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- nonpolitical_memes@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- nonpolitical_memes@lemmy.ml
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“Stephen King made me want to become a writer. Dean Koontz made me realize I could become a writter”.
If Terry Goodkind can publish several books, and get a TV show, then anybody can!
I used to enjoy his books and you made me look him up for the first time since the terrible Law of Nines book.
He’s dead! That was a surprise! Otherwise most of the Sword of Truth series was “watch Richard take on communism…Again”.
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
What’s up with the word “amused” there? Looks like someone badly photoshopped a different word in.
Looks like some weird artifact. The original author deleted all his original tweets back in October, so I can’t find the original; but he did retweet Stephen King’s quote tweet of someone else’s tweet of a screenshot of his original tweet (wow I hate that sentence) and that screenshot doesn’t have this artifact in it.
This was in an old folder, no idea where it originated!
It looks like a weird kerning issue between the e & the d, but it’s really odd that it’s only happening with those two letters.
I’ve overlaid what I think is the original onto the image from this post: https://i.imgur.com/3WE6emI.png
They match up so exactly that I’m pretty convinced this has to have originally been the same image, just mangled by some sort of an uploader or something.
Thanks for this. Super weird!
Was it originally, “fucking amused” and then they lazily moved the text over?
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.
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.
I think ive also ready exactly one koontz book
I think it involved a child genius inventing time travel with something that looked like salt and pepper shakers because his family was being targeted by an assassin for some reason
Also might have been a fever dream not sure
It’s called From the Corner of His Eye. He’s not time traveling, he just figured out how to hop between different alternate realities. It happens to be one of my favourite books.
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
😱😱😱😱😱
John Green first editions are less valuable if they’re signed, simply because all first editions are supposed to be signed. So that’s a fun fact.
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.
Dean Koontz is kind of like the RC Cola of horror/suspense novelists:
- See RC Cola in the store
- “Hmmmm, it’s been a while, but I THINK I liked RC the last time I got it”
- Purchase and consume RC Cola
- “I kind of wish this was a Coke, but it’s not that bad, might as well finish”
- Several years pass, go back to step 1
As a side note, I LOVED Dean Koontz books back in the 80’s/90’s. They were fun and quick reads that are in the “high floor, low ceiling” realm of books.
What is a high floor low ceiling book?
Think of it on a scale of 1-10. High floor means it’s not a stinker, so worst ranking would be in the 4/10 - 5.5/10 range. Low ceiling means it’s not going to be an all-timer, so the best ranking would be in the 6/10 - 7.5/10 range. Basically you’ll never HATE it, but you’re also never going to LOVE it.
Seems more like a description of the author than a particular book.
Reliably entertaining, but will never be considered a masterpiece.
I’m offended by this, as I much prefer RC Cola to Coke or Pepsi… :/
Dr. Pepper > Cherry RC > Cherry Coke > Cherry Pepsi.
I like cherries.
But where is Cheerwine?
If there’s one reason to go to the Carolinas…Cheerwine.
I went for a Solar Eclipse but that won’t happen there for a while.
Don’t need to go to the Carolinas for Cheerwine. I live in Indiana and got it in my grocery order a few weeks ago. I had never had it before. It was listed as “Cherry Soda”. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be cherry cola. Gross.
Were you looking for straight cherry flavor, like a Jones Soda?
I’ve never had Jones, but “straight cherry flavor” sounds like exactly what I was looking for. I’ve never been a fan of cola.
On that note, while I agree with Dr Pepper being better than all the others listed, it doesn’t even belong on the list as it doesn’t have the slightest hint of cola flavor.
Faygo Red Pop. It’s not really strawberry, it’s not really cherry, it’s not really anything. It tastes generically red. It’s also cheap and delicious.
Honk.
Basically moved on from youth novels with both Dean Koontz and Stephen King. The Odd Thomas series was a fun read at that age.
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’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.
I really liked Life Expectancy
Odd Thomas annoys be to no end. He’s a Mary Sue in the worst way. He succeeds at literally everything he does. It’s extremely lazy. Oh and he’s “quarky”.
I’ve read a lot of Koontz books. If you just think of them like TV movies they’re fine.
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.
When I was a teenager my grandmother got me into his Saucer series which I quite enjoyed
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.
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.
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.
R.L. Stine Creative Writing Award winner R.L. Stine
Brandon Sanderson and Tim Rothfuss started signing each other’s books for awhile too. I read that Sanderson signs his and Rothfuss books at the airport bookstore when he’s traveling. I managed to find a few signed Sanderson books at the airport bookstore in SLC when I flew through there for a connecting flight once. I still have them on my bookshelf. No cross-signings though.
Do you mean Patrick Rothfuss?
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
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.
Back in my day, we jokingly called Dean Stephen King Lite
Store brand Stephen King
I would like to nominate this comment for hot take of the year.
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.
That’s for the very simple reason I don’t know who Dean Koontz is.
