Interview: NYT bestselling author Dean Koontz

By Mark Young

Novelist Dean Koontz’s novels have become my own personal addiction. All I have to do is pull out one of Dean’s many novels every time I need inspiration for one of my own manuscripts. His words flow like butter on hotcakes, and his imagery and character development entice readers like Homer’s enchanting Sirens to seafarers.

Dean remains one of the hottest writers on the block. Don’t take my biased account, however, look at the numbers. The New York Times Bestselling list is no stranger to his novels. And, according to Investor.com writing about Dean, they wrote “… his more than 100 suspense-filled novels in various genres have sold 450 million copies (about the same as J.K. Rowling).” Move over Harry Potter!

If you’d like to sample Dean’s writing, here is an excerpt taken from the opening of his upcoming Deeply Odd novel:

Before dawn, I woke in darkness to the ringing of a tiny bell, the thimble size bell I wore on a chain around my neck: three bursts of silvery sound, a brief silence after each. I was lying on my back in bed, utterly motionless, yet the bell rang three times again. The vibrations that shivered through my bare chest seemed much too strong to have been produced by such a tiny clapper. A third set of three rings followed, and then only silence. I waited and wondered until dawn crept down from the sky and across the bedroom windows.

      Later that morning in early March, when I walked downtown to buy blue jeans and a few pairs of socks, I met a guy who had a .45 pistol and a desire to commit a few murders. From that encounter, the day grew uglier as surely as the sun moves from east to west.

  My name is Odd Thomas. I have accepted my oddness. I am no longer surprised that I am drawn to trouble as reliably as iron to a magnet. (Opening lines to Deeply Odd, due to be released May
    28, 2013).

It is an honor to have Dean re-join us here on Hook’em and Book’em. (His last visit two years ago can be seen on this link).

MARK: Dean, I look forward to the release of Deeply Odd. What

kind of trouble confronts your lovable fry cook Brother Odd in this next adventure?

DEAN: DEEPLY ODD is the sixth in a 7-book life arc for Odd. ODD INTERLUDE was a sidestep, having nothing to do with lingering spirits of the dead. Odd is now back on his road to redemption, learning by going where he has to go, in his way doing penance for his inability to save Stormy. He encounters a psychopathic trucker dressed like a rhinestone cowboy, and thereafter it becomes a road novel. As a reader, I've always enjoyed novels in which characters are on the move a lot. There's a sense of freedom in them, a constant freshening of the narrative. I've written a few of them myself--DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART, RELENTLESS, BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON to name a few--but this is the only one in the Odd series.

MARK: In your dedication of the Deeply Odd novel to Stephen Sommers, an American screen writer and film director, you wrote: “This novel is dedicated to Stephen…who kept his promises in a world in which almost no one does.” Very high praise! Is this in connection to the production and expected release of the Brother Odd movie later this year?

DEAN:  Steve is a smart, talented, and incredibly charming guy. He is also honorable and modest and honest in an industry where those virtues are seldom encountered. He made an excellent adaptation of ODD THOMAS that scores high with test audiences, and he deferred his compensation to the back end in order to put every dollar he could into the production. It's about a 25-million-dollar film that looks like an 80-million-dollar film. He got brilliant performances out of Anton Yelchin and Addison Timlin.

MARK: When is the movie expected to be released? What can you tell us about the production process?

DEAN: It now looks as if the movie will never hit theaters, maybe not even DVD. I would love to vent about this. Someday I might. Suffice it to say that, if my life hung in the balance and my survival depended upon the competence and honor of my rescuer, then of the principles involved in this, the only one I would trust with my life is Steven Sommers.

MARK: In other movie and television news, I understand that TNT is developing a drama series based on your Frankenstein series. What progress has been made on this project? When might it be aired?

DEAN: TNT will make the decision to proceed or not with the pilot episode in June. The script is quite good, and with the right cast and show runner, it could be quality TV with great energy. But I can only wait and hope.

MARK: How much do you have to do with these scripts and film projects?

DEAN: I usually have the right to delete half the names on a short list of writers that the studio or network want to use, and the same with directors. I give notes. And then I wait for everything to blow up--which it seems to do sooner or later. Throughout the development of any film or TV project, it's wise to dress from head to foot in Kevlar.

