Bentley Little |
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breezit
Guru Joined: October/11/2006 Status: Offline Points: 3063 |
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Posted: May/06/2008 at 4:08pm |
I can't find a separate thread for Little, so I thought I would start one. Here's a tribute by Little to Koontz that was published recently in STRANGE HORIZONS:
I met Dean Koontz in the late 1980s at a local bookstore where he was signing copies of the hardcover edition of Twilight Eyes. I was a starving student, too poor to afford a copy of the book, but I went to the signing anyway, bringing my worn paperback copy of Whispers, my used book club edition of Phantoms, and a copy of a special Dean Koontz issue of the small press magazine The Horror Show. Dean signed The Horror Show. He was surprised that I had a copy, and we got to talking. I told him that I was a frequent contributor to the magazine, and he asked whether I'd ever thought of writing anything longer. I admitted that I had a novel collecting dust at home—my master's project—but had no idea how to get it published. He asked for my phone number, wrote it down, and told me he'd give me a call. Right, I thought. I went to the Koontz signing with no ulterior motive, no hope of enlisting his aid, wanting only to get my books autographed. But a week later, I was elbow-deep in the grease of my broken-down car when my mom came running out to the alley. "Dean Koontz is on the phone!" she yelled. He was. And he helped me find an agent, and he gave me wise advice whenever I needed it, and when my novel, The Revelation, was finally published, he attended my one and only book signing. Dean Koontz is a rarity in this business: someone who cares. He could have simply signed my books and sent me on my merry way, but instead he reached out, he made an effort . . . and he gave me a career. Maybe it would have happened anyway, but doubtlessly it would have taken a lot longer, and I would probably have stumbled into many of the pitfalls that his knowledge has helped me avoid. So I am forever indebted to Dean. I respect him as both a writer and a person, and I can only hope that if somehow, someday I ever reach his lofty heights, I can be as gracious and generous to others as he was to me. |
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gemtaur80
Moderator Group Joined: November/13/2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4568 |
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Interesting. I actually bought a Bentley Little book, The Dominion (I think), and read it not long after I first started reading Koontz.
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pattirose
Guru Canadian Wildwoman Joined: June/10/2005 Location: Neutral Zone Status: Offline Points: 4526 |
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WOW! What a sweet story, what a guy!
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"Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake" - Life Expectancy
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FinalExam
Guru Joined: February/08/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8753 |
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Koontz does seem very supportive of other writers, and I think that is an amazing thing for someone as successful as he is. It would be so easy to just ignore the struggling writers out there, but Koontz seems willing to spend his time and to actively try to help those he feels have talent.
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We are not strangers to ourselves, we only try to be. --Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
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breezit
Guru Joined: October/11/2006 Status: Offline Points: 3063 |
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Little has a new book out, called THE ACADEMY, which is apparently a satire of the whole charter school phenomenon. Sounds potentially interesting, I may pick it up.
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"In the real world as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems.” Dean Koontz
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