Dean Koontz to write dog's memoir

Horror/thriller writer Dean Koontz has signed a contract with Hyperion to write A Bit Little Life, a memoir of his love affair with a dog.

According to the way he tells it, he and his wife adopted a dog from Canine Companions for Independence, a non-profit organization that trains dogs to be helpers for people with disabilities. The original idea was that the adoption would be a temporary affair, but the dog was disqualified by an injury, and the adoption became permanent -- luckily, because both owners had fallen in love with their new family member. So, according to Hyperion, the book is "the story of unexpectedly falling in love with a puppy in one's middle age and gaining a family member along the way."

Koontz first found the organization while researching a novel, and now is a major supporter.