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Show BOOKS Koontz Sheds Light on Darkest Fears TheSaltLake Tribune SUNDAY,January 24, 1999 BEST SELLERS Reviewsof booksof regional interest Except By Nature BY BRANDON GRIGGS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Thereis a certain kind of reader who likes to lock the doors, check the windows and hunker down with a book that makes the bonesshiver. For these folks, novelist Dean Koontz is more than 1. SouthernontPata Cross, Cornwell 2, AManIn Full, by Tom Wolfe (Farrar, 3. SeizetheNight, by Dean Koontz (Ban. tam) 4, Billy Straight, by Jonathan Kellerman (Random House) 5. When the Wind Blows, by James Pat terson (Little, Brown) ‘The Simple Truth, by David Baldueci (Warmer) 7. In Danger’s Path, by W.E.B. Griffin (Putuan) Bible, by Barbara Kina er (arperPaning) Saw Stars, byLilian feta‘rum(Pas Flight, by Michael Connelly tie own), Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur bie (Knopf) Armor, by Jewel Kilcher arperlins) i Bones, by Stephen King (Serine 4.Rainbow Six, by Tom Clancy (Pt 5.TheVamplre Armand, by Anne Rice (Knopf), Hardcover nonfiction 1, The Greatest Generation, by Tom Brokaw(Random House) 2. With Morrie, by MitchAl bom(Doubleday) Life Strategies, by Phillip McGraw tier 4. The 9 Financial by Suze Orman (Random House). 8. The Century, by P. Jennings and 7 Brewster (Doubleday) 6, BlindMan's Bluff, by S, Sontag and C. Drew with A. Drew. (Public Affairs) 7. One Day Up, bylyanla Vanzant(Fireside) 8, Busters! by Steward, Bethea ‘Andrews, Balart (Ballantine) the Meantime, by Iyanla Vanzant (Simon & Schuster) 10. The Professor and the Madman, by Simmon Winchester (HarperCollins) by Sarah Ban 11, Simple Breathnach (Warner). 12. If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules, by Cherie Carter-Scott (Broadwa) 3, Making Faces, by Kevyn Aucoin tae Brown), ‘or the Love of the Game, by Mi dhael Jordan Crown 5. 3, by Neale Donald Walsch (Hampton ‘Straus & Giroux). BySandra Alcosser; wolf Press; $12.95 IN NAPA| AL TO THETRIBUNE “Everyone loves a hermit, beit human or bird, a spare room, a narrow perch,’ Montana poet willing to tighten the screws. “People want to be thrilled,” he Says, explaining why his books have sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide. “Life itself is all suspense. We never know what's going to happen tomorrow. Sandra Alcosser writes in one of the poems in her newcollection Except By Nature. It is one of several subtly depressing themes that run through the 44 prose and poetic poems in the book. The lon- It could be wonderful,it could be terrible “So suspensefiction in a way is the closest thing to reality if you er is admired and envied But later in the same poem, “The Intricacy of the Song In- Dean Koontz is out with a new book and newlook,right. verseto the Dull Lores,” Alcosser adds, “Twenty-five/birds in for- write about characters as real people. Suspense for meis an essential ingredient in a novel. I don’t think great novels can be written withoutit.”” Fans of, say, James Joyce or Thomas Pynchon might disagree, but neither author ever sold 17 million books a year. Three dec- ades after his first book, Koontz has becomeone of contemporary fiction’s most popular suspense novelists. His new thriller, Seize the Night, is third on the hardcov- er fiction best-seller list, whileits predecessor, Fear Nothing, rides high on the paperbackchart. This success is remarkable for an author who wasoncetold by a publisher he would never make it big if he kept leaping from genre to genre. In an era when massmarket authors repeat proven readers to Snowin last year's Fear Nothing and will conclude his adventuresin a third installmenta year from now Snow's disability restricts him to Moonlit Bay but makes him at homein the darkness —a distinct advantage when he discovers a kidnapperis snatching the town’s children. With the help of his loyal dog, Orson, and his beach buddies (Snow surfs by moonlight), Snow tracks the culprit to Fort Wyvern, an abandoned military base with a network of tunnels. would be limited but in whose own mindis not limited at all,” ent genre. Today, Koontz could slap his nameon the phone book ters. “My wife and I have worked with handicapped people for manyyears. They're the most optimistic, hopeful group of people just downrightbad.” Seize the Night continues the story of Christopher Snow, a 28year-old Californian stricken with xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic disorder that leaves him Carlsonteisperoa) light hours. Koontz introduced eral books with disabled charac- which was made into a 1998 film with Peter O'Toole and Ben Affleck. Although his novels vary in tone and subject matter, readers know what to expect: A breathlessly plotted story. A brave, sympathetic hero. And a sociopathic villain, or villains, who plumbs the depths of human depravity. “We're endlessly fascinated with evil andits existence,” says Koontz by phone from his homein Newport Beach, Calif. “Many people would like to believe there is no real good and thereis no real evil ... that everything's really a shade of gray. But if you read a lot of criminology, as Ido... thereis absolutely no question in my mind that evil is a real thing andit walks the world. Somethings are and It's All Small Stuff, by Richard shuttered at home during day- time he wrote a bookin a differ- clude Watchers (his personal fa- (S&S) Fireside) 6. