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What scares master of suspense Dean Koontz? Plenty
- fantasy22 3y agoOne of his books had the main character eating scrambled eggs seasoned with red bell pepper and basil. I tried it, and it was delicious.
- version_five 3y agoStill, every night Koontz places a freshly printed copy of whatever manuscript he’s working on in the fridge — just in case of a conflagration. I know this is all about showing how eccentric he is, but really? I'd be more interested to understand why he doesn't use offsite backups. The fact that he's printing it implies a digital copy.
- m463 3y agoI suspect premature release of an upcoming book by a hacker group is a more real threat than a fire.
- UberFly 3y agoPlus he's probably set in his ways. He also doesn't even use the internet, even to do research.
- rsynnott 3y agoWas listening to a podcast about this a while back; it's very much a thing (though it's usually via social engineering; emailing the editor pretending to be a translator or similar). There's some mystery over _why_ people do it, IIRC; there's not much money in it.
- akiselev 3y agoI don't think there's much mystery - it's almost entirely for bragging rights. I remember when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows was leaked on LUElinks a week or two before release and it was just some random bloke who wanted to impress everyone. Same with the recent Discord leaks.
- rsynnott 3y agoThe odd thing is it’s not just the mainstream stuff that this happens with, tho; extremely obscure authors are also targeted.
- alwa 3y agoThat was what was so puzzling about it! Extremely sophisticated social engineering techniques over the better part of a decade, for no obvious reason [0]! It did seem to dry up after they arrested Bernardini for it a year or two back [1,2], though: [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/books/publishing-manuscripts-phishing-scam.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/books/publishing-manuscri... [1] https://newrepublic.com/article/165234/filippo-bernardini-literary-publishing-scammer https://newrepublic.com/article/165234/filippo-bernardini-li... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/books/publishing-manuscripts-phishing-scam-filippo-bernardini.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/books/publishing-manuscri...
- rsynnott 3y agoAh! Yes, that’s the guy. Bizarre story. I kind of want him to write a memoir about it, though for maximum irony someone would have to steal it, of course.
- version_five 3y agoMy guess is that sort of thing involves the publisher that has early drafts of the manuscript though, was that the case? They seem like a weaker link (more people involved) than the author. Also I'd be curious to know the hierarchy of which leaks are more valuable. I'd speculate (I could be way off) that mass market paperbacks like this are not a hot commodity in the warez world, but then again I don't know what would be. Maybe that's all part of the mystery.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago> Still, every night Koontz places a freshly printed copy of whatever manuscript he’s working on in the fridge — just in case of a conflagration. Don't modern refrigerators use pentane as the refrigerant which is pretty flammable? If there were a fire, there is a good chance that the inside of the refrigerator could be literally toast. A fireproof safe would be a better option for physical copies and offsite backups of digital copies.
- neilv 3y agoFor on-site, I'd get a high-end document/data safe. Some of them swing open like a fridge, if he has a ritual he wants to preserve. Also, some techie could rig up transparent off-site backups that are guaranteed not to cause the interruption/distraction that he goes to pains to avoid.
- hinkley 3y agoBrian from Family Guy should worry him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKAouJB5SXg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKAouJB5SXg
- droopyEyelids 3y agoI admit he does something well because he sells so many books but ive tried to read a few and god damn i cant do it. Theyre so poorly written, so implausible, such bad characters. I cant believe the article puts him in a class with john grisham. And i dont think its just my subjective opinion either. Look at the movies that have been adapted from their works in comparison. Grisham’s books were interpreted into a ton of thrillers that were successful & have stood the test of time. Same with other thriller writers. Koontz movies have universally flopped into obscurity. And while not all good books can be made into movies, its a reasonable test for a thriller.
- gamblor956 3y agoGrisham, Koontz, and King have all been coasting on the reputations they earned in their early days for decades now. Their early works are still their best, and each new novel they release seems to mark a new low point.
- AndrewStephens 3y agoI know this is not what the article is about, but I read a lot of junk and Dean Koontz has been on my Do Not Read Not Matter How Enticing The Blurb list for decades after being burnt twice by terrible (and terribly long) novels.
