Koontz Unveiled

I’m not a rabid Dean Koontz fan, but I’ve read him. I remember years ago, dissecting one of his books so I could see how he put it together. But until I read this article in USA Today, I’d not heard much about his life.

The article talks about his childhood, but if you want to know the full story, he’s come out with a nonfiction book called A Big Little Life that tells the tale of his “difficult, impoverished childhood.” That’s only one of three books he has coming out this summer. The man is a writing whiz.

His book that is just out, Relentless, sounds like a fun, possibly scary for writers, read:

… Relentless, a thrill-a-minute nail-biter about a sociopathic book critic who's trying to kill a best-selling author (Bantam).

A Koontz stat I didn’t know is:

In his 40-year career he has sold as many novels as J.K. Rowling, the world's wealthiest author: an astounding 400 million worldwide. And that number, says publisher Bantam, is growing by 17% a year.

Those figures seem even more astounding when you consider Koontz is not big on promotion for his books:

"The whole American celebrity fascination kind of creeps me out," says Koontz, who has never done a national book tour, hasn't done a TV interview since the 1990s and has done few book signings in the past few decades.”

It’s fun to read about his new house - it’s 24,000 square feet. It’s also nice to read that he has donated millions to CCI - Canine Companions for Independence.

If you want to read about a best-selling author who doesn’t know how to do email, hasn’t flown in 30 years, sends 4,000 handwritten letters to fans each year, and tries to read every one of the approximately 20,000 fan letters he receives annually, then check out the USA Today article.