MARK: Please bear with me on this question—it is long-winded. A couple months ago, you released, Odd Interlude, the continued pilgrimage of Brother Odd. I enjoyed this story and gathered more insight into your main character’s mindset. In the book, Odd tells the reader:

“…When triumph at last comes, our efforts alone could not have won the day without that grace which surpasses all understanding and which will, if we allow it, imbue our lives with meaning.”

Later in the book, through the thoughts of a young girl befriended by Brother Odd, you write:

“…But God is good—right?—and to be really good you’ve got to have humility, we all know that, so then if God is best of the best, then He’s also the humblest of the humble. Right?...God is too humble to sit around all day listening to us praise Him and beg Him, the funny thing is, I’m praying like crazy for Oddie. I guess I’m hopeless.”

Between these two characters, I find a theme that runs—not only through this novel, but through many of your other writings—that there are universal truths concerning our existence here on earth. That God intends deeper purposes—peace, grace, humble adoration— for all people, even more than the need to survive, to exist. Above, you used the phrase “surpasses all understanding” which reminded me of the verse from Philippians 4:7 where the Apostle Paul writes, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding…” Brother Odd faces a dark and foreboding world, walking between the living and the dead, with brief moments of humor and tranquility. But yet he pushes on, waiting for that time when he will be re-united with his girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn, in the next life. What spiritual truths does Brother Odd grasp as he journeys through these strange encounters between good and evil? What enables him to carry on and persevere?

DEAN: Odd carries on and perseveres for the same reasons that I do: He sees everywhere deep mystery in the world, and a sense of the unseen in all things seen. He has that card given to him and Stormy by the Gypsy Mummy fortunetelling machine at the carnival--YOU ARE  DESTINED TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER--and that promise will be kept in SAINT ODD, though in a way that I doubt any reader will anticipate.

I've been a lifelong enthusiastic reader of science--in particular quantum mechanics, molecular biology, genetics--and I've lived long enough to see that the more we discover about any subject, the more complex it proves to be. A hundred fifty years ago, human cells were thought to be blobs of "carbonized albumin." We now know that the human cell contains thousands of incredibly long protein chains without any one of which it can't function. A cell is more complex than a 747 and a cruise ship combined! The more you study these things, the more you see that the easy answers to the problems of life and the world--ideologies, scientism--are inadequate.
     
MARK: It is inspiring to read about your successful writing career. I particularly enjoyed reading the story about how your wife, Gerda, suggested that you follow your writing dream for five years. She offered to support you during that time, and that if it did not pan out it would be clear that you were not going to make it. Before the five years was up, she had to quit her job to run your writing business. Did you ever consider what would have happened if it took longer? Would you have continued writing or just given up?

DEAN: We had no books in our house when I was a kid, and yet I was writing stories and illustrating them by the age of eight. I think it would be easier to give up breathing than to give up writing. In fact, one inevitable day, it will be easy to give up breathing, but I'll probably still be trying desperately to finish writing a scene as I leave the world.

MARK: What would be your advice to unknown writers just starting out based upon the changing face of publishing?

DEAN: Write what you're passionate about, not what's currently hot. Tastes change, these days more rapidly than ever, but what does not change is the intelligent reader's recognition of the passion that a writer brings to his or her work. In this rotten economy--which has affected sales far more profoundly than has the rise of the ebook--the reader needs to sense your commitment to your work and feel that you would have written it even with no hope of publication.

MARK: What does the future hold for you, Dean? What stories and projects are you working on?

DEAN: I've written a novel titled INNOCENCE, which is very different and which I was not sure would be understood and welcomed. But my publishers worldwide have reacted to it at least as strongly--and generally with more enthusiasm--than anything I've done. It hits stores on January 8, 2014. Recently I signed a new six-book contract, and I'm now writing the first in a trilogy with a strange mythology that makes me grin just to think about it, and the lead character of those three books is Ivy Elgin, who was just a supporting character in VELOCITY. After I finish book one of the trilogy, I'll write SAINT ODD. That's about as far forward as it's ever wise to plan.

MARK: What is your greatest joy about writing? What inspires you?

DEAN: The beauty and suppleness of the English language. And the challenge of writing about meaning in a nihilistic age. I get a great deal of mail, and while I always enjoy hearing how much pleasure and entertainment a reader got from a book, I am most encouraged by those frequent letters from readers who tell me my books gave them hope and inspired them to struggle through hard times. And not having to wear a tie. How fabulous it is to have a job for which I can always wear jeans and Hawaiian shirts!

