Dean Koontz (b. 1945)

Dean Ray Koontz 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" and "Brian Coffey". 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.

Quotes

When life hands us a beutiful bouquet of flowers we stare at it in cautious expectation of a bee.
Although the constant shadow of certain death looms over everyday, the pleasures and joys of life can be so fine and affecting that the heart is nearly stilled in astonishment.
Creating a family in this turbulent world is an act of faith, a wager that against all odds there will be a future, that love can last, that the heart can triumph against all adversities and even against the grinding wheel of time.
Savor the warmth of every sun-filled day, and the chill wind of every raging storm, weeds as much as flowers, the bitter and the sweet.
Moments of extreme terror bring back the gestures of our youth.
For a thinking creature of high intellect there can be no pleasure separate from emotion. If you deny men emotion you deny them pleasure.
Power dements even more than it corrupts, lowering the guard of foresight and raising the haste of action.
Understanding wasn't always necessary as long as you believed.
In moderate doses melancholy can be strangley comforting, darkly sweet; it can by providing contrast, give an exquisitely sharp edge to happiness, especially to pleasures of the flesh.
Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.
I believe in the possibility of miracles but more to the point, I believe in our need for them.