Newsletter - May 2007

THE GOOD GUY gets a treat from Trixie!

Dear Reader,

Bliss to you. Is me, Trixie Koontz, who is dog. Is big week for me. Dad has new book, THE GOOD GUY, in stores May 29. That is not why is big week for me, but had to mention it out of family loyalty. Is big week for me because I am dog. Every week is big when you're a dog. Every week is full of joy, kibble, plush toys, tennis balls, cookies, tummy rubs, wriggling in grass, and more, when you are dog. Dad doesn't get kibble or plush toys (don't know why, except maybe he hasn't been good boy, good), and he is too embarrassed to wriggle on back in grass, so only fun he gets is having new book in stores on May 29. Publishers Weekly says new book, THE GOOD GUY, is "A thriller so compelling many readers will race through the book in one sitting. The novel's breathless pace, clever twists and adroit characterizations all add up to superior entertainment." Whatever. More important, summer is coming, so is time to go swimming again. Time to grill frankfurters and hamburgers on the Bar-B-Q. Am carnivore, me, Trixie, dog. Summer is good time for carnivores. Summer is good time for vegetarians, too. My favorite vegetable is ice cream.

Bliss to you,

LIGHTNING Strikes Again in Paperback Re-Release

Most publishers are happiest with a successful novelist when he or she writes the same book every time. They don't care if he bathes only on the summer solstice, drinks himself into a stupor every day by 2:00 P.M., lives in sin with a llama, thinks SpongeBob SquarePants is the greatest actor of his generation, and spits on the floor--as long as, at the keyboard, he can slavishly repeat himself manuscript after manuscript. From story to story, if the writer always features lead characters who are lawyers, for example, the publisher will smile and pat him on the head. If each of these lawyers (or cops if the writer is a cop novelist, or boiler repairmen if the writer spins boiler-repairman tales) is like all the others, in terms of his world view, psychological makeup, and narrative voice, then the publisher will beam with delight at the mention of the writer's name. If in fact the lawyer (or cop, or boiler repairman) is the same lawyer (or cop, or boiler repairman) by name--in other words, a "series character"--the publisher will not only swoon at the mere mention of the author, but will pretend, with convincing earnestness, to like the author as an artist and as a human being, no matter how thick his disgust and how poisonous his hatred for the author may actually be. Click Here to find out more about LIGHTNING.

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Odd Thomas Will Star in New Graphic Novel

Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that it has acquired the an original graphic novel starring Odd Thomas, one of Dean Koontz's most memorable and beloved characters. The charismatic young fry cook from Pico Mundo, CA, has appeared in three New York Times bestselling novels: ODD THOMAS, FOREVER ODD, and BROTHER ODD, which was one of Koontz's fastest-selling hardcovers. Odd, who has the ability to communicate with the dead, has inspired more readers' letters than any other of his characters, according to Koontz.

Koontz's characters-including Odd, his girlfriend Stormy Llewellyn, Pico Mundo Chief of Police Porter, the ghost of Elvis Presley, and many more-will be drawn by one of the top original-English-language manga artists working today, Queenie Chan. Chan, author of the popular mystery-horror series The Dreaming, will script the story as well. Publication is planned for Summer 2008.

Click here to read more.

Sketches of Odd Thomas and Stormy by Queenie Chan for the upcoming Odd Thomas graphic novel.

On the Dean's List: His Favorite Love Stories

Recently, in an interview with Romantic Times magazine, Dean was asked to list five of his favorite books. He thought it would be most appropriate to list his five top love stories. Here they are:

REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier

TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens

JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte

MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR by Herman Wouk

BOYS AND GIRLS TOGETHER by William Goldman

For more of Dean opinions, check out The Write Stuff by clicking here!

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Beat the Quizmaster!

1) What book was Dean in the middle of writing when his inspiration for ODD THOMAS hit him?

2) Is Dean left-handed or right-handed?

3) What was the original title of WATCHERS?

4) What #1 bestseller of Dean's is slated to become a feature film?

5) What is the nickname of Timothy Carrier in THE GOOD GUY?

See answers below!

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AUTHOR Q & A

Dean Discusses Love, Life and Honeymoons

This month, Dean Koontz's THE HUSBAND arrived in stores in paperback. It debuted as the #1 fiction bestseller. The book is both thrilling and emotionally complex, and is the story of an ordinary man who must make extraordinary decisions as he struggles to gather together two-million dollars in seventy-two hours to appease the murderous kidnappers who have taken his wife hostage.

