Northwest Herald from Woodstock, Illinois • Page 32

7, Page 8 3(nnim IwirEis inn the bnmanim wnEEesi TtmmrTr Jt.fL i 'ifffasfi? are more nice than evil aricHife is great I mean, there's no alternative." While "Lightning" has its share of evil Adolf Hitler makes a cameo appearance Koontz does not resort to the horrific special effects that have become the suspense writer's stock-in-trade. "There's a lot of gore out there," he says sadly, "and I think writers who resort to gore are shirking their responsibilties as storytellers. It's a kind of pornography that exploits people's fears and it's easier than writing an intriguing tale with characters you can care about." Instead of the macabre, Koontz entices readerswith science fiction and the supernatural, both integral to the plot of "Lightning." "There's an element of fantasy in everything I write," he says, "because we're living in a kaleidoscopic world where change is so rapid that the fantastic is now a part of our everyday life." Where "Lightning" departs from Koontz' previous books and where it picks up special interest is in the gender of the two key figures. The protagonist, Laura, is a woman, and her chief mainstay is not her husband, Danny, or her mysterious guardian, Stefan, but another -woman, her old friend Thelma. "It's through love relationships that we get to the root of whatpeopie are and how deep their courage is, which is an important consideration when you're writing a suspense novel," Koontz says.

"But I don't ever remember a suspense novel in which the primary relationship was a female buddy relationship. Women are either portrayed as simpering characters who depend on men to save them or they're Amazons." Laura and Thelma are neither, if you discount Laura's prowess wjth an Uzi submachine gun in the second half of the book. Raised togetner in an orphanage, they both achieve fame and fortune, all the while nurturing each other and the men they love. But when a band of time-traveling Nazis decide that Laura and'her family must be exterminated, she fights back ruthlessly and "Thelma is always there at the key moments," says Koontz. "I admire courage in anyone," he adds, and especially that of "a woman in a desperate situation who's got someone she loves depending on her." That theme comes straight out of Koontz' own turbulent youth, dominated by a violent, alcoholic father and a "wonderful" mother who held the family together.

"My mother endured as much in 24 years of day-to-day grind as Laura endured in the whole book," he says. Like Laura, who is a best- selling author, Koontz discovered By Kate Callen XJnited Press International i ORANGE, Calif. -Ever since he moved to Southern California, suspense writer Dean JCoontz has enjoyed the region's sunny climate and easy living. Up to a point. He is always aware that at any moment, the earth under his garden could give way when the next big quake hits.

"When you're living on un- stable ground, it affects you subconsciously," says Koontz. "The subliminal message is: life is tentative." This sense of paradise on loan, where doom lurks in the bou-gainvillea, has kept Koontz' readers on edge through five best-selling' thrillers and will no doubt his latest novel, "Lightning," a big hidn 1988. "Lightning" (Putnam's, 352 one of the New Year's first offerings, has all the Koontz trademarks. Toughened by a troubled childhood, the noble protagonist is besieged by evil forces and, with the support of loved ones, emerges victorious. "'Lightning' has a dark quality to it," said Koontz in an interview at his quiet, book-filled home, "but, like all my books, it ends up very hopeful.

"Some people who like real gruesome horror criticize me for having too many nice people in my books. But I find that people at an early age that writing helped ease the pain. In his last year of college, a short story he wrote about an abused little girl who drowns her new baby brother won an Atlantic Monthly contest and Jaunched his writing career. Since then, Koontz has been weaving together the sinister and the poignant with enormous success. In 1973, his ninth novel was made into a feature film, "The Demon Seed," starring Julie Christie, and his last best-seller, "Watchers," will be made into a film by Roger Corman.

To date, 40 million copies of Koontz books have been published worldwide. Koontz is modest about his literary track record but very proud of letters he has received from readers who say they have been helped by his underlying theme of strength in the face of adversity. Like the man who told Koontz that, after losing his wife, his business and his health in the same he found that "Watchers" and an earlier novel, "Strangers," helped sustain him. "I'm not a 'message' writer; I don't set out to preach," says Koontz. "But your world view inevitably surfaces.

And my view is that if you have a belief that life has a point and you maintain your optimism, you can cope with anything." Ever since he moved to California, suspense writer Dean Koontz has enjoyed the region's climate and lifestyle. But he is always aware that at any moment the earth could give way when the next earthquake hits. This sense of instability permeates his work. Vain promises and few real resolves What New Year's resolution have you heard more than any mmm My Football scores big in weekly TV ratings other? We are now a week into 1988. Whatever resolutions have been made probably have been broken by now.

