迪安·雷·孔茨

Dean Koontz

生卒: 1945 年 7 月 9 日
出生地: 艾弗雷特
国籍 / 所属: 美国
身份: 编剧、作家、教师、诗人、儿童文学作家、小说家、散文家、科幻作家
代表作: Watchers、Demon Seed、惊悚时分、Strangers、地心骇客、Odd Thomas
就读: 西盆斯堡大学
简述: American writer and screenwriter (born 1945)

迪安·雷·孔茨（英语：Dean Ray Koontz，1945年7月9日—），美国宾州艾佛雷人，著名悬疑小说作家。孔茨曾经担任过英文教师，1969年后始全身投入写作，《滚石杂志》曾称赞他为“美国最受欢迎的悬疑小说家”。作品超过三十余部，共已卖出一千九百余万本，已翻译成中文于华人地区发行的包括唯一生还者、记忆突变及恶夜横行之恐怖基地。迪安·孔茨这个名字已成为美国悬疑小说的品牌示范，尤其他更赢得“惊悚小说王子”之一时美誉。

正文摘自中文维基百科「迪安·雷·孔茨」（删去了参考文献、表格和图片），按 CC BY-SA 4.0 使用

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中文维基百科这一条比较短，下面是英文维基百科同一条目的节选，原文为英文，未翻译。

Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Many of his books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list, with fourteen hardcovers and sixteen paperbacks reaching the number-one position. Koontz wrote under a number of pen names earlier in his career, including "David Axton", "Deanna Dwyer", "K. R. Dwyer", "Leigh Nichols", "Brian Coffey" and "Joe Cocker". He has published over 105 novels and a number of novellas and collections of short stories, and has sold over 500 million copies of his work. He has been acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" by Rolling Stone and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers.

Early life

Koontz was born on July 9, 1945, in Everett, Pennsylvania, the son of Florence (née Logue) and Raymond Koontz. He has said that he was regularly beaten and abused by his alcoholic father, which influenced his later writing, as also did the courage of his physically diminutive mother in standing up to her husband. He was raised in Bedford, Pennsylvania and graduated from Bedford High School in 1963. While attending Shippensburg State College, Koontz married his high school girlfriend Gerda Ann Cerra in 1966.

Career

In his spare time, Koontz wrote his first novel, Star Quest, which was published in 1968. Koontz went on to write over a dozen science fiction novels. Seeing the Catholic faith as a contrast to the chaos in his family, Koontz converted in college because faith provided existential answers for life; he admired Catholicism's "intellectual rigor", saying it permitted a view of life that saw mystery and wonder in all things. He says he sees Catholicism as English writer and Catholic convert G. K. Chesterton did: that it encourages a "joy about the gift of life".……

Pet dogs

One of Koontz's pen names was inspired by his dog, Trixie Koontz, a Golden Retriever, shown in many of his book-jacket photos. Trixie originally was a service dog with Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), a charitable organization that provides service dogs for people with disabilities. Trixie was a gift from CCI in gratitude of Koontz's substantial donations, totaling $2.5 million between 1991 and 2004.……

Disputed authorship

A number of letters, articles, and novels were ostensibly written by Koontz during the 1960s and 1970s, but he has stated he did not write them. These include 30 erotic novels, allegedly written together by Koontz and his wife Gerda, including books such as Thirteen and Ready!, Swappers Convention, and Hung, the last one published under the name "Leonard Chris".……

Awards

Koontz was also nominated in 1988 and 1989 for the World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award. He also won the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award in 1996 & the Ross Macdonald Literary Award in 2003.