MARK: We look forward to many years of great stories coming from your creative mind, Dean. Thank you for joining us today.
*******
Dean Koontz's novels have been published in 38 languages and have sold over 450 million copies worldwide. He lives in southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden-retriever, Anna, and the enduring spirit of their golden, Trixie.

Chapter 1: A Novelist’s Journey to Self-Publication

Writing In A Changing World

By Mark Young

February, 2011

Editor’s Note: Like my current novel, this story I am sharing is a work in progress. It is about a journey toward self-publication, a path I thought I’d never tread. I want to share bits and pieces of this journey as it unfolds in hopes of helping other writers make up their minds. This blog will continue to offer a wide variety of cop and author interviews, and other interesting features related to mystery fiction. 

Starting today, however, I will be writing some articles on self-publishing to specifically boost the spirits of all those struggling novelists who might find themselves caught on the same fence I straddled for many years. These articles are for the benefit of  writers still trying to decide which direction their career should head. I finally made a choice. For me, everything changes this month. My journey into self-publishing will begin shortly. I don’t know where it will lead. I don’t know how it will end. Come with me as we find out what the future holds. But first, a little backstory:

“I am no stranger to humiliation.” My lovely wife used that line the other day as we took a break from preparing my novel, Revenge, for publication. Her words—said in jest—got me thinking about this writing journey I embarked upon a long time ago. To be humiliated, one must possess a certain amount of pride.

Now, some types of pride—like the feeling you have when your kids excel in something—can be healthy. Some forms of pride—like vanity—can be ugly. When pride is involved, even good intentions can sometimes go awry.  Some time ago I began to understand how pride enslaved me as a writer. Other words and expressions—fear, for example— are closely related to pride. Have you ever asked yourself, “Is my writing good enough to be published?” (pride, fear); or, “What if I don’t succeed?” (fear). Worse yet, have you ever asked yourself: “What if I find out—after all these years—I never had it in me to be a publishable novelist?” (again, fear). And finally, “Have I wasted my time all these years to improve my craft—for nothing?” (Blend of fear and anger).

This month everything changes in my writing world. I am embarking down a new path, a journey that began forty years ago when I started writing. It began with small, pathetic attempts toward fiction: short story here, first chapter of a novel there. At the time, I chose to edit  my creativity to death until each writing piece landed up in my own rejection pile. Out of frustration, I stuck with non-fiction for the next thirty-five years.

I never lost the desire to write fiction, only the confidence that I might write fiction that someone else might like to read. Five years ago, I decided to return to fiction. I sat down and began writing my first complete novel, Broken Allegiance. A year later, I proudly began to market that novel while starting on my second novel, Shadows. Persistence always paid off for me in previous careers, and I saw no reason why it could not help me now. I decide I would be as persistent as a pit bull, latching onto agents, editors and publishers until I finally achieved writing Nirvana. That point where my novel finally reached the shelves of book stores around the world, or at least my local bookstore.

It never happened.

Three novels later, I found myself still looking for a home for my babies. As years passed, I began to wonder if I'd made a mistake. Like many writers, I wrestled with that paralyzing idea that maybe my writing would never be good enough. Many people knew I was trying to break into the publishing world—how do I hide the fact that I write every day to those who know me. Family, friends, and acquaintances always asking, "So, how is the book coming along." Translation: "Does anyone think your writing is worth enough to publish?"

Pride, frustration and humiliation began to set in. I just seemed unable to connect with the right people to make things happen. As I mailed each manuscript toward the publishing world, my carefully-written, carefully-edited novels seemed to bounce along the rim of acceptance, never swishing through the basket of approval. At times, my hopes were raised when an acquisition editor liked my latest novel and passed it onto their review committee—a faceless body of people searching for reasons to shatter every writer's hope. Unanswered query letter and requested manuscripts disappeared into the publishing abyss. A few editors and agents took the time to send back  rejection notices, or emails with the proverbial thumbs down line that begins, "Thank you ... but after careful review we have decided ..." to dash my dreams. Some editors and agents did take the time to email small notes of encouragement or advice. I latched onto these like a drowning swimmer. I continued to write, while growing angrier, frustrated and—yes—humiliated.

