Ace Double November 1970 paperback (#13793, 75 cents.) Condition is VG+ to near-Fine: tight and square with flat spine; light rubbing wear on DARK OF THE WOODS side (mostly at left, 1" from spine); heavy patch of rubbing or scrape at lower left of SOFT COME THE DRAGONS side (see scans.) Age tanning is very mild and uniform (much less than expected for its age.) A very clean copy - no stamps marks or writing. This looks new/unread - with shelfwear as rubbing.

Koontz started out as a Science Fiction writer, but didn't find much recognition until he worked out the kind of tale he does best - a mix of thriller, horror, and science fiction. Then he became a best-selling author, and his early novels (the first dozen under his own name and early ones under pseudonym) - are now rarities because they have not been reprinted.

Two early Dean R. Koontz books in an Ace Double: novel Dark of the Woods, bound with collection Soft Come the Dragons. This is Dean Koontz's fourth and/or fifth book, and has not been reprinted - making it one of his hardest to find titles.

Dark of the Woods (cover by Jeff Jones (!), 108 pages): Stauffer Davis had a reputation as a pro-Alliance novelist. He came to Demos to chronicle the genocide of the natives - to get into the preserves of the winged people and do first-hand research on their architecture and probable lifestyle. The Alliance, led by the Supremacy of Man coalition, had obliterated the intelligent and ancient Demosians for resisting the colonization of their world. Staying in the Sanctuary (where the last of the Demosians wait to die), he becomes involved with a native, to the point of taking their side, and being hunted by the righteous Alliance…

Bound with the first collection of Dean Koontz's stories: Soft Come the Dragons (cover by Jack Gaughan, 143 pages.)
Contents:
(Introduction by Dean R. Koontz)
Soft Come the Dragons
A Third Hand
A Darkness In My Soul
The Twelfth Bed
A Season for Freedom
The Psychedelic Children
Dragon In the Land
To Behold the Sun

About half of these first appeared in The Magazine of F&SF, the others in Fantastic, Galaxy and IF, all from 1967-1970. Several were expanded into novels. "Soft Come the Dragons" (Magazine of F&SF August 1967) was Koontz's first published story in the field of SF, "the one that changed my life." Read about: mutilated, mutant by-products of America's "Artificial Wombs" created by attempts at producing human weapons ("A Third Hand" & "A Darkness In My Soul"), an American team of doctors sent to China to combat the runaway ultimate in biological warfare ("Dragon In the Land"), the genetically mutated daughter of LSD users, hiding her powers in order to survive society ("The Psychedelic Children"), and Gabe, the vital young man mistakenly locked in an antiseptic old-age ward ("The Twelfth Bed.") Koontz provides a 3 page introduction, and half-page story intros. These stories give a good idea of Koontz's early range, and show he was already a writer with promise…