Dean Koontz: Difference between revisions

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

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