If you haven't seen Tod Goldberg's eyewitness account of Dean Koontz being a racist jerk, it's not to be missed. As Goldberg tells it, Koontz's keynote to the Men of Mystery luncheon involved "a story about wanting his named removed from the movie version of his book Hideaway because, apparently, Alicia Silverstone was starring in it." So far, so good, but...

"He then went on to read us the letters he'd sent to the Japanese chairman of the film company in question where he asked repeatedly to have his name removed from the film. The letters were about, generally, the US kicking Japanese ass in World War II, the inability of the Japanese to defend themselves against Godzilla, some more fascinating invective about the US defeating the Japanese, a touching bit about Pearl Harbor, another about the Bataan Death March, a touch more about the Japanese surrender and then, of course, a bit about Mothra, too. Each letter was addressed to 'Mr. Teriyaki.'"

Goldberg adds that he's heard this isn't the first time Koontz has trotted this anecdote out in public (which figures, since making fun of the Japanese for owning everything in America was last popular about twenty years ago, about how long some readers think it's been since Koontz's material was fresh). And he's not the only one who was offended by Koontz's behavior; Tod's brother Lee (also a writer) voiced his displeasure, and has been gathering notes on who else has been following the story. (He also got a phone call from Koontz, who couldn't figure out what the problem was.)