Dean R. Koontz

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Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945 in Everett , Pennsylvania ) is an American writer . He is considered one of the most successful American writers in the field of fantastic literature and is one of the most successful living authors with 500 million books sold (as of January 2017).

Life

Koontz is the son of Ray and Florence Koontz. He grew up in poor conditions. His father was a violent alcoholic who was eventually admitted because of mental health problems. He was not encouraged to read or write by his parents, which was thought to be a waste of time and money. Nevertheless, he began to read early on and to find refuge in books. When he was eight, he began writing stories, pinning the sheets together, "tying" them with electrical tape, and selling the product to relatives and neighbors, usually for 10 ¢ each. Then, at 12, he won $ 25 and a watch in a newspaper essay contest.

Koontz attended State Teachers College in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1966 . In the same year he married Gerda Ann Cerra, won a short story competition of the Atlantic Monthly - the short story Kittens then appeared in Readers & Writers in May 1966 and was the first published text by Koontz - and began in the Appalachian Poverty Program as a study advisor for students from difficult backgrounds to work in individual care. The work and the pupils were problematic, one of them had beat his predecessor to hospital. In 1967 he became an English teacher in a high school near Harrisburg . All the while he wrote in his spare time. In 1969, his wife finally offered him to support him for five years so that he could establish himself as a freelance writer during this time. Koontz accepted the offer.

Koontz grew up as a child in the Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ , but converted to Catholicism during his college days. Koontz says about his denomination change:

“Catholicism allows me to look at life in order to see a mystery and a wonder in all things, which Protestantism does not readily allow. As a Catholic, I see the world in a more mysterious, organic and less mechanical way than it seemed to me before, and I have a more direct connection to God. "

Koontz lives in Orange , California with his wife Gerda and the golden retriever Elsa . Together with his wife Gerda, Dean Koontz has been supporting the Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) dog center since the late 1980s . As of January 2016, Koontz donated more than $ 10 million to the organization. CCI trains assistance dogs for people with disabilities.

plant

The first science fiction story Soft Come the Dragons was published in 1967 in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction . A first SF novel Star Quest appeared in the series of Ace Doubles in 1968 and in the following five years Koontz produced over 20 novels, some of which appeared under his own name and some under several pseudonyms . He wrote SF as David Axton, John Hill and Aaron Wolfe, horror novels as Brian Coffey, Deanne Dwyer, KR Dwyer, Leigh Nichols , Anthony North, Richard Paige and Owen West . From the 1980s both original editions and new editions appeared under Koontz's own name, after he had convinced himself that the use of numerous pseudonyms ultimately had an unfavorable effect: “Nobody knew that it was me. If these positive reviews had been for me instead of a motley heap of pseudonyms, the reading public would have discovered me much earlier. "

In 1989, with Midnight (German midnight ), a novel by Koontz appeared for the first time at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and meanwhile (as of 2012) 14 Koontz books have achieved this position. Along with Stephen King and Peter Straub, he is one of the most successful authors in the field of fantasy and horror in the USA and worldwide. Most of his novels have since been translated into German and are also bestseller editions.

Dean Koontz's work is strongly influenced by Catholic values ​​and Christian symbolism. This is even less clear in the early books. From From the Corner of His Eye (2000, German as The Bedazzled ) take metaphysical concepts a large space. His eight-part book series Odd Thomas is interwoven with allusions, symbolisms and numerous references to the Catholic faith. The America Magazine ranks Koontz next to Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy and Graham Greene of the great Catholic authors of recent decades.

In 1996 he was named a World Horror Grand Master . In the major relevant prizes ( Hugo Award , World Fantasy Award , Bram Stoker Award ) he was nominated - mostly several times - but has not yet received an award.

There is controversy over the authorship of four titles named by Dean and Gerda Koontz as authors. Koontz denies authorship. According to him, these are texts that have been changed significantly by the publisher or are essentially foreign texts. The titles in question are:

  • Pig Society. Aware Press, 1970.
  • Underground Lifestyles Handbook. Aware Press, 1970.
  • Bounce girl. Cameo Press, 1970
  • Aphrodisiac Girl. Oval Press, 1973.

