels. And at another auction for another charity, Billy Wiles's wife paid a handsome sum to have his name used in a novel. They both ended up in VELOCITY. The names of characters are not always symbolic, but they are always important and need to ring true, and they have to resonate in a particular way in each story, supporting mood if nothing else. That's why when people have won charity auctions to have their names in a book, they sometimes have to wait a couple of years until I find a story in which they will fit. As for Phil Dick: I knew him a little bit and admired his work a lot; Phil would have gotten a kick out of seeing Valis in VELOCITY. In FRANKENSTEIN: PRODIGAL SON, I got to use an anecdote about Chinese cuisine that Phil once told me over lunch. I remember his smile when he got to the punch line. He had a killer smile, though you seldom see a photograph of him that isn't somber.

Question #5

As a young writer, did you encounter rejection?–Allison, Pennsylvania

I sold the first short story I wrote. Then I received over 75 rejections before making another sale. My first four novels were never published. Later, after I'd been selling genre fiction routinely, I wrote a mainstream novel, ALL OTHER MEN. Editors sent me enthusiastic letters about it, said they loved it, but turned it down because they felt it was too disturbing and too avant garde to be commercial. But let me get to the heart of your question: young writer. There seems to be an implication here that I'm no longer young. I am as young now, Allison, as I have ever been, and not because of any form of dementia. I am young because my work keeps me young and the daily wrestling with our beautiful and supple language keeps me limber and youthful, as well. You may think that is bullshit, and it is, but it's a sincere kind of bullshit.

Question #6

Now that Trixie, your dog, has published two books of her own, will you finally admit she also helps write your novels?–Lawanda, Michigan

It's true. She does help. She checks my sbelling.

Question #7

I'm a cat person. You're obviously a dog person. Why? What's so great about dogs?–Mary, Oregon

They aren't cats. That isn't the anti-cat bigotry it appears to be. I'm fatally allergic to cats. If I venture into a house where cats live, within two minutes, I'll go into anaphylactic shock: red rash, lips so swollen it appears a bad plastic surgeon did work on me, eyes swollen shut–and most important, throat so constricted by swelling that my airway closes. I carry Epi pens, to give myself injections of epinephrine, and liquid Benedril, to control the symptoms until I can get to a hospital. Aside from the fact that, unlike cats, dogs do not routinely attempt to kill me, I love them, especially golden retrievers, for their affectionate natures, their stoicism, the depth of intelligence they exhibit if you pay close attention, their innocence, their empathy, their sense of joy, their beauty. You don't meet many humans with all those qualities.

Question #8

Are you ever going to write the third Chris Snow book? Truth not fiction, okay?–Brett, Colorado

I fully intend to finish the third book, God willing. The problem has been that when I started RIDE THE STORM, I quickly saw that it was going to be different from and potentially much longer than the first two books, and I wanted to take time to consider it carefully before continuing. Then an unprecedented flood of story ideas washed over me, all of which I was passionate about, and I have been busy realizing them for the past few years. Writing talent is a gift that sometimes controls the recipient.

Question #9

What might Chris Snow, sentenced by his creator to perpetual shadows, say to you if you could enter his world or if he showed up in yours?–Reese, Nevada

He would surely curse me for condemning him to a life without light, but he might thank me for making him such a romantic figure. He would mock me for writing novels in which even the troubled and the weak usually find great reservoirs of courage deep within themselves–while I myself am reluctant to board aircraft except in dire emergencies. Then he would notice the moon was full, the surf was up, and he'd suggest we grab boards and beer and speed for the beach. Orson would swoon over Trixie.

Question #10

What is your greatest fear?–Vanessa, Georgia

My greatest fear is that the psychotic legislature running the state of California will suddenly require applicants for drivers licenses to eat a live reptile. My second greatest fear is that gnarly oak fungus will mutate into a human disease.

Next Installment Coming Soon!