“Stephen King made me want to become a writer. Dean Koontz made me realize I could become a writter”.
To me, Terry Pratchett made me realize I could become a writer. Now I just need to convince myself to stop being lazy and start actually writing. :-D
Shots fired!
I got to spend a couple of days at a sci-fi convention at a table next to Richard Hatch of the 1970s Battlestar Galactica fame. He was a really cool guy and we spent all day joking around. Every so often, someone would come by and say, “hey! You’re uh… uh…” and I would say, “he’s Dirk Benedict.” (That was his BSG co-star). Once I told a lady that she better not call him Dirk Benedict because it makes him really mad.
If I had a photo of Dirk Benedict, I would have asked him to sign it.
Sadly, Richard Hatch is no longer with us. I really enjoyed hanging out with him. He was way into tabletop gaming and even would leave the table sometimes to host a session. I’m not a huge TTGer anymore, but I wish I could have had Richard Hatch as a GM.
That’s a great story! What a cool experience
I’ve had a lot of cool experiences meeting people in the sci-fi/fantasy world by working tables at sci-fi cons due to two different reasons about ten years apart, but that era of my life is over. I can only go as a regular conventioneer now. I take my daughter to them on occasion if one is nearby because she likes to look at all the cosplay.
I also got to see Gwar and The Misfits do a free double-act concert late at night at DragonCon in the 90s, which topped most of the notable people I met, even though my experience with pretty much all of them was good.
I didn’t know Tom Zarek was a returning actor from the original BGS series! And the actor of Captain Apollo, no less.
Oh that’s right! I forgot he was in the reboot!
Sure everyone has heard of Stephen King and most know know of Dean Koontz. But 10 year old me wants to give a shout out to the best of em, R.L. Stine.
It would be really funny to have Stephen King and R.L. Stine sign each others books.
R.L. Stine Creative Writing Award winner R.L. Stine
I have some… Disappointing news for you…
EDIT
Y’know what, I think I either completely fabricated a memory in my head or more likely got the person confused. I very vividly remember hearing about a prolific wealthy author who got called out for taking credit for a lot of other people’s work but I now can’t find any word about it being RL Stine despite my memory. No idea who I’m remembering.
Do tell. a quick search didn’t return anything too salacious.
He’s still pumping out Goosebumps novels and had a brief YA Horror podcast?
His teenage-goosebumps, Fear Street, had a film trilogy on Netflix that was well received?
Please let me know. I hadn’t been following but my kid is getting to the age to enjoy goosebumps. I’d really like to know.
King is my favorite author, hands down, but I don’t understand why so many people seem to look down at Koontz. If we’re really being honest, Koontz would be much more well regarded if it weren’t for the fact that he’s so frequently directly compared to King, and Stephen King is a one-of-a-kind, once in a lifetime literary master. Absent the comparison to King, the bulk of Koontz’s work holds up quite well. It’s entertaining writing with relatable characters that are easy for become invested in. Hell, some of his ideas were not only terrifyingly imaginative, they were also oddly accurate predictions of the future. Demon Seed is uniquely chilling in that it was almost comically over the top with its seemingly ridiculous technology that has since very much become a reality.
I would also argue that Koontz has had a few film adaptations that ended up better than the King adaptations of their time. Phantoms, Watchers, Servants of Twilight, Whispers, Intensity, and Mr. Murder were all pretty great.
Koontz has a great track record. He simply suffers from living in the shadow of a modern day colossus like King. Absent the comparison, I feel Koontz would be much more favorably viewed.
I see your point but I counter with Neil Gaiman.
Love him, too. Currently watching Good Omens and loving every moment.
Maybe it’s trendy to hate on Koontz but I enjoyed his books when I was a bit younger. The Face, Watchers, TickTock and a couple others but I also liked Clive Cussler at the time so there is that. I think I found it easy to pick up and read as opposed to an investment like King.
A quick google says that Koontz has sold 450 million books and is worth over 200 million. I’m sure he is okay with not being some people’s favourite.
I enjoyed the hell of his books at one point, read a bunch of them over the course of a year or two. In hindsight he’s very formulaic and everything is pretty predictable, but they’re a fun read for what they are.
Yeah, a perfect airport or holiday book that entertains you like a brainless action movie!
Lol Koontz and cussler were read on many a summer vacation when I was sprouting too.
When I was a teenager my grandmother got me into his Saucer series which I quite enjoyed
I would be happy to have King sign my Moonlight bay books (C’mon Koonts get the third one out!). But only if he signs it " …needs more underage orgies -signed Stephen King."
I read exactly one Dean Koontz book and it was about an evil literary critic who tortures the author with a taser in the first few chapters. He is later revealed to be an actual ghost
Kudos to Dean for monetizing a night terror, but he should have been given AI video creation and tiktok voiceovers to express that. I can’t remember another time I got Library Lender’s Remorse.
What began as an innocent and unexpected encounter is about to trigger an inferno of violence. For Shearman Waxx is not merely a ferocious literary enemy, but a ruthless sociopath, and now he is intent on destroying Cubby and everything he holds dear: his home, his wife, his young son, and every hope he had in the world.
The terror has only just begun, and it will be relentless…
DOT DOT DOT
😱😱😱😱😱
One Dean Koontz book isn’t a great sample size. He writes a LOT and most of it isn’t very good, but every once in a while he gets it just right and puts out a really good one.
Though tbf, I haven’t re-read his stuff in probably 10 years so I don’t know if it holds up to modern scrutiny. Odd Thomas was always my favorite of his.
The Frankenstein series was good as well.
Somebody gave me Strangers and I loved it! Never before had I read anything like it, completely clueless over halfway into the book about what’s going on. Bizarre clues throughout, good characters. Then when you find out what’s going on it’s so far fetched but somehow believable. The next Koontz book I read was Watchers and it was the exact same formula. Bizarre clues, kept in the dark, far fetched premise. I think I read another (long time ago) and it was similar. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good formula but if all of his books are like that then I can see why people poke fun
That’s for the very simple reason I don’t know who Dean Koontz is.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
One of the few times Family Guy made me laugh
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I’ve read a couple of Dean’s books and I don’t regret it, but also didn’t find them that good.
Outside a couple of disappointments, everything I’ve read from King has ranged from really good (Salems lot, tommyknockers, etc) to outstanding (the dark tower series, the tailsman).
Same. The only series of Dean’s I think I liked was Odd Thomas and I read them years ago.
One of my neighbors named their daughter “Stormy” after Odd Thomas’s >!dead!< girlfriend. When I asked him if he and his wife were big fans of the books, he said that they’d never read the books before. But they’d seen the movie.
He told me this several years ago and it still annoys me to this day.
Is there any rivalry going on?
I read books from both and other than Kings super fame there is not much difference. I don’t prefer either.
I would like to nominate this comment for hot take of the year.
