Dean R. Koontz
“He sold more books than me? Are you kidding?”
“That's my boy.”
“Didn't he write that book about Maine?”
Dean R. Koontz (born July 9, 1945), known as “the Stephen King of the West Coast,” dissociates himself with horror, saying, "To be a horror writer, one must be a horrible writer." He is not to be confused with his fictional alter ego, horror writer Dean Koontz.
Early influences[edit | edit source]
Dean R.Koontz was the result of a test tube experiment involving the frozen sperm of Stephen King and the frozen eggs of Helen Keller. After being labeled as a failed experiment little Dean was thrown out on to the street. Eventually Koontz was adopted and raised by a flock of parakeets. Little Dean took an early interest in literature,attempting to read the works of Dr. Suess. By the age of 17 Koontz could read four whole words.
Pennames[edit | edit source]
He started his literary career by writing science fiction, publishing Star Queers in 1967. In 1970, Koontz turned his attention to what authentic, East Coast Stephen King calls “horror fiction” and what the more pretentious West Coast Stephen King (Koontz) prefers to refer to as “suspense novels.” To avoid what publishers fearfully termed “negative cross dressing,” Koontz used a plethora of pennames to disguise the fact that he was actually Siamese triplets, each of whom preferred a different type, or genre, of fiction and compromised by becoming a trio of “cross-genre” writers who shared a common, but ever-changing, byline and a common wardrobe of unisex clothing (except for the ladies' lingerie). His pennames, male and female, include Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Aaron Wolfe, David Axton, Brian Coffey, John Hill, Leigh Nichols, Owen West, Richard Paige, and Anthony North. Koontz's fan base is made up of fast food chain cup collecting lunatics and rebellious senoir citizens. At book signings, Koontz claims, it is common for him to be flashed by at least three women over the age of 60. According to Dean "it's pretty hot."
Companions[edit | edit source]
Koontz claims to live in a post office box in Newport Beach, California, with his long-suffering wife Glinda, the Good Witch, and his paramour, Trixie, a golden retriever, the canine author of Life Is A Bitch.
Surgical enhancements[edit | edit source]
Along with sex-reassignment surgery, Koontz has undergone hair transplants so that his new hair resembles a bad toupee. Koontz said he elected these surgical procedures because he wanted to look more like his hero, the former FBI director, transvestite J. Edgar Horror.
Formula writer[edit | edit source]
Although Koontz loves dogs (figuratively and literally) and has fleas, he is allergic to pussies, and feline characters, both human and cat, often come to a bad end in his fiction.
His novels recycle the same well-worn plot and sometimes feature the same characters as those that have appeared in earlier books. He writes to a formula that usually includes the following elements:
- A setting in southern California
- A protagonist whose parents abused him (sound familiar?)
- An evil villain
- Implausible, illogical, and inconsistent explanations for the weird, fantastic events that occur in most of his novels
- The theme that neither love nor compassion can save one from the apparent absurdities of existence and the cruelties of life, stolen from MacBeth ("Life is a tale told by an idiot,/ Full of sound and fury/ Signifying nada")
- A "happy ending" for everyone but the villain (i. e., anyone who does not subscribe to Koontz’s own simplistic view of life as a comedy, despite its ending in death, and of the world as being as straightforward and unsophisticated as a comic book or one of his own novels)
Religious leanings[edit | edit source]
A few of his books have converted to made-for-TV movies, and others have become either Moonies or Seventh-Day Adventists. It is rumored that Koontz himself is considering joining the ranks of the Scientologists, having missed the comet that reclaimed the members of the Heaven’s Gate cult. His favorite holiday is Halloween or, perhaps, Ground Hog’s Day.
Residence[edit | edit source]
The author claims to reside at P. O. Box 9529 in Newport Beach, California 92658 and can be reached by extension ladder between midnight at 1:13 am, Monday through Friday except during the verbal equinox. However, his books indicate that he lives elsewhere, such as Moonlight Cove, California; Snow Village, Colorado; and/or Castle Rock, Maine.
Selected bibliography[edit | edit source]
- Toupees and bad hair styles: An autobiography (2007)
- Bring Me the Head of Stephen King! (2006)
- I Am NOT A Horrible Writer (2005)
- Fools Rush In Where Angels Fear to Retread (2004)
- I Am NOT The West Coast Stephen King (2003)
- The Gospel According to Dean R. Koontz (1888)
- Tombstone Ain't In Arizona (and Why No One Should EVER Say 'Ain't') (1882)
- The Simple-minded Life and How I Live It (1776)
- How to make a Dean Koontz hair-style (you'll need masking tape and a rock) (1723)