In Bounce Girl and aphrodisiac Girl is the same erotic novel under different titles.

Finally, several of Koontz's books name Trixie Koontz as the author . It is the now deceased Golden Retriever owned by the Koontz couple.

bibliography

The series are sorted according to the year of publication of the first part.

Mike Tucker (series of novels, as Brian Coffey)

  • 1 Blood Risk (1973)
    • German: … alias Mike Tucker / Key to the Beyond. 1976.
  • 2 Surrounded (1974)
    • German: Mike Tucker on diving station. 1977.
  • 3 Wall of Masks (1975)
    • English: Mike Tucker and the Mayan Frieze. 1977.

Moonlight Bay Trilogy / Christopher Snow (series of novels)

  • 1 Fear Nothing (1997)
    • German: Creatures of the Night. 1999.
  • 2 Seize the Night (1998)
    • German: Under the spell of darkness . 2000.
  • Fear nothing (1998, series by Christopher Snow: 1st volume)
  • Seize the Night (1999, Christopher Snow series: Volume 2)
  • 3 Ride the Storm (not published)

Odd Thomas (series of novels)

  • 1 Odd Thomas (2003)
    • German: Adoration . 2006.
  • 2 Forever Odd (2005)
    • German: soulless . 2008.
  • 3 Brother Odd (2006)
    • German: Schattennacht . 2008.
  • 4 Odd Hours (2008)
    • German: Sea of ​​Darkness . 2009.
  • 5 Odd Apocalypse (2012)
    • German: Black tides . 2013.
  • 6 Deeply Odd (2013)
    • German: Abyssal . 2014.
  • 7 Saint Odd (2015)
    • German: victim path . 2015.
  • Odd Apocalypse (2012, short story)
  • You Are Destined to Be Together Forever (2014, short story)
    • German: Rachepfad . 2015.
  • Odd Interlude (short stories)
    • Odd Interlude 1 (2012)
    • Odd Interlude 2 (2012)
    • Odd Interlude 3 (2012)
    • Odd Interlude (2012, collection)
    • German: Lichtlos . 2012.
  • Odd Thomas Graphic Novels
    • 1 In Odd We Trust (2008, with Queenie Chan)
    • 2 Odd Is on Our Side (2010, with Fred Van Lente)
    • 3 House of Odd (2012, with Landry Q. Walker)
    • Double the Odd (2011, with Fred Van Lente and Queenie Chan)

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein (series of novels)

  • 1 Prodigal Son (2005, with Kevin J. Anderson)
  • 2 City of Night (2005, with Ed Gorman)
    • German: Frankenstein - The Creature . 2006.
  • 3 Dead and Alive (2009)
    • German: Frankenstein - Der Schatten . 2010.
  • 4 Frankenstein: Lost Souls (2010)
    • German: Frankenstein - The Creator . 2012.
  • 5 The Dead Town (2011)
    • German: Frankenstein - The Dead City . 2013.
  • Dean Koontz's Frankenstein (2010, collection of 1–3)

Jane Hawk (novel series)

  • 4 The Forbidden Door (2018)
  • 5 The Night Window (2019)

