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In Robert A. Heinlein's “—All You Zombies—” involves time travel and some fairly weird paradoxes. One of which is the self-fertilization by an intersex individual, a concept shared by Dean Koontz's 'The Bad Place'.

I was wondering if there was any evidence of the two being related, i.e. Dean Koontz being inspired by Heinlein's novel?

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In this on-line article there is a statement:

Using also obvious Christian symbols such as the stigmata, Koontz boldly declares, "This book is based on the Christian mythos. Thomas was Christ."

and there is a reference.

While not conclusive, that would make it fairly unlikely that "—All You Zombies—" was a direct influence. Indirect influence can never be ruled out, though Heinlein is hardly the first, last or only author to write about characters with peculiar parentage.

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  • Odd, I never picked up a 'Christian Mythos' vibe from any of his books...
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Apr 2, 2012 at 13:43
  • Maybe not the only "peculiar parentage" story, but I'm pretty sure All You Zombies is the only story where the character is his/her own father, mother, son and daughter -- and pretty much every other character in the story, too!
    – Andres F.
    Commented Oct 20, 2013 at 1:14
  • Heinlein was known for occasionally taking an idea and sending it out as far as it would go, often long past the point everyone else would have thought was patently absurd. Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 4:42

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