Thu 14 Aug 2025
SF Diary Review: DEAN R. KOONTZ – Star Quest.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[7] Comments
DEAN R. KOONTZ – Star Quest. Ace Double H-70; paperback original; 1st printing, 1968. Cover art by Gray Morrow. Published back-to-back with Doom of the Green Planet by Emil Petaja. Apparently never reprinted.
The universe has been the scene of a centuries-long war between the Romaghians and the Setessins. On a restricted primitive planet Tohm is forcibly separated from his love Tarnilee by invading Romaghians. His search for her leads him to the slave planet Basa II, where he joins a group of hunted Muties, mutants caused by the effects of nuclear warfare,
The latter have learned the power of shifting between divided universes, and have successfully rid their universe of warring worlds.
Shallow on first reading, but Dean says there are allegorical points. The warring enemies are descendants of the radical right and the radical left; the mutants are “soulbrothers” – the victims of the attempted cleansing of guilt – who have succeeded in ending war, But who are the mutants with white eyes, tangible lust creatures, who periodically appear and disappear?
This will probably not rate well with others, sorry to say. Dean does have a good picturesque style.
Rating: ***
August 14th, 2025 at 8:28 pm
I was in semi-constant contact with Dean Koontz during the first few years of his writing career, most likely because I subscribed to the SF fanzine he was doing at the time.
We gradually drifted apart — you know how those things go, even in these later days of Internet correspondence. I tried writing him later on, after he became famous, but he never replied.
I have been told (only by rumor) that he has disavowed all of his early work, such as this one. I don’t know the truth of that, but it does appear to be true that this is one that was never reprinted.
August 14th, 2025 at 8:39 pm
Oops. I lost track of where I was in the small notebook which contains all of these old diary reviews, and I discovered that I posted this here about a year ago. After all of the retyping and formatting I’ve just done, I’m not going to delete it and start working on something else to post.
You’ll have to forgive me and move along, which I assume will be easier for you than me. I hope so, anyway.
August 15th, 2025 at 6:32 am
This was Koontz’s first published novel. Despite his many faults, I really do enjoy Dean Koontz’s books, but his early science fiction novels may well be the worst of the lot. He was much better at suspense, at least until he got to DEMON SEED. (And his early novels seldom involved dogs or bad fathers.) He is now noted for combing many genres into fast-paced phantasmagoria, infused with his own brand of Catholicism.
When Koontz reinvented himself (and his appearance) in the 90s, he began to step away from much of his early work, not allowing it to be republished. He also claimed that a literary thief (someone who once worked with him) published letters, articles and novels (including 30 erotic novels) supposedly written by him and his wife without his knowledge. (Could this unknown — and perhaps imaginary plagiarist — have been then one who published Koontz’s fanzine, Steve?) Koontz has promised to reveal the person’s name in his memoirs (if they are ever published). The fact that he once immediately and openly named two women who once plagiarized one of his novels tends to make me doubt his assertions.
No matter. Koontz will keep writing books and I will keep reading them.
August 15th, 2025 at 12:23 pm
Thanks for the long comment, Jerry, even though this was a double dose of the same review. I did not realize this was Koontz’s first novel. Because I’d been in touch with him before hand, I expect my rating of it was higher than other people might have given it. But it is the kind of SF that interests me the most, planetary adventure and romance.
I think all of Koontz’s revisionary history of himself is poppycock, but you did a bang-up job in describing what he wants people of think of his early work. “He didn’t do it!” I never cared very much for what what he wrote that made him rich and famous, but I don’t begrudge him even a penny of it.
August 15th, 2025 at 9:45 am
I read STAR QUEST because I was buying and reading ACE Doubles during those years. As Jerry says, Koontz’s early SF is weak. Koontz was a lot better at writing suspense novels. Later, Koontz drifted over to horror.
August 15th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
And as he drifted, he lost me along the way. Doesn’t matter. He picked up a boatload of other fans to make up for the loss of one fellow, me. And in doing so, he made himself a category of fiction of size one, himself, you might say.
August 23rd, 2025 at 3:46 am
His two books on writing show a clear schism in his disparate writing styles and subject. Between HOW TO WRITE POPULAR FICTION and HOW TO WRITE BESTSELLING FICTION (or as he called it “the Big Sexy Novel”) thihngs changed clearly.
Ironically the first book of his I ever read was a paperback original suspense novel with a horse racing background.
My wife loves him, and I still read him off and on, and hold some books relatively high.
A writer friend said he got stiffed on an endorsement from him because Koontz had issues with his publisher (Signet NAL) and like Steve could not reconnect, but I only know one side of the story.