Novels

  • Star Quest (1968)
  • Fear That Man (1969)
  • The Fall of the Dream Machine (1969)
  • Beastchild (1970)
  • Hell's Gate (1970)
    • German: Das Höllentor. 1974.
  • The Dark Symphony (1970)
  • Anti-Man (1970)
  • Dark of the Woods (1970)
  • Demon Child (1971, as Deanna Dwyer)
    • English: The curse of the second face. 1972.
  • Legacy of Terror (1971, as Deanna Dwyer)
  • The Crimson Witch (1971)
  • Children of the Storm (1972, as Deanna Dwyer)
    • English: The snake in paradise. 1974.
  • Starblood (1972)
  • The Dark of Summer (1972, as Deanna Dwyer)
    • German: The voice from beyond. 1976.
  • Warlock (1972)
  • Time Thieves (1972)
  • A Darkness in My Soul (1972)
  • The Flesh in the Furnace (1972)
    • German: Der Lebens-Automat. 1973.
  • Chase (1972/1995, revised as KR Dwyker, 1995)
    • English: The threat out of nowhere / Chase. 1974/1996.
  • Dance with the Devil (1973, as Deanna Dwyer)
  • The Haunted Earth (1973)
  • A Werewolf Among Us (1973)
  • Demon Seed (1973, revised 1997, filmed in 1977 )
    • German: Des Teufels Saat / Security. 1977/1998.
  • Shattered (1973, also as KR Dwyer)
    • English: The traces / Under shadow / The cruel game / Curse. 1988.
  • Hanging On (1973)
  • After the Last Race (1974)
    • German: After the last race. 1976.
  • Strike Deep (1974, as Anthony North)
    • German: Codeword: Pentagon. 1989.
  • Dragonfly (1975, as KR Dwyer)
  • Nightmare Journey (1975)
  • The Long Sleep (1975, as John Hill)
  • Invasion (1975, as Aaron Wolfe)
  • Night Chills (1976)
    • English: In the cold of the night. 1985.
  • Prison of Ice (1976, also as David Axton, also as Icebound , 1995)
    • German: Ice Age. 1996.
  • The Face of Fear (1977, as Brian Coffey, in the UK as KR Dwyer)
    • German: naked fear. 1979.
  • The Vision (1977)
    • German: Vision / The Clairvoyant. 1990/1993.
  • The Key to Midnight (1979, reworked as Leigh Nichols, 1995)
    • English: key of darkness. 1992.
  • The Funhouse (1980, reworked as Owen West, 1994)
    • German: Geisterbahn. 1997.
  • The Voice of the Night (1980, also as Brian Coffey)
  • Whispers (1980)
    • English: Whispering in the Night / Höllenqualen. 1988.
  • The Eyes of Darkness (1981, as Leigh Nichols)
  • The Mask (1981, as Owen West)
    • German: The mask. 1988.
  • The House of Thunder (1982, as Leigh Nichols)
  • Phantoms (1983, filmed in 1998 )
    • German: Doom over the city. 1986.
  • Twilight (1984, as Leigh Nichols, also as The Servants of Twilight , 1988)
    • German: Dawn of Death. 1991.
  • Darkness Comes (1984, also as Darkfall )
    • German: When the dark comes. 1987.
  • The Door to December (1985, as Richard Paige, in Great Britain as Leigh Nichols)
  • Twilight Eyes (1985)
    • German: Twilight. 1987.
  • Strangers (1986)
    • German: Schwarzer Mond. 1989.
  • Shadowfires (1987, also as Leigh Nichols)
    • German: Schattenfeuer. 1989.
  • Watchers (1987, filmed in 1988)
  • Lightning (1988)
    • German: Guardian Angel. 1990.
  • Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages (1988)
  • Midnight (1989)
  • The Bad Place (1990)
  • Cold Fire (1991)
    • English: The coldness of the fire. 1991.
  • Hideaway (1992)
  • Dragon Tears (1993)
  • Mr. Murder (1993)
    • German: The second skin. 1994.
  • Dark Rivers of the Heart (1994)
    • English: Dark Rivers of the Heart. 1995.
  • Winter Moon (1994, revised version of Invasion )
    • German: Wintermond. 1994.
  • Intensity (1995)
    • German: Intensity. 1997.
  • Ticktock (1996)
    • German: Dawn . 1998.
  • Sole Survivor (1997)
    • German: Survivor - The survivor. 1997.
  • False Memory (1999)
    • German: Voices of fear . 2001.
  • From the Corner of His Eye (2000)
    • German: The blinded . 2002.
  • One Door Away from Heaven (2001)
    • German: messenger of the night . 2003.
  • By the Light of the Moon (2002)
    • German: Kalt . 2004.
  • The Face (2003)
  • Life Expectancy (2004)
    • German: Trauma . 2007.
  • The Taking (2004)
  • Velocity (2005)
  • The Husband (2006)
    • German: time of death . 2008.
  • The Darkest Evening of the Year (2007)
    • German: Urangst . 2009.
  • The Good Guy (2007)
    • German: blood contract . 2009/2010.
  • Your Heart Belongs to Me (2008)
    • German: Racheherz . 2010.
  • Relentless (2009)
    • German: Blindwütig . 2010.
  • Breathless (2009)
    • German: The unknown . 2011.
  • What the Night Knows (2010)
    • German: Der Rabenmann . 2011.
  • 77 Shadow Street (2011)
    • German: The night house . 2012.
  • Innocence (2013, novel, Addison Goodheart series)
  • The City (2014)
  • Ashley Bell (2015)

