I love books and stories involving the supernatural. I love these stories the most if they scare me and send chills down my spine. It’s hard to scare me using a story. But there are two authors who can help me at all times. These are Dean Koontz and Stephen King. Both can reach my skin and make me think. Both are authors who deal with the supernatural and the supernatural.
But the writers are very different, both in style and subject. The new Stephen King can rarely be compared to the new Dean Koontz. but both affect me. How are they so different, and yet so similar? That is the question I seek to answer with this article.
One of the differences between Stephen King and Dean Koontz is the material they revolve around. Dean Koontz has many books that involve genetic manipulation and enhancement. He also deals with the other side in many of his books, about things like ghosts and spirits.
That may be part of what is so refreshing about his book Revelations of the Human Soul. In his books, the greatest evil, a horrible monster, is the dark side of the soul, which lies in every man. Whether it is the minds of men that have been discovered and genetic experiments have been carried out, and have accidentally created a monster, or men with great powers, who are on the dark side, the true enemy that is behind everything, that voice is dark. in mind, the devil on your shoulder.
King Stephen lives less in the interior, and more in the exterior. His monsters are from another part of the galaxy, from another dimension, or simply there, sometimes unknown, sometimes known, but always physical. Its creatures and enemies are the fears of the inner child in all of us, the creature under the bed or the monster in the closet. It captures not only the look and feel of the monsters, but also the incredible sense of everything, as in the child tried in vain to his parents to convince them that they are monsters.
Dean Koontz aims for a happy ending to his stories. That’s not to say they’re offensive, or that they’re overly dramatic. The characters are affected, changed, perhaps even permanently scarred by the experience, but they leave happy. Everyone is well written too, so you never feel like the story is cut short. King Stephen, however, was more enigmatic with his subjects. Sometimes they are happy, sometimes sweet. Some of the characters have horrible endings, while others are much more enigmatic and mysterious. Others, simply let the reader see.
Dean Koontz and Stephen King are both authors of supernatural stories. But for the most part, that is where their similarity lies. Dean Koontz talks about fear inside, Stephen King shows you the horror outside. But other things are very similar. They both chill you to the bone and make your chair stick.
And you will both begin to look at the shadows.