Granted, economic times have been tough. Even authors, who’ve landed on the New York Times bestseller list in the past, seemed to be experiencing great difficulty trying to get their manuscripts past the gatekeepers. Publishers seemed to pulling back, going with fewer and fewer authors, settling for the sure bets rather than those long shots. And for new authors—well, just forget it. Some squeak through, but the vast majority slip away into the black hole of oblivion. I did not want to slip into that void.

John Verdon

One of those fortunate new authors —John Verdon, author of that fabulous debut novel, Think Of A NumberTess Gerritsen, John Lescroart and Dean Koontz—all appeared on this blog last year, telling us their stories, giving us insight into their latest work. It was exciting to interview them, and each of these authors—with major publishing house  backing—seem to be doing very well. Great writing. Great name recognition. Each of these writers paid their dues and deserve to reap the rewards of their efforts. I tip my hat to them.

However, I believed these are the exceptions—not the rule. For every author who makes it into a major publishing house, there are many more writers—good writers—out there whose novels never break the surface. Never get noticed. Their works fail to reach the attention of readers desiring a well-written story. Now, I know there is many poorly written novels piling up on the desks of agents and acquisition editors. However, good writers—those who continually strive toward excellence, pushing themselves to their writing limits on every WIP—deserve a chance to get their work before readers. To let the market decide whether these writers deserve a reader’s trust. Until now, those chances for new authors getting published seems about as slim as BP getting new oil drilling rights in the Gulf.

But the winds are shifting in the publishing world. Let us return to backstory:

I love to read. That love started the first time I learned about words. When I was young I would be allowed to go to the library on Saturday afternoons if I did all my chores. I’d slip into the book stacks amidst medieval nights and ladies-in-waiting, reading about war, adventure and even romance—if it had a few knife fights or knuckles involved. I traveled the high seas with swash-buckling pirates, wielded weapons of war alongside other brave warriors. I rode horses with cowboys on the vast plains beneath open sky. It was a wonderful, exciting world in which to live. Never once did I give a thought about writing.

Then I grew up fast and hard at the age seventeen. I went off to a real war—Vietnam—where I saw the dark side of human nature. That experience changed my life forever. When I returned, I read writers like Ernest Hemingway with a different perspective, those writers whose works spoke to my soul because we both shared the experiences of war. It was about this time I begin to develop a need to write, a cathartic need to get words down on paper. Using the GI bill and working night jobs, I earned my BA degree in journalism and worked for several newspapers in the of San Francisco bay area for six years. It was a grand time. I slipped into Wounded Knee during the takeover and interviewed AIM  leaders Dennis Banks and Russel Means. I wrote about cops, crooks, and politics. I covered shootings, forest fires, and floods. I wrote about people struggling to make ends meet and about kids who made it to the state fair competitions. I wrote about the ecstasies and tragedies of human life. It was a great job, but I soon realized that I could not support my family on the peanuts I made as a reporter. Without getting into the particulars, I went to the dark side as my journalism friends called it. I became a cop.

For the next twenty-six years I lived a life that I found very challenging, in a career that provided very well for my family. Many of the skills that I had developed in journalism bade me well in law enforcement—report writing, interviews, seeking out facts and the truth. It was a great ride while it lasted. Through most of the eighties, I served on the federal Organize Crime and Enforcement Task Force, traveling throughout our nation hunting down major drug traffickers. From 1997 to 2002, I provided supervisory support for another federal organize crime task in San Francisco, targeting prison gang leaders throughout California. All this time, I was storing up reflections and information about people and human behavior, almost subconsciously. I never thought that I’d become another Joseph Wambaugh, but somewhere in the recesses of my mind stories and ideas started to gather like water seeping into dry soil.

That ride in law enforcement ended in 2005. I handed in my badge and moved my family to the Pacific Northwest, settling  in a little town far from the world I once lived and worked in.  This gave me a chance to return to one of my first loves—writing.

And so began the journey that led to these articles. I worked to become a published novelist like many other writers. As I struggled toward this goal, I thought if I was persistent enough, eventually I could make things happen. It worked for me as a journalist and a cop—why not as a novelist?