Collections

  • Soft Come the Dragons (1970)
  • Strange Highways (1995)
    • German: Highway into the dark. 1997.
  • The Book of Counted Sorrows (2001)
  • The Paper Doorway: Funny Verse and Nothing Worse (2001)

Short stories

  • Kittens (1966)
  • Soft Come the Dragons (1967)
    • English: The dragons come quietly. 1985.
  • To Behold the Sun (1967)
    • German: In the face of the sun. 1969.
  • A Darkness in My Soul (1968)
  • The Psychedelic Children (1968)
  • The Twelfth Bed (1968)
  • Dreambird (1968)
  • In the Shield (1969)
  • Temple of Sorrow (1969)
  • The Face in His Belly (1969)
  • Killer bot! (1969, also called A Season for Freedom )
  • Where the Beast Runs (1969)
  • Dragon in the Land (1969)
  • Muse (1969)
  • Nightmare Gang (1970)
  • A Third Hand (1970)
  • The Good Ship Lookoutworld (1970)
  • The Mystery of His Flesh (1970)
  • Beastchild (1970)
  • The Crimson Witch (1970)
  • Shambolain (1970)
  • Unseen Warriors (1970)
  • Bruno (1971, Jake Ash series)
  • Altarboy (1972)
  • A Mouse in the Walls of the Global Village (1972)
  • Ollie's Hands (1972)
  • Cosmic Sin (1972, Jake Ash series)
    • German: Cabbage heads. 1974.
  • Terra Phobia (1973)
  • The Sinless Child (1973)
  • Wake Up to Thunder (1973)
  • Grayworld (1973)
  • The Undercity (1973)
  • Hardshell (1974)
  • We Three (1974)
    • German: We three. 1978.
    • German: We three. 1982.
  • The Night of the Storm (1974)
  • Down in the Darkness (1986)
  • Snatcher (1986)
  • The Day it Rained Frogs (1986)
  • The Black Pumpkin (1986)
  • The Interrogation (1987)
  • Miss Attila the Hun (1987)
  • Twilight of the Dawn (1987)
  • Graveyard Highway (1988)
  • Trapped (1989, with Ed Gorman)
  • No One Can Talk to a Horse, of Course (1994)
  • The Miracle Tree of Burbank (1994)
  • The Unluckiest Man in the World (1994)
  • The Man Who Does Not Always Mean What He Says (1994)
  • Tweetie, the Parakeet From Hell (1994)
  • Santa's Twin (1996)
  • Black River (1999)
  • The Scariest Thing I Know (2000)
  • Robot Santa (2004)
  • Darkness Under the Sun (2010)
    • English: The black feather . 2011.
  • What the Night Knows (2011)
  • The Moonlit Mind (2011)
    • German: Das Mondkind . 2012.
  • Wilderness (2013, Addison Goodheart series)
  • The Neighbor (2014)
  • Last Light (2015)
  • Final Hour (2015)

Non-fiction and miscellaneous

  • Writing Popular Fiction (1972, with Robert Hoskins)
  • How To Write Best Selling Fiction (1981)
  • Life is Good! Lessons in Joyful Living (2004, as Trixie Koontz)
  • Christmas Is Good !: Trixie Treats & Holiday Wisdom (2005, as Trixie Koontz)
  • Bliss to You: Trixie's Guide to a Happy Life (2008, as Trixie Koontz and Dean Koontz)
  • A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog (2009)
  • Trixie & Jinx (2010, children's book; illustrations by Janet Cleland)
  • Ask Anna: Advice for the Furry and Forlorn (2014)

Film adaptations

Some of his books have been made into films (e.g. Des Teufels Saat 1977), but he was always dissatisfied with the results. The implementation of "Hideaway" differed so much from the original book that Koontz wanted his name removed from the opening credits. He even offered to reimburse the producers for the film rights if they complied with his request.