While THE HUSBAND makes us all wonder how far we might go for the one we love, such a powerful story of love and suspense made us wonder what Dean Koontz's own marriage is like. Here's what we learned:

Question:

You've been married to your wife Gerda for a long time. How did the two of you meet?

Answer:

We were high-school sweethearts. The first time I asked her out, I was a senior and she was a junior. She said she had to work at the dry cleaner's that night. I was a shy kid. I never asked a girl out twice. The exception was Gerda. I asked her out again, and she said she had to work at the movie theatre that night. I thought she'd forgotten the lie she told me the first time. Nevertheless, I asked her out a third time. She said, "I can't. I have to babysit that night." I went home, looked in the mirror, and thought, No wonder she won't date me. I look like a walking malignant wart. In fact I didn't look like a malignant wart, but my ego had suffered major damage. (I learned later that Gerda actually worked three part-time jobs and was telling me the truth.)

I schemed to ask her out a fourth time. She was president of the junior class, so I figured she would have to go to the junior-class dance. I bided my time, asked her to the dance, and she said, "Oh, I can't. I'm busy that night." In a thin voice that sounded like that of a talking malignant wart, I protested that surely she, being the class president, had to go to the dance. She said, "Yes, I'm going. But first I'll be selling tickets at the door. Then I have to take a turn operating the record player"-we called them "record players" in those days, when albums were recorded on vinyl discs and everyone had a wooly mammoth in the backyard-"and then I have to take a turn selling refreshments, and then I have to clean up the gym." (In our small town, school dances were held in the gymnasium. Gym classes were conducted in the wood shop. Wood-shop classes were taught in the cafeteria. Lunch was served by the principal, who threw food from the roof to assembled students standing below, faces upturned and mouths open like so many spellbound turkeys. This was an extremely dysfunctional small town.) Anyway, I told Gerda that I'd be happy to sell tickets, run the record player, sell refreshments, and clean up the gym with her. That was our first date. She says that she laughed so much on our date that her stomach was sore the next day. I think she means I was witty-but then I look in the mirror and wonder.

Question:

Do you think you and Gerda were destined to be together?

Answer:

On my desk is a photograph given to me by my mother after Gerda and I were engaged to be married. It shows 23 children at a birthday party. It is neither my party nor Gerda's. I am three years old, going on four. Gerda is three. In that crowd of kids, we are sitting directly across a table from each other. I'm grinning, as if I already know she's my destiny, and Gerda has a serious expression, as if she's worried that I might be her destiny. We never met again until I was a senior in high school and she was a junior. We've been trying to make up for that lost time ever since.

Question:

What about your honeymoon or special trips together?

Answer:

Gerda and I were married at the end of my senior year in college and only had a few days and almost no money for a honeymoon. We drove to Williamsburg,Virginia, which certainly wasn't exotic or glitzy but it was magical to us.

Because Gerda and I worked so much for the first two decades of our marriage, we never took a real vacation until our twentieth wedding anniversary. Then we went on a cruise, booking a first-class suite, sparing no expense. For more than half the cruise, the ship was caught in a hurricane. The open decks were closed because waves would have washed passengers overboard. About 90% of the passengers spent day after day in their cabins, projectile vomiting. We discovered that neither of us gets seasick. We had the showrooms, the casino, and the buffets virtually to ourselves. Because the crew had no one to serve, our service was exemplary. The ship dared not try to put into the scheduled ports; it was safer on the open sea. The big windows of the main bar presented a spectacular view of massive waves and lightning strikes that stabbed the sea by the score. Very romantic. We had a grand time.

Question:

Any other romantic stories you'd like to share with us?

Answer:

Gerda, and I took seven years of private ballroom dancing lessons, twice a week, ninety minutes each time. After we had gotten good at everything from swing to the foxtrot, we not only stopped taking lessons, but also stopped going dancing. Learning had been great fun; but for both of us, going out for an evening of dancing proved far less exhilarating than the learning. We both have a low boredom threshold. Now we dance at a wedding or other celebration perhaps once a year, and we're creaky."

Click Here for more 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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Did You Beat the Quizmaster?

1) THE FACE

2) Right Handed

3) THE GUARDIAN STRANGERS

4) THE HUSBAND

5) Doorman

 

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