I attended writing conferences, read everything I could get my hands on about the craft, and began my first forays into social networking. Created a web site (www.MarkYongBooks.com , currently down for construction) and started this blog “where mystery readers, writers and law enforcement connect.” Upon the advice and invitation of other writers, I became involved with several online writers forums and writing organizations like Mystery Writers of American and the International Thriller Writers. I began to make friends and contacts in the publishing world  as I continued to learn the craft. I never stopped reading fiction, but now I began to read with an eye toward how these successful writers worked their craft—molding sentences, paragraphs, and chapters into published and successful novels.

All the time I continued to write: Broken Allegiance, my first novel, followed by Shadows, and finally Revenge. Currently, I am working on my fourth novel, Off The Grid, expecting to be completed later this year. Now, I know some authors wrote many more novels and spent many more years in obscurity before they finally broke through publishing obstacle courses.  I read or spoke to other published authors who had given themselves a certain amount of time to be publishied before calling it quits. Five years seemed the common denominator. This seemed like a reasonable amount of time, so I gave myself a five-year goal.

James Scott Bell

After my first novel, Broken Allegiance, was soundly rejected (and looking back, I can see justification for these rejections), I put it on the shelf and began working on Shadows, using everything I learned from my first failure. I attended a writer’s clinic and met a fabulous author/teacher, James Scott Bell, who provided expert advice and encouragement to me as I struggled to get published. (Quick promo: Check out Jim’s books, Try Dying, Try Darkness, and Try Fear. Very entertaining novels for readers looking for LA noir legal thrillers). I met Jim while trying to get traction in the CBA market. Later I began to move toward the ABA market, following the path of Jim and other writers.

I finished Shadow, and began working on Revenge, still trying to find that open gateway into the publishing world. Everything remained locked up tight. Self-publishing still did not factor into my game plan. I thought that if I went that route—self-publishing—I would be caving in, admitting that I was just not good enough to snag the attention of an agent or a publisher. Like a true Marine, I could not accept defeat.

Other authors around me began to succumb to the allure of self-publishing as they faced repeated rejections from traditional publishers. Not me. I would never give in. I kept plodding along, believing that one day my dream would come true. Meanwhile, my five-year-goal loomed ahead while rejection slips for Revenge and the other novels kept piling up. Then I began to take note of what other authors, editors and publishers were blogging and writing about in the publishing world. I read a number of articles on changing trends, of the eBook revolution, of refined POD publishing opportunities, and of the economic struggles of brick-and-mortar book stores and publishers fighting to stay in the black. It seemed as soon as I made an acquaintance at a publishing house, that person vanished, never to be seen again. I saw a number of really good editors leaving publishing house—some leaving under duress, some voluntarily—to become free lance editors and writers. Agents seemed to be leaving literary agencies in droves. Writing contracts seemed to be drying up. Bad winds were blowing.

One day I sat back and began to take stock of my career and where it seemed to be headed in light of all these changes going on around me. I finally began to see these changes in a completely different light, as opportunities for writers like myself trying to get published. I began to see a glimmer of hope for writers. That hope made me realize I must cast my pride aside. I had come to a fork in the road and knew I must make a choice.

***********

Join me next week as we begin Chapter Two: One Novelist’s Journey to Self-Publication. I want to share with you some of the good news that is happening out there in the writing world. I want to give other writers a sense of hope. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate the company. Feel free to leave comments along the way. And writers: Take heart and keep writing.

Interview: Novelist Dean Koontz

Novel: What The Night Knows
By Mark Young

Release of author Dean Koontz's latest novel may create new definitions of terror, nightmare, and demonic possession. In What the Night Knows, Dean has created his own special genre. This gripping and exquisitely written tale refuses to fall within the confines of any genre definitions. What the Night Knows, scheduled for release December 28, 2010 rains upon the reader a potpourri of mystery, suspense, police procedural, romance, and flat-out terror.

This police procedural requires its lead character to go where no rational cop dares venture—into the consideration of demonic possession and the possibility of evil surviving beyond the grave. There is also the exploration of the deep love between homicide detective John Calvino and his artist wife, Nicolette, and between them and their three children. Don't get cozy, reader. Love serves  only as a brief respite as the Calvino family struggles to keep one another alive and their would-be killers at bay. And for mystery lovers, we have who-done-it murders where the most likely suspect died years ago.

