Category Archives: Dean Koontz

Lesbian Readers & Writers

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If those readers who are now huffing and puffing and busting a vein on their foreheads would give it a bit of thought, they’d see that they should be glad that I care that much about the quality of my own work. Another writer friend of mine recently posted a blog about the inordinate amount of winking that goes on in lesbian fiction. I had to think about that….I know what she means. There are always some little irritants with those books…I just haven’t read a bad one in so long…because I…sort of…avoid bad books whenever possible. As for the … Continue reading →

Reading, Muses, Curses & the Pick-A-Project-Polka.

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  Since completing the third and fourth books (simultaneously) of the AKA Investigations series, I am doing that Pick-A-Project-Polka; a dance we writers do when we’re trying to decide what we feel like working on next; we listen to our muse, we dance with our muse, we kick our muse out and get practical, and we sometimes curse our muse and send it to bed without dinner. All of these I’ve done this time around, as well. Fortunately, I seem to have spent enough time on a particular draft to safely assume it’s the one I will be finishing next. … Continue reading →

Genre Horizons: RAOB

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  Random Act of Blindness is unlike any of my other books…I say that with a generous leeway in definition, because none of my books is like any of my other books. But I was trying to do something that was not only different for me, but different for authors in general. I wanted to take a genre that is relegated to the fringes, and elevate it into a mainstream sensibility. I wanted to write an erotic book with three- dimensional characters, a recognizable plot, and a handling of the material that made a reader care about what happened to … Continue reading →

Must-Reads for Modern Fiction & Non-Fiction

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[cross-posted from my other blogs, due to some content being atheistic in nature] *I present my list (which continues to get larger) of books I feel are more than worth the time to read…these are based on my own opinions and preferences, and yours may vary. But check them out just in case there’s a gem in there for you.1. One Door Away From Heaven (Dean Koontz) [I think this is Koontz’s best book). Amazon.com Review Dean Koontz virtually invented the cross-genre novel, and in One Door Away from Heaven he mixes an action thriller with post-X-Files alien paranoia to … Continue reading →

The Koontz Dangle

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One of the best stylistic things I ever learned about writing novels, was gleaned from being an avid reader of Dean Koontz. I not only read his work, I studied it. Several years ago, I was reading in bed, and was so sleepy that I felt I couldn’t continue, and yet I turned the page and kept trying to stay awake. This had happened before with his books, and often i would wake up later or the next morning with my reading lamp still on, and the book still on my chest. I read until sleep claimed me. Why? Because … Continue reading →

Characters: Names & Numbers

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I have noticed this issue with seasoned and novice writers alike: a tendency to not only confuse the reader with changing character names and designations, but to use too many characters when it’s not necessary. When you introduce characters, it’s okay to use their full names, but at some point you should try to settle on one name by which to refer to them. Otherwise your reader will be confused and might have to page back to the previous pages to hunt for who it is. This is not something you want your readers to have to do. I know … Continue reading →