Dean Koontz

Shippensburg University

novelist, short story writer, screenwriter

Canine Companions for Independence

dogs, writing

Slam the Big Door, Cry Hard Cry Fast, The Damned, The End of the Night

Metallica, Frank Sinatra

Cancer

Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), and his first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. His first day on the job, he discovered that the previous occupier of his position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and Koontz was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. He wrote nights and weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer he couldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "and if you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never make it." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of her husband's writing career.

Dean Koontz lives with his wife, Gerda, and the enduring spirit of their golden retriever, Trixie, in southern California.

All people, all people who want to know my flair in writing...
Dean Koontz

Here's my mailing address, as well as my website:

Dean Koontz
P.O. Box 9529
Newport Beach, CA 92658

http://deankoontz.com