A brutal killer--Alton Turner Blackwood—murdered four families two decades earlier and thousands of miles away from where John Calvino lives now. Back then, fourteen-year-old John killed Blackwood as the killer lingered over the bodies of the boy's freshly killed family. Now John is a 34-year-old homicide cop, haunted by his past. Recent killings identical to those twenty years earlier lead John to suspect that his own family might be the next target.

Simultaneously, strange things are happening to John's three children as they struggle to understand seemingly supernatural events that are  occurring in their home.

Rather than risk giving too much away about this captivating story, let's focus our attention on the author and creator: It is a great honor to have Dean visit us here today.

MARK: Dean, once again, you've created an unusual event, a story within a story that never lets the reader go until the final resolution. Let's start with a basic question about your writing: How do you come up with an amazing plot like What the Night Knows? Does it start with a general concept or idea? Or are you one of those lucky ones who has a good grasp of the whole story and who knows exactly where this next writing journey will take you?

DEAN: An idea never comes to me as a complete story. One of the joys of writing is the struggle to properly develop a premise after it has occurred to me and excited me. No fine novel can be intricately plotted before you start writing because that approach elevates raw mechanics above the art and craft. I sometimes know a couple of set pieces I might like to include, which are suggested by the premise itself, or I might know the essence of the ending, but by allowing the characters free will, I not only allow them to become more real, but I ensure that the story line will be more organic, more true to life in spite of the fantastic elements.

In the case of What the Night Knows, I had just started work on another novel when the idea for a ghost story slammed me. I turned to a tablet beside the keyboard, on which I make notes to myself, and I wrote down exactly this: Twenty years ago, a serial killer murdered four families. The only survivor was John, from the fourth family—and John managed to kill his family's murderer, saving himself. Now John is 34, has a much-loved wife and children of his own—and someone is murdering families exactly as they were murdered twenty years earlier. John, a man of reason, comes to suspect a supernatural entity is at work. Will his new family be the fourth target this time, too—and how does he defend against a disembodied spirit? That was the nugget, but of course the novel became far more complicated as it progressed.

Sometimes I can identify the inspiration for a novel, the chain of real-life events that seeded the idea, sometimes not. In this case, not. The idea just came from nowhere, I recognized the power of it, and realized the ghost would be a metaphor for certain real-world forces that destroy families every day, which would allow layers of texture and subtext. When I passed the idea along to my editor and publisher, they were as enthusiastic about it as I was—to such an extent that I set aside the book I had begun and instead wrote this one.

MARK: One of the most interesting exchanges in the novel occurs between John and a defrocked priest, Peter Abelard. First, the name of the priest seemed intriguing. I learned that the real Peter Abelard, born in 1079 A.D., was a well-known French philosopher-priest and theologian in his day. Is the reference intentional?

DEAN: Yes, it's intentional, but nobody needs to notice it to follow the story. The real Peter Abelard first proposed new ways of thinking about the world and sacred order that eventually led to Freud and Marx. A good argument could be made that the seeds for the death of the West were planted by Abelard and have been watered ever since, until we now live with the fruit of his ideas. To discuss this at any interesting level would require 50,000 words! It's that subtextual kind of thing that readers are better not noticing because it only distracts them—and I'm amazed that you, in the first interview I do for this book, bring it up! I'm sure no one else will. Subtext is like the concrete foundation of a house: Once it's poured and the residence is built atop it, you don't need to know exactly what mix of concrete and gravel and steel rebar went into it in order to enjoy living in the house.

In the novel, the defrocked priest, Abelard, is in such a dark place psychologically that as I wrote that scene, the hair went up on the back of my neck more than once. John Calvino's encounter with him is creepy and to some extent heartbreaking. It's one of those scenes that, when you finally get it right, you want to jump up and do a little end-zone dance and spike the ball, except you're a writer and you don't have a ball to spike, so you'd have to spike your keyboard, which would be expensive and stupid.

MARK: John also goes to his local priest, Father Bill, for counsel and reveals a tentative belief in demonic powers. But Fr. Bill  characterizes John's belief as superstitious, not faith condoned by the modern church. On the other hand, Abelard—the ousted priest, grappling with his own demons—is not dismissive as is Fr. Bill. The irony here is that the practicing priest offers John less aid and sympathy than does the defrocked priest who has too much experience with his own tendency to evil. These scenes obviously counterpoint each other. What was your intention with them?   

