Koontzland - Dean Koontz discussion
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Introduce Yourself (if you want to :-)
Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "Be sure to vote on our current poll to choose our March Group Read. This poll only lasts two days:http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/78..."
Done!
Although I have been around, I couldn't find the right folder for this ... so I am adding it hear and Dustin the organized feel free to move it.I loved the Trixie book. But my very favorite was a year when he published a Page A Day book with a quote from Trixie for each day. Taking the quotes a page at at day really made me appreciate "her" view more. When I found one I particularly liked, often when I was finished with it I would slip it in another teacher's mailbox who loves Golden Retrievers and says the quotes are apropro. Some of them were quotes from some of the Trixie books but they were just as good one at a time.
Did anyone else get this calendar
Hi all...I've been a member of Koontzland for a few months now (since Sept/Oct 2012) and somehow missed introducing myself via this discussion. Sorry!Anyway, I'm Jen and I live in Tucson, Arizona, USA (just moved here in January 2013). I am not too happy to be here: it's not a place I ever wanted to live and I moved to take care of my ailing father. Reading is my refuge and Goodreads is a great site. I can't believe it took me so long to find it! (I joined about the same time I joined Koontzland.)
I joined your group to find the title of a Koontz book I read a few years ago and have stuck around since. I'm enjoying the monthly reads, especially as I don't usually read Koontz and feel it's good to read outside of my usual genres/authors. :)
well hi and arizona not that bad i think well i live here all my life so yeah (heh) welcome! :)
Thanks Kyle and Shangre. And Shangre, I'm from Seattle so the climate (too hot, sunny and dry) and critters (too many of the eight-legged variety) here are quite different from what I'm used to, especially as I was born in CA and moved to WA to escape "too hot, sunny and dry." But my books moved with me and the library is close, so I'll survive. :)
I was born in Huntington Beach and moved to Montclair when I was three. Escaped to WA at 18. :)
I moved to Pullman, WA, to go to WSU, then moved to Seattle after I graduated. I was very sad to say goodbye to Seattle. But I'm only gone physically, I'm finding. Mentally, I seem to still be there. :)
Hi Guys,I am also Jen and I just joined too so I guess we need to do something to differentiate all us "Jens!"
I will try to go in and change my name and if possible, I'll be "Jen D" (if there are no others).
Jen (hopefully)D
PS Well, there is already a "Jen D" so I am Jen LD! Boy this gets complicated easily...
I am posting to this discussion because it's the one I see Dustin usually responds to. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my Goodreads mail setting. Has anyone heard from Dustin? I hope he's okay. I've seen him comment in one of the other groups to which we both belong and there have been no posts from him in that group either. I feel like I am in the middle of Koontz novel, suddenly I'm not getting mail from this group, from Dustin.
No one has posted here for almost a week
So it isn't just me! I was ready to say something in the discussion on You Know You've Been Reading Too much Dean Koontz when...
I've noticed the silence, too. It's eerie. Especially as there are two moderators for Koontzland and both seem to be MIA. :( I hope everything's alright for them (and for everyone else, too).
Jen wrote: "...there are two moderators for Koontzland and both seem to be MIA...."One of them is lurking, just extremely busy (will be that way through May, unfortunately). :-) The concern is appreciated. FYI, Dustin was active on facebook as recently as 21 hours ago, so I'm sure he's fine.
Jason "plasborgma" wrote: "One of them is lurking, just extremely busy (will be that way through May, unfortunately). :-) The concern is appreciated. FYI, Dustin was active on facebook as recently as 21 hours ago, so I'm sure he's fine. "That's good to hear. Any chance the group home page can be updated to include the upcoming March group read? I got my copy from the library today and am excited to start it. :)
Jen wrote: "Jason "plasborgma" wrote: "...Any chance the group home page can be updated to include the upcoming March group read?..."He's always the one to do that, so I'll talk with him about it. In the mean time, I'll create the event page for the group read, just as I do every month. Thanks for keeping us on our proverbial toes. :-)
Jason "plasborgma" wrote: "He's always the one to do that, so I'll talk with him about it. In the mean time, I'll create the event page for the group read, just as I do every month. Thanks for keeping us on our proverbial toes. :-) "You're most welcome. And thanks for creating the group read page. :) I'm excited to participate in another month's read with you all. :)
some of us are doing Mini group reads. I am going to read two Koontz books in March Icebound
and
Odd Interlude: A Special Odd Thomas Adventure BTW I got a very good condition used large print of Icebound>i< from Amazon because it was cheaper than buying it for my Kindle. My ex is the one who put me wise to buying Used books from there.
I'll be joining you for the Icebound Mini Group Read. :) Where will this discussion take place? Just in the Mini Group Reads discussion? This is the one I mean: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3... ... or is there a better place for the March Mini Read discussions??Thanks :)
Hi. My name is Jason and I'm new to the group. I've read a lot of Koontz novels and have really enjoyed almost all of them. My favorite is "The Taking" which sometimes gets bad reviews, but I thought it was excellent.
