Dean Koontz: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|American authorwriter and screenwriter (born 1945)}}

| birth_place = [[Everett, Pennsylvania|Everett]], Pennsylvania,<br />United States

| alma_matereducation = [[Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania|Shippensburg State College]] (B.A.,[[Bachelor English,of 1967Arts|BA]])

}}

* ''[[Odd Thomas (novel)|Odd Thomas]]''

* ''[[Demon Seed (novel)|Demon Seed]]''

* ''[[Watchers (novel)|Watchers]]''

* ''[[Hideaway (novel)|Hideaway]]''

* ''[[Intensity (novel)|Intensity]]''

* ''[[Phantoms (novel)|Phantoms]]''

* ''[[The Face of Fear]]''

* ''[[Lightning (novel)|Lightning]]''

'''Dean Ray Koontz''' (born July 9, 1945) is an American [[author]]. His novels are billed as [[Thrillerthriller (genre)|suspense thrillerthrillers]]s, but frequently incorporate elements of [[horror fiction|horror]], fantasy, science fiction, [[Mystery fiction|mystery]], and [[satire]]. Many of his books have appeared on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]], with fourteen hardcovers and sixteen paperbacks reaching the number-one position.<ref name="nyt chart toppers">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/15/books/review/bestsellers-weekly-graphic.html |title=Koontz's Chart Toppers |date=January 11, 2012 |access-date=2012-01-29 |work=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref><ref name="deankoontz.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.deankoontz.com/about-dean/ |title=About Dean |website=Deankoontz.com |access-date=23 September 2019 }}</ref> Koontz wrote under a number of [[pen name]]s earlier in his career, including "David Axton", "Deanna Dwyer", "K.R. Dwyer", "Leigh Nichols" and "Brian Coffey". He has published over 105 novels and a number of novellas and collections of short stories, and has sold over 450&nbsp;million copies of his work.

Koontz was born on July 9, 1945, in [[Everett, Pennsylvania]], the son of Florence (née Logue) and Raymond Koontz.<ref name="bio">{{Cite web|url=http://thegoodplacewww.infoveinotte.com/adultdatingkoontz/index_zp_debio.phphtm|archive-url=https://web.archive.todayorg/20130208224509web/20090418074217/http://thegoodplacewww.infoveinotte.com/adultdatingkoontz/index_zp_debio.php?kw=houses+for+sale&ta=foxtrot-pic-NV0XhtX4&1=1htm|url-status=dead|title=ichwillsex.deDean Koontz biography|access-date=20192024-0903-0726|archive-date=20132009-0204-0818}}</ref><ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Discovering Dean Koontz: Essays on America's Bestselling Writer of Suspense and Horror Fiction|author=Munster, B.|date=1998|publisher=Borgo Press|isbn=9781557421456|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVGmM1RuwB4C|page=10|access-date=2014-10-27}}</ref> He has said that he was regularly beaten and abused by his alcoholic father, which influenced his later writing, as also did the courage of his physically diminutive mother in standing up to her husband.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jerry |last=Carroll |title=Dean Koontz Fears Nothing |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=February 23, 1998 |page=E-1 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1998/02/23/DD78392.DTL&ao=all |access-date=2012-06-10}}</ref> In his senior year at [[Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania|Shippensburg State College]], he won a fiction competition sponsored by [[The Atlantic|''Atlantic Monthly'' magazine]].<ref>Piazza, Judyth: [http://staugnews.com/2009/07/27/judyth-piazza-chats-with-dean-koontz-and-mark-constant-the-market-on-granada.html "Judyth Piazza chats with Dean Koontz and Mark Constant, The Market on Granada"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316154751/http://staugnews.com/2009/07/27/judyth-piazza-chats-with-dean-koontz-and-mark-constant-the-market-on-granada.html |date=2011-03-16 }} St. Augustine News, July 27, 2009</ref> After graduation in 1967, he went to work as an English teacher at [[Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School|Mechanicsburg High School]] in [[Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania]].<ref name="bio" /> In the 1960s, Koontz worked for the Appalachian Poverty Program, a federally funded initiative designed to help poor children.<ref name=Advocates>{{cite web|url=http://www.libertarianism.com/pop_celebrity/44|title=Dean Koontz – Friend of Liberty|publisher=Advocates for Self-Government|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819135951/http://www.libertarianism.com/pop_celebrity/44|archive-date=2010-08-19}}</ref> In a 1996 interview with ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' magazine, he said that while the program sounded "very noble and wonderful, ...&nbsp;[i]n reality, it was a dumping ground for violent children&nbsp;... and most of the funding ended up 'disappearing somewhere.'"<ref name=Advocates /> This experience greatly shaped Koontz's political outlook. In his book, ''The Dean Koontz Companion'', he recalled that he

After writing full-time for more than 10 years, Koontz's had his acknowledged breakthrough novel waswith ''[[Whispers (Koontz novel)|Whispers]]'', published in 1980. The two books before that, ''[[The Key to Midnight]]'' and ''[[The Funhouse (novel)|The Funhouse]]'', also sold over a million copies, but were written under pen names. His first bestseller was ''[[Demon Seed (novel)|Demon Seed]]'', the sales of which picked up after the release of the [[Demon Seed|film of the same name]] in 1977, and sold over two million copies in one year.<ref>{{cite web|title=demon seed from the author|url=http://www.deankoontz.com/demon-seed-from-the-author/|website=Deankoontz.com|access-date=2011-01-01}}</ref> His first hardcover bestseller, which finally promised some financial stability and lifted him out of the midlist hit-and-miss range, was his book ''[[Strangers (Koontz novel)|Strangers]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=strangers from the author|url=http://www.deankoontz.com/strangers-from-the-author/|website=Deankoontz.com|access-date=2010-06-27}}</ref>

Koontz has stated on his website <ref name="collectors">{{cite web| title=Facts for Collectors | url=http://www.deankoontz.com/about-dean/collectors/ |work=deankoontz.com |access-date=2012-12-14}}</ref> that he used only the ten known pen names<ref name="collectors" /> and "there are no secret pen names used by Dean";<ref name="collectors" /> he adds that his own identity was stolen by "a person he had previously worked with professionally", who submitted letters and some articles to fanzines under Koontz's name between 1969 and at least the early 1970s.<ref name="collectors" /> Koontz has stated that he was only made aware of these bogus letters and articles in 1991 in a written admission from the identity thief. He has stated that he will reveal this person's name in his memoirs.<ref name="collectors" />

* 1979 – ''[[CHiPs]]'' episode 306: "Counterfeit" (as Brian Coffey)

* 1990 -– "The Face of Fear"

* ''[[The Face of Fear (film)|The Face of Fear]]'' (1990) – [[CBS]] – starring [[Pam Dawber]] and [[Lee Horsley]], also includes [[Kevin Conroy]] and [[William Sadler (actor)|William Sadler]]

* {{isfdbISFDB name|id=286|name=Dean R. Koontz}}