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff writing little stories and peddling Forced to live a nocturnallife, says Koontz, who has written sev- vorite), Intensity and Phantoms, of the Ya-Ya SisterRood” by Rebeca Wells (HarperPeren nial), 4, Midwives, by Chris Bobjaliam (Vin tage) 5. The Seat of the Soul, by Gary Zukav Snow prowls his coastal town of Moonlit Bay at night but remains in his career, publishers persuaded him to use a pseudonym every and makeitsell. Koontz’s best-known books in- (ia those months as among the happi- “T thought it would be interesting to write about somebody whose life by our estimation horror andsciencefiction. Early A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr dangerously vulnerable to light. books blur the lines of suspense, formulas over and over, Koontz’s market paperbacks ‘Street Lawyer, byJohn Grisham (bets 2. ‘a Bottle, by Nicholas Sheri (Warmer Vision. 1. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, by Hover Ain (ron) Power, by Michael R. Eades and Mary DanEadesaea a ee, by Tom Caneyand Steve Peicenk(Berkey 6. Mad Jack, by Catherine Coulter Gore, 7. The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks Ware 8. Harbor, by Nora Roberts Jove). 9.ear Nothing, by Dean Kont (Ban 10,Oliva, VC. Andrews Pocket) 11. Pandora, by Anne Rice (Ballantine). 12.N by Christopher Rich (Dell Be Good, by Susan Elizabeth rue!(Avon), Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (Anan Trade paperbacks 1, Where the Heart Is, by Billie Letts (Warner). I've ever met. You don’t see the disabled in popular fiction. It's not that I’m trying to do anything noble. It's because . it gives you fresh and interesting material.” Readers seem to agree. Fear Nothing was a No. 1 best seller and Seize the Night already has 400,000 copies in print. Reviews have been mixed. “The goings-on here feel about as creepy as a Scooby-Doo cartoon,” said Entertainment Weekly. “Call this one Koontzlite.” Like most authors who write consistently about evil, Koontz has a few demonsofhis own. His father was an abusive man who threatened repeatedly to kill his family. Although there were no books in Koontz's Pennsylvania home, he traces his love of story- tellingto this dark period Have Your Doctor complished morethanindividualism, Hollywood's version of life them to relativesfor a nickel. not providing proof to the con- “That friend of my mother’sin trary. But which choice would the poet make? “If I were a bird, I'd some way gave me mydesire to write,” he says. “As I grew older and found refuge in books, writers became heroes to me because theytook you out of this terrible be the Hermit Thrush.” Except By Nature repeatedly place and showed you that there wereother ways tolive a life than my family lived theirs.” Murder that will air on ABC in drifted for days.” The narrators of some of these April. Many of Koontz’s novels have been adapted for film or they both accept and reject. In topher Snowbooksto the screen “Let's wait until the trilogy is fin- ished and then see. Thereare certain [books] that are too dear to meto risk what might happen to them. The next thing you know, Christopher Snowwill be played by Roseanne.” A dogged, prolific writer, Koontz often works at his word processor from morninguntil dinner. He averages a book each year and, at this pace, completes a nov- el in five to six months. “I love long worksessions,"’ he says. “When I am deep into a book for hours and hours, the characters become morereal and the whole world of the book be- comes morereal,” he says. “If the character comes alive, and he starts moving in directions you weren't anticipating, then the story goes in a more natural direc- leapoffa cliff friend who read to him every night at bedtime. Koontz recalls Fast, Accurate, Friendly, Professional Service Valentine Sale ing/To protect her emotions.” In a prose poem, *‘Azaleas,” she ex- that only poets seem able to know: “Tell me about a lover,” one character says, and the other replies, “We never touched, but in the tuberous wave of our veices, we “I have been so dismayed with feature films made out of my stuff,” he says. So far, Koontz has resisted offers to adapt his Chris- premise, get the character, and His readers, goosebumps and all, are happytofollow poems often live in worlds that Boyd's Bears, Pooh and Mary Engelbreight. Visit us for a gift for your favonte Valentine. THE GAM FOUNDATION eesevrs Dyeateen oie cn Onl Monday, February 22 1999 & Tuesday, February 23, 1999 Seasons Ballroom Salt Lake Hilton Tickets $20 cause that was female, and I denied I'd grown up in a bodyshop, becausethat waslaughable, lower class, and not female. So began a dance, of learning then denying experience. Not exactly the way to build intelligence, though silence sharpensthe senses, creates an oily, pungent