- mindcrime 3y agoWow. I couldn't disagree more vehemently if I tried. I would put him well above Grisham personally. For my money, Koontz is one of the most under-appreciated writers living today. And I don't think whether a writers works have been translated into successful movies or not is even slightly meaningful as a metric. For what it's worth though, I totally acknowledge that that is my subjective opinion.
- dmbche 3y agoCould you recommend one or two of his that you are particularely fond of?
- gorjusborg 3y agohttps://archive.is/zHegT https://archive.is/zHegT
- themodelplumber 3y agoHe's big on printouts for emergency backup. OSC was, too, I think, after he lost a bunch of writing. The refrigerator is an interesting location. It almost brings to mind the symbolism of the act/location itself, in the "why not just a cool fire safe, I mean look at your bulging wallet" sense. The guy had stainless steel interior doors custom designed for his home library. So, using a fridge seems kinda irrational in various ways. Maybe unless you're a big _Crystal Skull_ fan. I wonder what other authors have done along these lines. Do they save only the current manuscript, some subset of papers representing achievements, or whole pallets, etc. I mean, certainly a pallet is practically nothing, if it provides peace of mind, backs up lots of good stuff, and takes up less floor space than the golf cart? I printed out my life timeline with major events and things once, just to have something of a history around in case of a fire, or fire and my screaming death. It felt absolutely ridiculous to print it out and store it, and I really hoped nobody found the document while cleaning out the fire-proof thingy. But while packing it away, I got to wondering about a reasonable upper bound of storage for people who write a lot of good stuff, published or not.
- jebarker 3y agoWhen I had my family trust notarized the lawyer recommended keeping a copy in the freezer as it's the most likely place in the house to survive a house fire.
- wrp 3y agoIn pre-home-computer days, I heard stories about writers keeping important working documents in the refrigerator. They were generally people for whom a safe would be priced out of reach.
- bagels 3y agoI have a hard time believing that the freezer would be better than a small fire safe for that purpose. The freezer has plastic seals that would melt, letting the heat in. All the frozen food/ice freezer would melt making for water damage.
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- UberFly 3y agoHeard him on Art Bell 20 years ago. Was a great interview. I remember him being really down to earth.
- codr7 3y agoI read some f'ed up Koontz novels while growing up that I still can't shake. Seriously makes me wonder how some people (Stephen King is similar) can come up with so many weird ideas.
- ge96 3y agoThe moth thing pulling the fox into the hole, breaking all its bones I liked the movie too
- frankfrankfrank 3y agoThe answer is rather obvious
- crtified 3y agoI imagine that, to him, putting his manuscript in the fridge is somewhat akin to the way an average person locks their home's doors when they go out. Any really serious fire, or burglar, is not going to be stopped by your precaution. But it might still make the difference, in any number of less-extreme incidents. That said, we in IT know a bit about backups and data redundancy. Dean would be well advised to, and probably does, have his data backed up in multiple physical and virtual locations.
- excalibur 3y agoI've always found Koontz books enjoyable, if mostly forgettable. He never really escaped Stephen King's shadow, but he's thrived there magnificently.
- msrenee 3y ago>He installed a towering fence, which partially obstructs the view, to protect his golden retriever Elsa from rattlesnakes. How high is this fence? I feel like a 4-foot-high solid fence is more than plenty to keep rattlesnakes from jumping over. I'd be more worried about them burrowing under. Is it working? I assume there's rattlesnakes in Orange County. Probably even Mojaves and those are one of the more venomous in the US. Then again, Orange County surely has plenty of antivenin for any venomous snakes in the area and an individual with a mansion wouldn't have trouble getting his animal to the vet quickly and could afford the treatment. Sounds like he's blocking his own view due to disordered thinking. It appears to be the point of the article, but man that guy's life is so negatively affected by his fears. I should feel bad for him, but I just can't.
- ramijames 3y agoWait, rattlesnakes can JUMP?
- msrenee 3y agoIf that's what you'd call the sort of vertical, but mostly lateral launch they do when striking. My point was more that they can only extend themselves so far up a vertical object before they just fall over. A solid 4-foot fence is plenty as far as most snakes trying to get over it. A 6-foot fence will defeat any snake headed in the upwards direction. Your biggest concern, should you be trying to exclude snakes, is that they burrow and it doesn't matter how high you build that fence if you don't sink it into the ground a couple few feet.