Write Attitude: Koontz Delights Fans

It was a dark and stormy morning, but that didn’t stop several hundred fans of Orange County author Dean R. Koontz from turning out in the rain for his book-signing at Book Carnival in Orange last Saturday.

Actually, the wet and foreboding skies seemed a fitting backdrop for the best-selling author of “Master of Menace” to sign copies of his latest suspense novel, “The Bad Place” (Putnam; $19.95), a bizarre tale of terror and malevolence set in Orange County in which one frightening character gives new meaning to the term bloodthirsty.

The last time Koontz did a book-signing at Book Carnival--last year for “Midnight,” his first novel to reach No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list--he signed for seven straight hours.

And when Koontz does a book-signing, he doesn’t just sign his name; he writes personal inscriptions with a typically Koontzian flair for the bizarre. Such as: “Something’s out there. It’s real hungry. Try not to look like food.”

In fact, Koontz signed so many books during three local book-signings in one week last year that he developed tendinitis in his right hand. He had his hand in a splint for three weeks, and it took him five months to regain full use of his index finger.

“I love doing the signings, but they’re major work now,” said Koontz, 44, before the signing. “I think if people are willing to wait that long in line I owe them more than a signature.”

Koontz said people in line frequently tell him they’re surprised to get more than just an autograph from him and that other authors often don’t even speak to their fans.

“I don’t understand that,” he said. “There’s only one reason to do this and that’s to meet people who like your books and to hear what they have to say.”

Koontz, who now sells some 6 million books a year, has come a long way since his first formal autograph party. It was at Book Carnival five years ago for “Strangers,” and he worried that nobody would show up. (He signed about 100 copies.)

As a favor to Book Carnival owners Ed and Pat Thomas, who have since become his good friends and to whom he dedicated “Midnight,” Koontz agreed to do his only signing for “The Bad Place” at their shop.

Koontz, who turns out his masterful tales of suspense in his book-lined home in the hills east of Orange, said he’s simply too busy to do more than one signing for his new novel.

He is serving as executive producer on four TV movies based on his novels for CBS, and has just finished two of the teleplays. He also recently completed a screenplay for “The Bad Place,” which Warner Bros. purchased for a theatrical movie last July only three days after he turned in the completed manuscript to his publisher.

If that weren’t enough, Koontz has just begun writing a “Midnight” screenplay for Paramount Pictures, and as soon as that is done he’ll begin working on his next novel.

Due to the expected large turnout of fans for the book-signing Saturday, the Thomases restricted the signing to only copies of “The Bad Place.” Because of the rain, the author’s fans were given numbered tickets so they wouldn’t have to stand outside in line for hours. (One man near the front of the line sold his ticket to someone in back for $30.)

The plan on Saturday was for Koontz to sign from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Draping his silky black jacket with the Warner Bros. logo over the back of his chair, the dark-haired author in a turquoise V-neck sweater and plaid sport shirt sat down at a table in the rear of the store and went to work:

To Tori,

Is it true vampires live forever?

Dean R. Koontz.

To Marc,

Never pick a fight with a guy who has the words “Born to Die” tattooed on his forehead.

To Lisa,

This tale from a writer only half as weird as his work.

By necessity, the author-fan chitchat was kept to a minimum, but Koontz graciously posed for pictures and answered brief questions:

Fan: “There’s a big debate you live in Carlsbad.”

Koontz, with a laugh: “No, right here.”

Fan: “What’s the R. stand for?”

Koontz: “Ray. You know, ray of life.”

Roy Robbins of Anaheim, a veteran of three Koontz signings, was one of the first in line, having arrived at the store at 8 a.m.

“I’m a big horror fan,” said Robbins, 34, who has been reading Koontz’s novels for eight years and has a collection of signed first editions. “I like the way his stories move: They move quick and have a lot of plot twists to them.”

Among the four books Robbins had Koontz sign was one in which the author wrote: See you on the next full moon--we’ll have a bite together.

The fans who may have come the farthest for the signing were Brenda Melling and her daughter, Laura Johnson, who took the train down from Richland, Wash.

Melling, who had just had her picture taken with Koontz, was ecstatic.

“All my friends are getting this for Christmas--I’m having it blown up to poster size just to torment them!” said a gleeful Melling, who has been reading Koontz for at least 10 years.

“He’s my favorite,” she said. “Oh, he’s the best. I really do think so.”

Melling, who owns a bookstore, brought several Orange County friends with her to the signing to help her get 40 copies of “The Bad Place” signed. She said most of the books have already been sold to her customers.

In her own copy of “The Bad Place,” Koontz wrote: Beware of the midnight hour.

“What did he write for you, baby,” Melling asked her daughter.

Johnson opened her book:

“To Laura,

Who came down from Washington on the train. Not for this signing, I bet, but to murder and throw off a guy she was trying to get rid of.

At 12:15 Koontz spread his writing hand on the table and flexed his fingers.

“Oh, it’s starting to seize up now,” he muttered.

But he gamely pressed on.

“Hi,” he said to a young blonde.

“Hi-i-i-i,” she said.

Koontz grinned: “Oh, this seems like a dangerous person.”

The blonde blushed.

“Who is this to?” he asked.

“Cyndi.”

The Master of Menace picked up his pen and began to write:

To Cyndi,

No matter what your family and friends say , you don’t “look” like a psychopath.

As he had promised, Koontz continued to sign “right up to the bitter end.”

That wasn’t until 8:10 p.m.--more than nine hours and some 700 books after he started signing.

“It was really exhausting,” Koontz said Monday. “It was kind of just like somebody hit me with a hammer in the forehead.”

And how is his writing hand?

“It’s only slightly sore,” he said.

But Koontz still wasn’t off the hook.

In order to meet the demand for copies of “The Bad Place” at the signing, the Thomases not only sold all the books they had ordered but they “borrowed” 350 more that they had set aside for their mail-order customers.

On Monday, Pat Thomas delivered the replaced mail-order books to Koontz’s house, and he has been spending his evenings all this week inscribing them.

Book Carnival isn’t the only bookstore where “The Bad Place” has been sailing out the door: Based on its first three days of sales, according to figures received by Koontz, “The Bad Place” is already the No. 1 seller with the B Dalton Bookseller and Walden chains.