I believe the one I hear most frequently concerns dieting. Toward the end of November we celebrate Thanksgiving with all kinds of interesting dishes. Before we overcome the added pounds, we are into the Christmas season with its candy, cake and pies. Having surrendered our will to restrain, we approach the New Year with more caloric intake. We reason that we can knock off the extra pounds in no time and continue full speed ahead to gratify our taste buds.

By Joan Hanauer UPI feature writer NEW YORK Football was king in the prime time television ratings race last week and the winner was NBC with three football games in the top 10, it was reported Tuesday. "The Cosby Show" dropped out of first place for the second week in a row, but it was the holidays not the opposition that did the deed, first on -Christmas eve, then on New Year's eve. The top-rated show of the week was the 37-minute overrun of Sunday's Seattle vs. Houston maKe a resowe 10 avoiu uie AJxiree deadly whites flour, sugar '117- 1 J. and ABC was third with a 1 1 .5 rating and 19 share.

For the season to date, NBC was first with a 16.2 rating and 27 share. CBS was second with a 13.5 rating and 22 share, while ABC placed third with a 13.2 rating and 22 hare. Adding to the glee at NBC was the fact that its Sunday sitcom, "My Two Dads," made the top 10 for the first time. And Connie Chung's news special, "Scared Sexless," tied for 16th and was NBC's highest rated hews special in almost 11 years since January, 1977 and the airing of tne three-hour special, "Violence in America." So much for the critics of sex and violence. In news, "CBS Evening News" with Dan Rather was first for the 15th straight week with a 12.8 rating and 22 share.

ABC's "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings was second with a 11.7 rating and 21 share, while "NBC Nightly News" with Tom Focus on divorced parents is blurred in wedding photo game on NBC. In fourth place was the 30-minute NBC overrun of the New Year's day Rose Bowl game, Michigan State vs. University of Southern California. In seventh place was NBC's Friday night telecast of the Oklahoma vs. Miami Orange Bowl.

NBC won its biggest victory of the season in the weekly ratings, whomping its rivals by 4.9 ratings points and boasting 15 of top 20 shows. There were no NBC shows in the bottom 10. For the week ending Jan. 3 the 15th week of the season NBC won with a 17.6 rating -and 29 share. CBS was second with a 12.7 rating and 21 share Dear Abb Abigail Van Buron ana we must suck io a sensiDie diet pian.

witn an certainty, we will be back to our old selves again in about two weeks. We are strong and there is no doubt in our minds that we-can lose five or 10 pounds in no time at all. The first day isn't so bad. We are still stuffed from the holidays. We find that we actually feel better.

We boast to all our friends about our fabulotfS diet and how great it really is. We even encourage them to diet with us. Then comes the second day. Every cell in our body joins in chorus to sing, "Give me something sweet." Of course, we deny this insane. request.

We have blabbed to everyone how easy this diet is. We dare not lose face. The second-day struggle is over and we congratulate ourselves once more. Bedtime has finally come. We lay our tired bodies down to sleep, only to dream of ice cream and cake.

Is it possible to achieve a secret mission to the refrigerator without being discovered? Perhaps the kids left a Twinkle lying around. No one will ever know. For the better part of the night, we wrestle with our conscience. Finally, in exhaustion, we fall asleep. The dawn breaks on the third day of our diet.

How can we look at another boiled egg? What we need is real food. How do we manage this? Simple. We assert ourselves. We cannot do our job effectively if we don't eat properly. Our health is more important than losing a few pounds.

So we make a declaration of our individuality. Our metabolism is different than everyone else's. So the diet is off. No lectures, please. We know our body and its needs better than anyone else.

Another resolution shot to pieces. We too often forget' what a resolution is. It means to change course. Our resolves are-not that at all. The New Year brings a number of vain promises and very few real resolves.

(If you have a question for R. Doyle Moore, address it to: Northwest Herald, co My Question, Box 10, Harvard, 111. 60033R. Doyle Moore is a Southern Baptist minister and counselor.) Like old times for Hope Dear Abby: You were wrong, wrong, wrong to tell that woman who is about to marry a divorced man to "grin and bear it" when her fiance takes her to his daughter's wedding, and is asked to stand next to his ex-wife, so his daughter can have a picture of her parents together. Abby, they are not together anymore, and the daughter had better livein the present and forget the past.

The man I married was married before. He has two their teens, and when they marry, I do not intend to stand by and let my husband take a picture with his "ex" and children to preserve the illusion of a "fam-. ily." They are no longer a family. As the wife of the father of the bride, I should be in the picture not the ex. Burned Up in New Castle, R.

