False Memory

False Memory
by Dean Koontz

Featuring full-color illustrations by Phil Parks!

About the Book:
False Memory will stun readers with a deeply sinister and endlessly shocking tale of a rare and terrifying secret!

Cemetery Dance Publications is proud to announce a 750 copy deluxe signed edition of Dean Koontz's brand new novel of dark suspense — False Memory. This special Cemetery Dance edition will be released on Christmas Eve, and will be the first U.S. hardcover edition!

Martie Rhodes is a young wife, a video game designer, and a compassionate woman who takes her agoraphobic friend Carol to weekly therapy sessions. Carol is so afraid of leaving her apartment that these trips are grim ordeals for both women — but bonding experiences as well.

Then one morning Martie experiences a sudden fear of her own, a brief but disquieting terror of... her shadow. The episode is over so quickly, it leaves her shaken but amused. Then, as she is about to check her makeup, she realizes she is terrified to look in the mirror and confront her own face.

As the episodes of this traumatic condition — autophobia — build, the lives of Martie and her husband, Dustin, change drastically. And as they inch closer to the horrible truth behind their troubles, Dustin finds himself afflicted with a condition even more bizarre and terrifying than Martie's...

False Memory is sure to be one of the most praised books of 2000. No fan of psychological suspense will want to miss this extraordinary novel of the human mind's capacity to torment — and destroy.

Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. When he was a senior in college, he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and has been writing ever since.

Koontz graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), and his first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. His first day on the job, he discovered that the previous occupier of his position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and Koontz was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. He wrote nights and weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer he couldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "and if you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never make it." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of her husband's writing career.

Eleven of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (By the Light of the Moon, One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Lightning, Midnight, Cold Fire, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, and Sole Survivor), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Twelve of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. His books arepublished in 38 languages. He has sold 375,000,000 copies, a figure that currently increases by more than 17 million copies per year.

The New York Times has called his writing "psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying." The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Koontz is, "at times lyrical without ever being naive or romantic. [He creates] a grotesque world, much like that of Flannery O'Conner or Walker Percy ... scary, worthwhile reading." Rolling Stone has hailed him as "America's most popular suspense novelist."

Koontz lives with his wife, Gerda, and the enduring spirit of their golden retriever, Trixie, in southern California.

Published in two states:
• Deluxe Limited Edition: Only 698 signed, numbered, and slipcased copies! Fully bound in quality leather, with satin ribbon page marker, imported endpapers, illustrated signature sheet, and protected by a hand-crafted cloth slipcase. Also featuring full-color dustjacket artwork, as well as full-color interior artwork by Phil Parks! Signed by Dean Koontz and Phil Parks! ($150)

• Deluxe Lettered Edition: Only 52 signed, lettered, and traycased copies! Fully bound in quality leather (a different color leather than the limited edition), with satin ribbon page marker, imported endpapers (again, different than the limited edition), illustrated signature page, and protected by a hand-crafted leather traycase (elegantly lined inside and with full-color artwork embossed on the front of the case). Also featuring full-color interior artwork by Phil Parks, as well as completely original dustjacket artwork (yes, a different dustjacket than the limited edition!) — plus, as another special bonus, the limited edition cover art will be featured inside this lettered edition as a glossy full-color frontispiece. That's right — the lettered edition is completely unique & different than the limited edition — inside and outside! Signed by Dean Koontz and Phil Parks!

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