Warner Brothers Studios acquired the film rights to "Night of the Magic Animals". The plan was to hire Tim Burton to make the film and Koontz loved it. But Burton refused, and Koontz was faced again with the fear that his story would be greatly changed. To prevent mutilation, he entered into an unusual deal: he offered Warner Brothers a book with short stories ("Strange Highways - Highway into Darkness"), including the publishing rights - only to get back the film rights to "Night of the Magic Animals".

In the filming of "Unheil über der Stadt" ( Phantoms , with Ben Affleck , Peter O'Toole and others) he wrote the script himself to ensure a true-to-book filming.

In 1998 the thriller Mr. Murder was released starring Stephen Baldwin and James Coburn .

The film adaptation of Frankenstein - The Face O: ( Frankenstein, USA 2004) was called in German Frankenstein - The experiment continues. Dean Koontz and producer Martin Scorsese originally planned a miniseries, but it never came about. This is also the reason why the atmospherically styled, visually convincing pilot film by Marcus Nispel leaves some questions unanswered at the end.

In 2013, Odd Thomas was another film adaptation of one of his works.

Trivia

In the course of the 2019/2020 coronavirus pandemic , a conspiracy theory emerged according to which Koontz would have predicted the appearance of the virus from Wuhan in his novel The Eyes of Darkness in 1981 for 2020. That turned out to be fake news . The differences between the pandemic Koontz describes in his novel and that of the coronavirus kept the media busy later as well.

literature

Monographs

  • Martin Greenberg , Ed Gorman, Bill Munster: The Dean Koontz Companion. Berkley Books, New York 1994, ISBN 0-425-14135-7 .
    • German: The great Dean Koontz book: short stories, essays, interviews. Translated by Uwe Anton. Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch # 13795, 1996, ISBN 3-404-13795-7 .
  • Joan G. Kotker: Dean Koontz: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1996, ISBN 0-313-29528-X .
  • Bill Munster: Discovering Dean Koontz: Essays on America's Bestselling Writer of Suspense and Horror Fiction. Borgo Press, San Bernardino, Calif. 1998, ISBN 1-55742-144-7 .
  • Katherine M. Ramsland: Dean Koontz: A Writer's Biography HarperPrism New York 1997, ISBN 0-06-105271-X .
  • Dean Koontz: A Reader's Checklist and Reference Guide. CheckerBee, Middletown, CT 1999, ISBN 1-58598-025-0 .

Lexicons and reference works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Author Dean Koontz Signs With Brillstein, Inkwell , news from January 5, 2017, accessed on May 8, 2018.
  2. Dean Koontz Fears Nothing / Memories of abuse feed his scary novels , article by Jerry Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle , February 23, 1998, accessed April 5, 2018.
  3. ^ Kittens , entry in the ISFDB
  4. Dean Koontz Biography ( Memento from September 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Dean Koontz: Angels, Demons, and Our Mysterious World. Retrieved November 10, 2018 .
  6. Chatting With Koontz About Faith . In: National Catholic Register . ( ncregister.com [accessed November 10, 2018]).
  7. About Dean , accessed March 5, 2018.
  8. ^ Dean Koontz's $ 10 million devotion to dogs helping disabled feel his same joy . In: Orange County Register . January 7, 2016 ( ocregister.com [accessed November 11, 2018]).
  9. Original English quote: Nobody knew those writers were me. If [...] those good reviews had reflected upon me — not upon a motley group of pseudonyms — the reading public would have been aware of me far sooner. Quoted from: Marie J. MacNee: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers. Volume 2. UXL, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8103-9867-2 , p. 234.
  10. ^ Koontz's Chart Toppers , The New York Times (Sunday Book Review), January 15, 2012, accessed April 5, 2018
  11. ^ The Catholic literary vision of Dean Koontz . In: America Magazine . October 22, 2018 ( americamagazine.org [accessed November 10, 2018]).
  12. Bounce Girl / Aphrodisiac Girl , accessed March 5, 2018.
  13. Scary before virus prophecy , Wiener Zeitung , accessed on February 27, 2020