DEAN: First, I wanted to see John go to everyone he would logically approach for help in this extraordinary situation—and receive no help at all. He turns, as well, to his detective partner, with no better results. I knew he had to be isolated and desperate—before he realized that his only reliable allies were his wife and children. And then, perhaps too late, he also discovers that they have been having extraordinary experiences, as well, and that the spirit presence in their house has been using their fears and their love for one another to turn each of them inward and isolate each until it may be too late for them to share what they know and in sharing save themselves.

After that, there are several reasons for those two scenes. There's a dark kind of humor in the scene with Fr. Bill—just when I think the story needs a bit of wryness. And the Abelard scene ratchets up the creepy factor in advance of the extended third-act action sequences. It's also true of everyone in this story—except for the youngest child, Minnie, and perhaps also excepting her mother, Nicky—that he or she is in some way flawed, in some way foolish, and in need of maturing experience and/or redemption. Fr. Bill isn't actively evil, he means well, he is a big believer in positive thinking and paying it forward, but he is such an intellectual lightweight that it is possible that, by the end of his career, he might have done no less damage to his parishioners than has the more profoundly troubled, weak, and wicked Abelard.

MARK: Alton Turner Blackwood first makes his sinister appearance in a novella titled Darkness Under the Sun, just released October 25, 2010, as an eBook exclusive. In this coming-out for Blackwood, readers learn about this killer "who knew the night, its secrets and rhythms. How to hide within shadows. How to hunt." In What the Night Knows, Blackwood--or others under his influence—commits acts of great evil. How did this eBook release work to get people interested in What the Night Knows? What was the strategy behind unfolding this character's story in this manner?

DEAN: The events in the 14,000-word novella take place a year prior to the events in the novel. Darkness Under the Sun concerns an incident in Alton Turner Blackwood's life that inspired him to give up his days on the road, where he killed one victim at time, and instead to begin killing whole families. There was no way to drop this episode into the novel without destroying its structure and leading the reader too far away from the primary story. Writing an associated novella seemed the way to go, and Bantam thought the best way to use it was as an eBook, to build interest in this deformed and decidedly strange antagonist. I'm not much for strategy. I leave that to others.

MARK: As the title implies, the night in this novel almost becomes a character. However, the night does not take sides. Good and evil people struggle for position under the cover of night, for survival and supremacy. Can you tell us a little about this unique character and what it brings to the story? 

DEAN: You'll have to tell me what it brings to the story. I'm not the one to judge that it works or not. I don't actually personify the night in the story, but you're right that it serves, in some ways, as a character, not unlike the town of Pico Mundo in Odd Thomas and the great Bel Air Mansion, Palazzo Rospo, in The Face. Sometimes I like to take a key element of the setting--night, a town, a house, the flora of southern California in The Husband--and give it a heightened reality, explore it with some of the tools of magical realism, for a whole host of reasons, not least of all to weave text and subtext into a coherent fabric. Besides, when you challenge yourself to deal with one element of a setting in hyper-visual and emotional language that makes it almost a character, you find yourself unable to resort to cliche in any part of the story.

MARK: There seemed to be some confusion among your fans earlier this year about the story line of What the Night Knows. Initially it was described as a scary novel about a dog and a character named Kirby Wayland. Later it ended up being a ghost story with a main character named John Calvin. Can you clarify this confusion?

DEAN: When I put aside the Kirby Wayland story because this ghost story slammed into my head and demanded to be written, we didn't have a title for it. I sent my editor and publisher what seemed like tens of thousands of titles but was, I'm sure, more like thirty, and they sent me a bunch of titles, as well. They weren't crazy about any of mine, and I wasn't crazy about any of theirs. This was all friendly, you understand. We weren't spitting and cursing and threatening vengeance. But the title search did go on and on as I wrote the novel. Then one day I realized that the title of the Kirby Wayland story fit this story, too, and even better. I sent an email to my publisher, suggesting we take the title from the book I had set aside and use it on this one, which had so obsessed me. Just as that email was sent, one from my publisher came in, with the same suggestion. We simultaneously had the identical thought and had at the same moment acted on it. Spooky. But because the title was already associated with the Kirby Wayland story on some Web postings, there was confusion for a while. I'm a master at sewing confusion.

MARK: One of the more endearing characters in this novel is eight-year-old Minnie. She seems to possess an understanding of the whole other-world struggle that others do not grasp. Is Minnie's unique worldview because of her near-death experience earlier in her young life?