Hi Jason. Hope you like being part of the group as much as do. As for sometimes getting bad ratings doesn't that pretty much happen with most Koontz books. Sometimes it seems the very qualities I like are the very ones someone else doesn't. But the group certainly generates a lot of fun conversation. What's it done for me though has gotten me re-reading some I read quite a while ago and I appreciate them even more now~
Karen B wrote: "Hi Jason. Hope you like being part of the group as much as do. As for sometimes getting bad ratings doesn't that pretty much happen with most Koontz books. Sometimes it seems the very qualities I..."Thanks for the welcome Karen! You are exactly right on the ratings issue. Everyone has his or her own tastes. Some of my other favorites are "Intensity" and "Velocity". The only Koontz book I read that I didn't care for was "Darkfall". Which is a pretty good track record in my book!
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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Welcome to Koontzland Jason! The Taking is great. I didn't care for it the first time I read it, but I have listened to the audiobook twice since then and just love the audiobook :-)
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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I am finally catching up on February posts :-)
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
(last edited Mar 09, 2013 10:22PM)
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I loved the Trixie book. But my very favorite was ..."
Here's the link to the folder containing Trixie's books - if a folder doesn't get new posts it doesn't show on the group homepage so feel free to post in any of Trixie's threads or create a new thread in the Trixie folder:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...
Hi...new member to the group. I've been a reader of Dean Koontz books for about 15 years. Besides Koontz, I'm very much into thrillers, mysteries, and paranormal genres. I'm looking forward to meeting others in this group and getting involved in the book discussions.
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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Hi, I'm new to the group, and looking forward to reading winter moon next month.The first dean koontz book I read was 'night chills' about 10 years ago, I rediscovered his books a few years back and thoroughly enjoy them.
Some of my favourites include 'the husband' , 'by the light of the moon' and 'velocity' though there are too many to mention :)
I recently read 'a nightmare journey' and enjoyed a lot as its more sci-fi which is a nice change.
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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A Nightmare Journey - is that one of Dean's early books that is out of print? I haven't read any of those books. I also haven't finished Night Chills - I've started a couple of times but haven't continued with it same with The Face of Fear because those two are not available as Audiobooks which is mostly what I do.
Hello Everyone:You will have to forgive me. It takes me a long time to learn social media.
My name is Esmeralda and I love stories. I would love Dean to publish a new Christopher Snow book. It is my favorite series. I love all the characters. I have been reading and listening to Dean for years. I don't like Odd Thomas because he took the place of Christopher Snow. I still read the Odd books, but I wish I was reading about Christopher. I think one day the characters will meet.
No offense but Odd was the reason I started reading Dean Koontz and I am not sure I would be able to read much else. Odd seems to be "Koontz-lite" in terms of the intensity...I can't imagine Oddy replacing anyone. Does that mean he's like your favorite? At any rate, he talks a lot about Oddy in an interview he did that is on Youtube. Have you seen it? It was done back in the fall I believe...I found Mr. Koontz utterly fascinating but the level of fear and suspense he can generate, not so much!Jen
Thanks dustin!Yeah, nightmare journey is one of his older ones I found in a 2nd hand shop. I've yet to listen to an audiobook by dean koontz but its been something I've been meaning to try!
Jen wrote: "No offense but Odd was the reason I started reading Dean Koontz and I am not sure I would be able to read much else. Odd seems to be "Koontz-lite" in terms of the intensity...I can't imagine Oddy r..."Hello Jen. I take no offense. I am just restating what Mr. Koontz said in an interview years ago. The 3rd book in the Christopher Snow series is way overdue and it is all Oddy's fault. Maybe I would like the Odd Thomas' books more if I did not know this fact. Christopher is my favorite and I like most of the characters in the series.
Oh, gosh. Now I understand. I thought he dropped your fave for Oddy. But no, he's just put Christopher further down in the queue. And I know how that feels for sure. I was a big "Mary Russell" fan (she's written by Laurie R. King) and Ms. King had taken a long long time to write another of Mary Russell's adventures in favor of another character whom I didn't like very much. I don't usually read contemporary books because you can avoid a lot of sex, bad language and graphic violence if you keep to certain types of historical fiction. Not all, I know, but I prefer less to more. Anyhoo, Ms. King got a very good book club person to organize a book club on line and for several years, we were a very active, very friendly stand-alone book club. Then, the stress of it all got to be too much and we were merged into Goodreads. So, long story long,I know how you feel when your favorite character gets put back. But from what i understand, Oddy got no notice from the original publisher so there was huge gap between some of the books. Apparently Mr. Koontz' new publisher said "Let's get this party restarted..." I hope you get some new Christopher. The last Oddy has come out, maybe he'll be back on your guy soon!Jen
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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Yeah, nightmare journey is one of his older ones I found in a 2nd hand shop. I've yet to listen to an audiobook by dean koontz but its been something I've been meaning to try!"
Dean's books are great on audiobook :-) That is mostly I get through so many books because I can do other things while listening to them: commuting, chores, etc. I am old school so I still listen to audiobooks on CD with my Sony Walkman. If anyone is an Old School Audiobook listener like me or a Wannna Be Old School Audiobook Listener like me, you can get new unabridged Dean Koontz audiobooks from Brilliance Audio starting at $10 www.audiobookstand.com
That is a great find you found at the second hand store :-) Maybe someday I will find one of Dean's out of print titles if I am lucky.
