Newsletter - August 2007
Newsletter - August 2007
Dean Takes a Comic Turn!
Frankenstein Adapted as a Comic!
With over five million copies sold worldwide of the first two novels in Koontz's proposed Frankenstein trilogy, the graphic adaptation produced by the Dabel Brothers of "Frankenstein, Book 1" is destined to be a Number 1 bestseller in the graphic novel and comic book categories as well.
If the Dabel Brothers can be accused of anything in life, it's in thinking big. They stunned the comic book world in 2003 with their graphic adaptation of George R. R. Martin's The Hedge Knight. They upped the ante when they joined forces with Marvel Comics to produce Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, which immediately became one of the bestselling graphic novels of 2007 within one month from publication.
Today Les and Ernst Dabel announced that their next wave of comic book adaptations of popular novels will include one of the bestselling novels of the decade: an adaptation of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Book 1: Prodigal Son!
Says Dean Koontz: "I'm delighted that Frankenstein will come to life in comic book form, and that the project is being guided by such capable hands as those of the Dabel Brothers. I usually don't say things like 'they rock,' but it's inescapable: 'they rock.'"
The first issue of the comic book is set to arrive on shelves in February, 2008. The series will be monthly and will eventually adapt both novels in the series published to date.
Beat the Quizmaster!
The Romantic Challenge
1) In ODD THOMAS, what is the real first name of Odd Thomas' true love?
2) How much money was Krait offered to kill Linda Paquette in THE GOOD GUY?
3) How much money was the ransom on Mitch Rafferty's wife, Holly, in THE HUSBAND?
4) In LIGHTNING, Laura Shane loves two men. What are their names?
5) In COLD FIRE, Holly Thorne witnesses Jim Ironheart doing what? What is Jim's most striking feature?
6) On which of Jimmy Tock's five terrible days in LIFE EXPECTANCY does he meet the love of his life, Lorrie Lynn Hicks?
7) Who helps Travis Cornell and Nora Devon get together and fall in love in WATCHERS?
8) What restaurant does Valerie Keene work at in DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART?
9) In TICK TOCK, what is Del's full name?
Dean Koontz is a master of the Romantic Suspense Novel. Click Here to see more of love, Dean Koontz style.
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AUTHOR Q & A
Hearing Character's Voices
Question:
I just finished The Good Guy and it was incredibly gripping. I'm impressed by the fact that you used sangfroid, jejeune, and sophistry so seamlessly. I feel the same way about your dialogue. Do you work through the dialogue verbally or in your head?— Jeff M. from MA
Answer:
It all is in my head but, that said, I hear it. By the time I'm done explaining to you how I work here, there will be a movement to have me institutionalized. The reality is that I sit in this room as if I'm in a "group" of people in any one scene. When I'm writing dialogue, I am working on the page but I hear it, not because I vocalize it, but because I literally almost hear the characters say it. I can get so involved in dialogue that I'm surprised, and I laugh out loud when a character says something because it struck me as completely unexpected. Yet there I am, typing it out.
A character can startle me in dialogue by revealing something that I hadn't known about them. Also, it will happen in the middle of an exchange and I'll go, "Whoa, wait a minute. What does he mean by that?" I have learned that if I don't immediately know what he means by that, I should trust it and just move on and it will come to me. Now, this may mean that my subconscious is working on all of these things and it is just coming to me in my conscious mind a little belatedly. For me, it feels like the characters have become real and they are actually doing the talking.Click Here to continue AUTHOR Q & A.
You can submit your own questions to:dean@deankoontz.com
or:
Dean Koontz
PO Box 9529
Newport Beach, California 92658
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COLD FIRE
Going Forward with the Afterward
To those of you who have been reading this series of afterwords that Berkley Books asked me to write for reissues of my novels, I wonder why you don't have something better to do with your time than reading afterwords. This is a lovely world. Go for a walk in verdant fields, in cool and mossy woods. Have an ice cream cone. If you're on a low-fat diet, have just the cone. If you're on a low-carb diet, eat a squirrel. If you have a child, dandle him or her on your knee while singing a happy song. If you don't have a child, dandle your dog on your knee; the song is optional. If your dog is adamantly opposed to dandling, find someone much larger than you are and ask to be dandled on that person's knee.Click Here to continue reading.
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COLD FIRE Is Hot Again!
In Portland, he saved a young boy from a drunk driver. In Boston, he rescued a child from an underground explosion. In Houston, he disarmed a man who was trying to shoot his own wife. Reporter Holly Thorne was intrigued by this strange quiet savior named Jim Ironheart. She was even falling in love with him. But what power compelled an ordinary man to save twelve lives in three months? What visions haunted his dreams? And why did he whisper in his sleep: There is an Enemy. It is coming. It'll kill us all?
"A unique spellbinding novel with depth, sensitivity and personality."
—Boston Herald
Click Here for more about COLD FIRE.
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Did You Beat the Quizmaster?
1) Bronwen Llewellyn
2) $20,000
3) Two million dollars
4) Danny Packard and Stefan Kreiger
5) He saves a child from being run over by a drunk driver. His blue eyes jump out at her, and make him memorable.
6) On the first terrible day, when he is twenty-years old.
7) Einstein, the super smart golden retriever.
8) The Red Door.
9) Deliverance Payne
Dean Koontz is a master of the Romantic Suspense Novel. Click Here to see more of love, Dean Koontz style.
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