Doye Moore and salt. Our clothes are tight, SEASON SSKSS VVY2s By Vernon Scott UPI Hollywood reporter HOLLYWOOD It was "Thanks for the Memories" for Bob -Hope on his eight-day around-the-world tour of armed service bases during the holidays, performing for the sons and grandsons of men he entertained during World War II. Hope, 84, traveled 27,000 miles by jet to bring laughs and music to servicemen and women in six shows, several of them aboard U.S. Navy ships. "It was like old times," the comedian said on the eve of his first television show of the new year.

His 90-minute special, titled "Bob Hope's Christmas from the Persian Gulf Around the World in Eight Days," will be broadcast by NBC Saturday night, giving American viewers an Brokaw finished third with an 11.2 Taring and 20 share. Each ratings point represents about 887,000 households and a share is the percentage of operating sets tuned to a particular show. Winner of the week: Football. Loser of the week: Football widows. The top 10 prime time shows for the week ending Jan.

3, ac-cordingo-(-he A.C Nielsen were: 1. NFL Sunday overrun, Seattle vs. Houston (NBC) 2 Golden Girls (NBC) 3. Murder, She Wrote (CBS) 4. Rose Bowl Friday overrun, Michigan State vs.

USC (NBC) 5. 60 Minutes (CBS) 6. CBS Sunday movie, "Once Upon a Texas Train" (CBS) 7. Orange Bowl, Oklahoma vs. Miami (NBC) 8.

The Cosby Show (NBC) 9. Amen (NBC) 10. My Two Dads (NBC) opportunity for a bit of nostalgia themselves. Hope's legendary travels to entertain fighting men during World War II, the Korean War and in Vietnam became pure Americana from 1941 through 1983. Two generations have watched him, golf club in hand, quip his way at outposts all over the world.

Still brimming with energy as he approaches his 85th birthday, Hope was busy editing his Christmas special when he took time out for a chat. "The trip reminded me of the old days," he said. On this trip Hope left Los Angeles and hop-scotched to the Philippines; the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean; Mis-ara, Oman, near the Arabian Sea; Bahrain in the Persian Gulf; and Rota, Spain, before flying back to New York. on Hwy. 20 fff Featuring III Cantor YV TJ III Mandarin VU Szechuan American JJJ aiMuaaor Happenings At II fM'slE AND SEAFOod HOUSE "Mary, Mary" by Jean Kerr Jan.

8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 Fri. Sat. Dinner at Show at 8:00 Sun. Dinner at Show at 3:00 Coming Husband" 1 raen 1988 DINNER THEATRE Dear Burned: Please simmer down and read on: Dear Abby: A letter in y.our column struck a nerve with me. I was 12 when my parents' marriage ended in a bitter divorce.

When I married at 19, my mother had remarried and my father was soon to wed. My wedding went smoothly. I did not seat my divorced parents together. Neither did I expect them to dance together. All I asked them to do was to stand together for one picture with me and my new husband.

I didn't do it to "preserve the illusion" of Mom and Dad together. It was my gift to me as a grown woman standing next to her parents. Dear Abby: After years of searching for "Mr. Right," I have finally found him. We are very much in love and absolutely sure of our feelings for each other.

There is, however, one major obstacle standing in the way of our marriage. He wants children, and I do not. We each have sound reasons for our opinions and we respect each other's views. Have you or your readers any suggestions? We are in desperate need of some creative thinking, and are quite open-minded. Stumped in San Francisco Dear Stumped: There can be no compromise.

Either you must agree to have a family to please him, or he must agree to forgo having children to please you. Either way, you are bound to resent each other. Keep looking. Your "Mr. Right" is wrong for you.

Dear Abby: Why do people brag? I have a friend who really overdoes it. She brags abJt how well her married children are doing, how beautiful their homes are, what fabulous trips they take, and the expensive gifts they give her on all occasions. Of course, her grandchildren are smarter than anybody else's. One of them (she says) has the IQ of a genius. By the way, before her husband left her for another woman, she bragged about what a great marriage they had.

How pan I get her to knock it off? Her constant bragging gets on my nrves. Can't Stand Braggars Dear Can't: Some people brag to impress or convince others. Your friend was probably bragging to cover her unhappiness. Brag-gers are a pathetic lot. You can't get people to do or not do anything: But you can absent yourself from their company.

What teen-agers need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS, getting along with their peers and parents is now in Abby's updated, expanded booklet, "What Every Teen Should Know. To order, send your name and address, clearly printed, plus check or money order for $3.50 ($4 in Canada) to: Dear Abby's Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, 111. 61054. Postage and handling are included.

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