memory.” And where have the women of these poems sought solace? In “Dancing the Tarentella at the County Farm,” the narrator says, love also has its limitations. In “The Red Dress,” a prose poem. heart pumps gas these days, but that’s a career change. He spent timein prison. He was a pimp.” Andlove, in a physical world, invites sexual encounters. In “Sweat,” Alcosser gives us the strongest image in poems dominated by strong. clear imagery: ‘Babies have been conceived on sweat alone — /thebuttery scent of a woman's breast,/ From the briny odor/of black lunch boxes — coldcuts, pickles, waxed paper — mygirl flesh grows- /From the raunchy fume of strangers.” Not a surprising attitude for a woman who grew up learning to be a girl in a world in which men didn’t hide their ideal view of wo- men as sex objects: in “The As- sembly Line,” she writes, “ crouched behind/the pop machinein the body shop, memori- em’s closing lines: “looks like a girl who wants to break loose/from her own body by crawling/through a ragged face.” Somepeople find satisfaction in their work, but not the narrator of “In the Jittering World,” who bemoans herjob as a college English teacher: “In a world jittering with zing/poses dissatisfaction reflected in the po- from girlie maga- zines.” Yet the desires that underpin these poemsseem, in the end, less a reflection of cultural expecta. tions than a simple statement of universal personality traits. In “What Makes the Grizzlies Dance” we are asked rhetorically, “have you never wanted/to waltz the hills/like a beast? possibility, howdid I cometo this sour basement/ ... to grade rhetoric, water dripping all day down drainpipes.” The one hope the narrator possesses is herability to change: “woman and chameleon always changing to save our An unfriendly reader might ask what makes someone wantto read poetry that is mostly about the saddest parts of who we are. And a friendly one might reply “Have skin.” you never wanted to know who Even small expectations of joy are not fulfilled in these poems; in youreally are?” That's what Al- cosser does for us, what all good tor reports, “My friend James says/he'd take meto the Rockies./but mountains give him nose- but understanding. ‘MaximumSecurity” the narra- poetrydoes: provide, not comfort, Martin Naparsteck is a novel- bleeds.” In an untitled prose in- ist. sundance GATALOG OUTLET STORE Sg FURNITURE SALE HUGE INVE NTORY LIQUIDATION ON ALL DISSCONTINUED, OVERSTOGCK & SAMPLE FURNITURE 0%-50% OF REGULAR RETAIL PRICES FINAL WEEK LAST DAY SATURDAY, JANUARY 30TH Sg OG MIRODR LO Ra OAL aL ASO a Holladay Phatnaey Don’t miss Chick Corea on March 1 1999 & the Monty Alexander Trio on mee 29, 1999 I lied. I denied that I had won blue ribbons for butterscotch bars and tight little stitches in skirts, be- beborderline alcoholism, however, is more than balanced by the wonderful selection ofValentine and spring merchandise tolighten anyone's heart also havea greatselection ofbooks, home decor, frames, boxed chocolates, plush, notes, “when I wentoff to college “Rags,” we are told, “I like the way the single white hairs/shine in my head, and the lids/over my eyessag. . I drink rum and listen to stumbling/plots on television, I drink/until my brain slides.” Accepting aging and what may Treat your Valentine to a specialgift from Holladay Pharmacy, we have a Choose from a fabulousselection offragrant candles and candle accessories, We It was a childhood that, in fact. embarrassedher.In what maybe we aretold, ‘My childhood sweet- plores an aspect of physical love television, with mixed results. kneaded, waltzed.” the saddest passage in a book dominated by the sad, Alcosser “If love were water/not a drop would beleft.” But searching for can erect elaborate scaffold- Koontz also is pleased with a miniseries based on his book Mr. forts of false nostalgia and instead recalls the boring routinenessof herpast: “My grandfather whittled, sanded, banged, and snored. My grandmother — on a tonic of garlic and wine — fried, lives and our vulnerability. In the opening poem, “My Number,” Alcosser writes, ‘Being human she Despite his troubled boyhood, Koontz seemscontent at 53. He hairline with hair transplants. troduction to the book’s second section, the poet refuses the com- returns to the physicality of our has a happy, 32-year marriage, a lucrative three-book contract with Bantam and a new youthful look. After 28 years, he shaved his mustache and reseeded his fading tion. That's howI begin. I get the 4690 HouapayBivo. 278-0411 est of his life. By age 8, he was posited the boy with a family six months; Koontz’s father de- PROFESSIONAL PRESCRIPTIONS & CONSULTATION SERVICE Since 1935 Monday-Friday 9am-9pm Saturday 9am-7pm mation fly 70% further than one alone.’ Communityhas alwaysac- When he was about 4 years old, his mother was hospitalized for HOLLADAYPH Call Us THE WEST UNDER COVER ‘Seize the Night’ is latest from author who has sold nearly 200 million books Here are the best-selling books as they sopear!in next week's issue of Publishers 5 1460 FOOTHILL DRIVE, SALT LAKE CITY Monday BOlFriday SH1-o711 pm, Saturday O6pm |
