Dean Koontz facts for kids

Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is a famous American author. He writes exciting suspense novels. His books often mix in elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery.

Many of his books have become The New York Times bestsellers. He has had fourteen hardcover books and sixteen paperback books reach the number-one spot. Early in his career, Koontz used different pen names, like "David Axton" and "Leigh Nichols". He has published over 105 novels and many short stories. More than 450 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide!

Early Life and Education

Dean Koontz was born on July 9, 1945, in Everett, Pennsylvania. His parents were Florence and Raymond Koontz.

When he was in his last year at Shippensburg State College, he won a writing contest. This contest was held by Atlantic Monthly magazine. After graduating in 1967, he became an English teacher at Mechanicsburg High School.

In the 1960s, Koontz also worked for a program that helped children from poor families. He later said that this experience, even though it sounded good, showed him how complicated things could be. This helped shape his views on life.

Writing Career

While teaching, Dean Koontz wrote his first novel, Star Quest, which came out in 1968. He then wrote more than a dozen science fiction novels.

Koontz became a Catholic in college. He found that faith helped him understand life's big questions. He felt it brought a sense of wonder and joy to everything. He says that spiritual ideas are always part of his books. He explores themes like grace and human struggles, but he never tries to preach to his readers.

In the 1970s, Koontz started writing suspense and horror fiction. He used his own name and several pseudonyms (pen names). Sometimes, he published up to eight books in one year! He used pen names because editors thought authors who wrote in different genres might confuse their fans. Some of his well-known pen names included Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, and Brian Coffey. Many of these books are now available under his real name. He even bought back the rights to some older books to stop them from being republished, though he has rewritten and re-released a few, like Demon Seed.

After writing full-time for over 10 years, Koontz had a big breakthrough with his novel Whispers, published in 1980. Before that, The Key to Midnight and The Funhouse also sold over a million copies, but they were under pen names. His first true bestseller was Demon Seed. Its sales really took off after the movie based on it came out in 1977. It sold over two million copies in just one year! His first hardcover bestseller, Strangers, finally gave him financial stability.

Since then, 12 of his hardcover books and 14 of his paperback books have reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Another famous science fiction writer, Brian Herbert, has said that he learned a lot about creating characters and building suspense by reading Dean Koontz's books.

In 1997, a psychologist named Katherine Ramsland wrote a detailed book about Koontz's life. She showed how events in his own life often inspired his characters and plots.

Dean Koontz changed his appearance in the late 1990s, which you can see in his author photos. He lives with his wife, Gerda, in Newport Coast, California. In 2008, he was one of the highest-paid authors in the world, earning about $25 million a year.

In 2019, Koontz started publishing his books with Amazon Publishing. This was a big deal because he was one of their most famous authors to join them.

His Pet Dogs

One of Dean Koontz's pen names was inspired by his dog, Trixie Koontz. Trixie was a Golden Retriever who appeared in many of his book-jacket photos. Trixie was originally a service dog from Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). This is a charitable organization that trains service dogs for people with disabilities.

Trixie was a gift to Koontz from CCI. This was to thank him for his large donations, which totaled $2.5 million between 1991 and 2004. Koontz learned about CCI when he was researching his novel Midnight. That book featured a CCI-trained dog named Moose.

In 2004, Koontz wrote a book called Life Is Good: Lessons in Joyful Living and said Trixie was the author. In 2005, he wrote another book credited to Trixie, Christmas Is Good. Both books are written as if a dog is sharing happy thoughts about life. The money earned from these books was given to CCI.

Trixie passed away in 2007. After her death, Koontz continued to write on his website under the name "TOTOS," which stands for "Trixie on the Other Side." Many people believe Trixie inspired his November 2007 book, The Darkest Evening of the Year. This book is about a woman who rescues Golden Retrievers and finds a special dog named Nickie who saves her life. In 2009, Koontz published A Big Little Life, a memoir about his life with Trixie.

In 2008, Koontz adopted a new dog named Anna. He later found out that Anna was Trixie's grandniece! Anna died in 2016. Koontz then adopted another dog, Elsa, in July 2016.

Screenplays

• 1979 – CHiPs episode 306: "Counterfeit" (written as Brian Coffey)
• 1990 – The Face of Fear
• 1998 – Phantoms
• 2005 – Dean Koontz's Frankenstein

Film Adaptations

Many of Dean Koontz's books have been made into movies:

• Demon Seed (1977) – starring Julie Christie
• The Passengers (1977) – a French film based on his novel Shattered
• Watchers (1988) – starring Corey Haim
• Whispers (1990) – starring Victoria Tennant
• Watchers II (1990) – starring Marc Singer
• The Face of Fear (1990) – starring Pam Dawber
• Servants of Twilight (1991) – starring Bruce Greenwood
• Watchers 3 (1994) – starring Wings Hauser
• Hideaway (1995) – starring Jeff Goldblum and Alicia Silverstone
• Intensity (1997) – starring John C. McGinley
• Mr. Murder (1998) – starring Stephen Baldwin
• Phantoms (1998) – starring Peter O'Toole and Ben Affleck
• Watchers Reborn (1998) – starring Mark Hamill
• Sole Survivor (2000) – starring Billy Zane
• Black River (2001) – starring Jay Mohr
• Frankenstein (2004) – starring Adam Goldberg (Koontz left this project because he didn't like the direction it was going. He then wrote his own books with his original story idea.)
• Odd Thomas (2013) – starring Anton Yelchin

Images for kids

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  A robot, like those found in some science fiction stories.

See also

In Spanish: Dean Koontz para niños