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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:-) We are still waiting on two more Odd Thomas books. Deeply Odd will be released next month and Saint Odd I think is next year if I remember right. After Dean finishes Saint Odd then I think we can hope for a Chris Snow revival.
As for publishers. I don't think Dean has switched publishers in a long time. He has stayed with Bantam in the U.S. for a long period - they are the ones that have released all his new books & have been since before Odd Thomas. Berkley (Penguin) has been re-releasing older titles.
The only big gap in the Odd Thomas Series was between books Four and Five when we had to wait nearly four years(2008 -2012). Of course this was also when he was doing the Frankenstein series which may account in part for the delay.
Dustin,I am certainly no expert on Dean Koontz and so I may have garbled things I heard him say in the interview I watched. It's the only thing I know about him, an hour-long interview on "The World Over Live." He did seem to say that the publisher he had when Oddy began didn't give him much encouragement (despite Oddy's rave reviews). But I bow to your superior knowledge and will go back and watch the interview. Despite my highly suspect information, the gist of what I hoped to communicate was that hopefully, for the fan of Christopher, he'll go back to that character soon. I am really glad I was wrong about home many books are left....I know there are supposed to be 7 total. I realize I miscounted now...
Not ready to let go of Odd anytime soon.
Jen
Hello,My name is Scribble and I have read every single published Koontz book except the last 3 of the frankenstein series and Odd Apocalypse. I tend to wait for Dean's books to come out in mass paperback before I buy them, hence the delay in buying Odd Apocalypse.
When I was 16. I promised myself I would read all of Dean Koontz's novels. And I feel I have almost fulfilled that promise to myself and it makes me feel good. I am 24 now.
-Scribble
Apparently no mean feat, to have read all the books of such a prolific author. I can't read the scary ones, or should I say, the scarier ones. I was not at all scared by the first Odd Thomas books, at least not to an uncomfortable point. I was very taken by the character, his simplicity and innocence. Subsequent books have been much scarier but I am doing my best to stick with him. You get to feel like you are part of him somehow and you need to stand by him...Glad to hear from you Scribble. What's your favorite(s) Koontz character or book?
Jen
I think once you get used to Koontz's style that his writing will not scare you as much. His writing really isn't horror, except for one or two books of his I have read. One involved a "poltergiest" from The Mask. So, be forewarned, that book has creepy passages.Other than that I am not afraid of his writing.
I don't think I have a favorite book of his. They all seem to blend together for me.
I understand what you mean except that my friend read one of his books and demanded her husband get right home she was so afraid...I don't remember the title and that makes me happy...The thing about Odd Thomas is that after that first book, the violence seemed always be a shock or surprise. And although he wouldn't like me saying this maybe, a little ruthless. Odd got gun-savvy so quickly. And he sized up bad guys with such ease. "Odd Hours" was the worst for me. There was a scene or two in which the killing of bad guys just took my breath away. I must admit, I didn't warm to that book. Odd was still Odd but the things that had to be done were done as if a surgeon were removing something. Quick. Clean. No muss or fuss. I yearned for more character development and I realized there were almost no "good guys" save Oddy. Strange. I know he's a pilgrim walking through this world alone but the depth of his isolation has begun to unnerve me. Since he left Pico Mundo, only in the monastery has he had a cast of reliable people in his travails. Annamaria is, well, we know who she is don't we?Jen
I've never been bothered by the violence in his books. He never kills the main characters off. He always preserves them and rights things at the end of his books. The bad guys always lose...The paranormal stuff in his books freaks me out more than what the people do because, I hate to say it, but Koontz has standards. He wouldn't for example, write a rape scene. He will talk about it maybe, but not actually write the scene itself.
He has standards.
I understand what you are saying. But when you aren't used to anyone getting killed on camera (I read tame mysteries next to DK) it can still take your breath away! And I could never read the paranormal stuff. But he has something in him, if I can peel away the things that are hard for me, there's something that moves me about how he writes...Jen
It's probably because he writes a lot about his sociopathic father with his villians all being vain sociopaths. Also, he tends to put a lot of emotion into his writing I've noticed, compared to Stephen King.
More than his villains, I adored my first meeting with Odd Thomas. I am not sure where Dean begins and Odd ends (ooh. weird sentence...) I find something crazy sophisticated and yet totally innocent in him. He's got the heart of a lion, for sure but good, incorruptible. I know he's a saint in the making. Just wish I understood the later books better, how each one illustrates something important in the making of a saint. Jen
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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I am certainly no expert on Dean Koontz..."
Jen, I am certainly no expert on Dean Koontz either :-) Just a big fan like yourself.
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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Do we? Please elaborate :-) Use spoilers if needed. Thanks.
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Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado
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So Jen, do you think Annamaria is (view spoiler)
I'm very curious as to your thoughts :-)
Koontzland - Dean Koontz
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