Dean koontz biography author nora

He is a dog admirer who has adopted numerous dogs over his life. Inhe adopted Anna, a puppy he called, and Elsa, his new puppy, was adopted in His works are primarily set in and around Orange County, California. Several of his works have reached number one on the New York Times Bestseller List, with 14 hardcovers and 14 paperbacks achieving that position, making him one of only a few authors to do so.

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Email : [email protected]. Family Dean was born into a Roman Catholic family. Career Dean Koontz began his career in by publishing his first novel, Star Quest. He wrote suspense and horror literature under numerous pseudonyms throughout the s. Was this article helpful?

Dean koontz biography author nora

His novels can broadly be described as suspense thrillers, but also frequently incorporate elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Several of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, 14 hardcovers and 14 paperbacks reached the number one position. Koontz wrote under a number of pen names earlier in his career, including "David Axton", "Leigh Nichols" and "Brian Coffey".

He has sold over million copies as reported on his official site. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and dean koontz biography author nora. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. In the s, Koontz began writing suspense and horror fictionboth under his own name and several pseudonymssometimes publishing up to eight books a year.

Koontz has stated that he began using pen names after several editors convinced him that authors who switched back and forth between different genres invariably fell victim to "negative crossover" alienating established fans and simultaneously failing to pick up any new ones. Known pseudonyms used by Koontz during his career include Deanna Dwyer, K.

Many of Koontz's pseudonymous novels are now available under his real name. After writing full-time for more than 10 years, Koontz had his acknowledged breakthrough novel with Whisperspublished in The two books before that, The Key to Midnight and The Funhousealso sold over a million copies, but were written under pen names. His first bestseller was Demon Seedthe sales of which picked up after the release of the film of the same name inand sold over two million copies in one year.

Bestselling science fiction writer Brian Herbert has stated, "I even went through a phase where I read everything that Dean Koontz wrote, and in the process I learned a lot about characterization and building suspense. Inpsychologist Katherine Ramsland published an extensive biography of Koontz based on interviews with his family and him.

This " psychobiography " as Ramsland called it often showed the conception of Koontz's characters and plots from events in his own life. Early author photos on the back of many of his novels show a balding Koontz with a mustache. After Koontz underwent hair transplantation surgery in the late s, his subsequent books have featured a new, clean-shaven appearance with a fuller head of hair.

Gordon Liddy. Many of his novels are set in and around Orange County, California. InKoontz began publishing with Amazon Publishing. At the time of the announcement, Koontz was one of the company's most dean koontz biography author nora signings. One of Koontz's pen names was inspired by his dog, Trixie Koontz, a Golden Retrievershown in many of his book-jacket photos.

Trixie originally was a service dog with Canine Companions for Independence CCIa charitable organization that provides service dogs for people with disabilities. Both books are written from a supposed canine perspective on the joys of life. The royalty payments of the books were donated to CCI. The Koontzes had her euthanized outside their family home on June In OctoberKoontz revealed that he had adopted a new dog, Anna.

Eventually, he learned that Anna was the grandniece of Trixie. A number of letters, articles, and novels were ostensibly written by Koontz during the s and s, but he has stated he did not write them. These include 30 erotic novelsallegedly written together by Koontz and his wife Gerda, including books such as Thirteen and Ready! A Publishers Weekly reviewer found Intensity "masterful, if ultimately predictable," and lauded Koontz's racing narrative, calling it a contender for the most "viscerally exciting thriller of the year.

Soon, the game extends beyond Billy's control and he may become its next victim in a novel that a Kirkus Reviews critic cited for its "brilliant plotting" and suspense. In Publishers Weekly a critic wrote that the "graphic, fastpaced action, well-developed characters and relentless, nail-biting scenes" in Velocity "show Koontz at the top of his game.

Taking place in the coastal town of Moonlight Bay, California, Fear Nothing and Seize the Night also share the same protagonist: poet-surfer Christopher Snow, a man possessing a genetic mutation that makes him sensitive to light. In Fear Nothing the body of Snow's recently deceased father has vanished and been replaced by that of a murdered hitchhiker.

Along with his Labrador-mix dog Orson, surfer-friend Bobby, and local disc jockey Sasha, Snow attempts to recover his father's corpse. Seven children abducted from their homes serves as the central mystery in Seize the Nightand Snow follows the trail of the kidnappers, joined by Orson, Bobby, Sasha, a mind-reading cat, and a biker. The chase leads to a supposedly abandoned military base, Fort Wyvern, where genetic experiments are actually being conducted.

Among the strange, mutated creatures Snow and his companions uncover are wormlike creatures that can devour almost anything; in addition, Snow becomes trapped by a malfunctioning "temporal locator" and goes on time-travel journeys into both the future and the past. Commenting on Fear Nothing in the New York Times Book ReviewMaggie Garb characterized the novel as an "overwrought narrative," maintaining that Koontz's detective trio "seem more like the stuff of adolescent fantasy than fully believable sleuths.

Regarding Seize the Nightan Entertainment Weekly contributor dubbed the book "either an utterly zany thriller or the first really cool young-adult novel of ," and "Koontz without tears, sadism, or even much bloodshed. Eliot as often as to genetic mutation. Described by a Publishers Weekly critic as "less thematically ambitious but more viscerally exciting" than the "Snow" novels, False Memory focuses on a woman who suffers from the mental disorder autophobia, or fear of self.

Marty Rhodes, successful at work and in her marriage, takes her agoraphobic friend Susan to therapy sessions with psychiatrist Mark Ahriman twice each week. Suddenly, Marty begins to develop a fear that she will inflict harm upon herself or her loved ones. Meanwhile, Marty's husband, Dusty, a painting contractor, courageously saves his half-brother Skeet from taking a suicidal leap off a rooftop.

After Dusty places Skeet in rehab, he returns home to find that Marty has removed all the sharp objects from the house. Soon Dusty begins to develop signs of paranoia, a clue that the troubles of all four disturbed protagonists are somehow linked. Ray Olsen, writing in Booklistcalled False Memory "remarkably engaging, despite having so many pages and so little plot.

In The Taking Koontz draws on his science-fiction roots and weaves a "gripping, blood-curdling, thought-provoking parable," according to Ray Olson in Booklist. At the home of novelist Molly Sloan and her husband Neil in California's San Bernardino Mountains, it seems like everything is suddenly starting to come apart. In addition to a mysterious, glowing acid rain, the power appears to be off, but somehow appliances run and soon clocks start spinning out of control.

Before long the couple realizes their true dilemma: the nation is under attack by a malevolent alien race. In Koontz's update—written with Kevin J. Anderson as part of a multi-volume series—two centuries have passed and the perennially forty-something Dr. Continuing his macabre experiments, he is gradually letting pod-grown creatures, members of a "New Race" of perfect humans, live as humans within the city, his ultimate intention to eventually replace all actual humans.

Meanwhile, Deucalion, the doctor's original "monster," is also still living in seclusion at a remote Tibetian monastery.