DEAN: The reader's expectation would be that if one of the three children was a mensch, it would be either 14-year-old Zach or 11-year-old Naomi, so it's better to play against expectations. But in any event, characters become who they insist on becoming, so Minnie was going to be Minnie regardless. As the youngest and also the least self-interested of the children, Minnie is also the most innocent.   Alton Turner Blackwood is absolute corruption, evil, and given his supernatural power, there is no way to defeat him unless one in the family can be said to possess the essence of innocence.  

MARK: Thanks for sharing this time with us, Dean.

DEAN: Thanks for asking questions that made me look like at least somewhat less of an idiot than usual.

                                                                        **********

Dean Koontz is the ultimate artisan of suspense. You can learn more about his prolific writing career at www.DeanKoontz.com.

"Help me ... help you!"

Hook’em and Book’em Grows

Have you ever launched into something without knowing the consequences? Something akin to grudgingly offering to coach a kid’s baseball team knowing the last time you picked up a bat Babe Ruth was still cracking home runs? Or starting a blog without knowing where it might lead?

Almost six months ago, I launched Hook’em and Book’em (HB) with an idea that mystery readers and writers might like to connect with law enforcement. Maybe readers might like to learn from cops—those who have fought the good fight—and use this information to write mystery fiction with more authenticity. Added to this, I thought mystery readers and writers might like to meet other published authors and learn about their latest novel.

Time appears to have validated this assumption. Readers from thirty countries have wandered over to HB in the last six months.These visitors have arrived from every continent but Antarctica—and I’m still hoping for a reader from that icy tip of the world. Although most of our visitors are from North America, they’ve included islanders off the coast of Thailand, as well as visitors from Tobago, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Lithuania, and other places I’d love to visit.

Here at HB, I continue to learn through trial and error. Thanks for overlooking these mistakes


One thing I’d like to encourage is more dialogue with and between readers. Although we continue to have a number of visitors, they often come and go without leaving a trace. Just past through cyberspace without telling us know what they think or what they might find interesting.

Here comes another assumption. I feel  Hook’em and Book needs to broaden its content to capture the revolution going on in the publishing industry—like ebooks, print on demand publishers, and major publishers starting their own self-publishing ventures. 


Beginning this week, there will three posts a week on HB. Generally, these articles will appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, unless my reservoir of ideas come us empty, my computer crashes, or a major publisher wants one of my novels right now. I want encourage readers to jump in with comments, suggestions and requests. Is there a mystery author you’d like me to hunt down and invite to our group? Any topic in law enforcement you’d like to learn more about? How about the publishing industry? Writers and aspiring novelists: how about the pains and joys of writing? What are some things you are struggling with? What rocks your boat? What really ticks you off?

Here at HB, I’d like to open this up to more dialogue and interaction. More of an open forum on any number of topics that might interest readers. Our core law enforcement and author interviews will still continue. I plan on taking a look at the border issues currently in the news, as well as other cops topics. 




Two of my favorite authors will join us in the coming month: 


Bestselling author Davis Bunn will hook up with us—all the way from England, unless he happens to be surfing in Florida—to talk about his latest novel, The Black Madonna, scheduled for release in September. 


Author Dean Koontz, New York Times bestseller, will join us in a few months about his novel, What The Night Knows, targeted for release in December. His prose and his plots are sure to make you shiver.

I hope to offer our readers much more, but it all depends upon you. Let me know what interested you. What you’d like me to pursue.

The key is flexibility in our topics. HB will strive to offer other perspectives about what is happening in the publishing industry. Quick briefs on mystery novels just hitting the stands. We’ll be exploring what’s happening in the publishing digital revolution, cultural trends in fiction, and any other subject that is hot at the time. Please leave your comments in the link to this article, or email me directly at MarkYoung@MarkYoungBooks.com.

Remember that Jerry McGuire movie scene where actor Tom Cruise plays a sports agent. In one scene, the agent, Jerry McGuire struggles to break through to his one and only client about the need to make their best possible football deal. Peering into his client’s eyes, McGuire pleads: “Help me … help you. Help me, help you.”

Here at HB, I saying the same thing … although don’t expect any money.

Thanks to all those readers who’ve stopped by over the last six months. Keep on enjoying this journey.