The prolific writer finds inspiration just about everywhere.
Dean Koontz has a drawer stuffed with ideas he will never use.
The prolific novelist often scribbles down possibilities and tosses them in the drawer, where he estimates he has 80 plots collected. He needs about two a year.
Koontz's "The House at the End of the World" came out in January and "After Death" hit stores last week. He already has completed a couple of novels to be published next year, with "The Bad Weather Friend" due in January, by which point his output will be well over 100 books.
"Another idea occurred to me yesterday. So, as long as they're coming, I don't need to go to that drawer," Koontz, 77, said by phone. "And I don't think I ever will."
"After Death" is about Michael Mace. As a result of an industrial accident, his brain functions as if it's always plugged into the internet, accessing its information at a moment's notice. He becomes involved in the struggles of a woman and her son, trying to escape a violent ex who's been released from prison.
That plot grew out of reading about the "singularity," when humans and machines become one. Koontz's ideas also come from listening to Simon & Garfunkel songs, overheard conversations and deep dives into books that he impulse-buys. But he says he didn't always love that process.
Q: Do you enjoy doing research?
A: In high school and college, I hated it. I faked everything and got away with it. But as I started writing novels I discovered that if you made a mistake you would get mail about it. And I have this aversion to being called a fool. So I decided doing the research was essential and what happened over time was it became part of what I liked most about this job.
Q: How does that work?
A: Over the years, if I saw a book on an esoteric subject, I'd think, "I'm never going to write about that but, just in case, I'll buy the book." Same thing when a reader would write and say, "I like your books and my field of expertise is this and here's my business card. If you need questions answered about helicopters, I happen to be a military pilot." I save those cards and now I have this group of hundreds of people I can call.
Q: In your new book, some characters are gang members in Los Angeles. You live in nearby Irvine, but I'm guessing you don't have their business cards. How did you create those voices?
A: It's having an ear for it and listening to people out of those cultures and how they talk. A lot of it comes from reading, being immersed in the news. One thing about that was getting the language right when you hear those characters talking to one another. That is the biggest challenge. You don't want it to be hokey.
Q: Do you follow any writing "rules?"
A: I do not like to glamorize evil. While I make my villains scary, as they are in real life, I also try to make them foolish.
Q: The book is more optimistic about human/machine blends than much of what we read. Is that your view, too?
A: I didn't want to go where all the other stories tend to go. I think man and machine will, to some extent, combine because you're seeing a lot of things happening. I just made reference in a book I finished to things that would have been astonishing 20 years ago. They can put in this Medtronic device as big as a lozenge — it's an outpatient thing, they put it between your ribs — and it sends information on your heart to Minneapolis. The cardiologist treating the patient can go at any time to see what their heart has been doing in the past week. That's an astonishing thing.
Q: You're bullish about the future of technology, but what does scare you?
A: I do have a fear of flying. Once, there was a nun aboard and it was really bad and she started saying at some point, "We're all going to die." Fortunately, we didn't but, of course, she's correct. Eventually, we will. I make no attempt to get over [that fear]. It has benefits. I've never had to go on a national book tour because I don't fly.
