So today Sara sent me a link to The Top 10 Weirdest Dinosaurs! One of them was Jeholopterus, a weird beakless flier I’d never heard of. That in turn led me to -
Cute little spud, ain't he?
- this little guy. His name’s Anurognathus. As you can see, he was a sparrow-sized, beakless, and probably furry flier from the Late Jurassic, who made his living pestering insects. Which, given the kinds of insects they had back then, must’ve been a pretty risky occupation. Especially when you’re like three and a half inches long.
I never knew there were beakless pterosaurs. Coolness. Clearly, I must use these in The Dinosaur Lords.
The rereading of which proceeds. I’m finally learning to just read it as if it were, well, a novel. Or at least a submission to the writers group. In other words: read critically, and make notes for possibly edits, but not actually screw with it.
Otherwise it’ll take forever. And there’s no point in any large scale revising until I rereard it and get the whole story back in my head. That’s why I decided, against my initial plan, to do a fast reread initially: there’s just no way I know how to change things yet.
I’m still not perfect about the Just Reading thing. And yow, it’s a hefty mother. But I’m excited about it.
Also I’m finally forcing myself to accept that when I find things that don’t work or are otherwise broken, that’s a feature, not a bug: it’s why I’m rereading. That zero-defect habit I was raised with is still hard to break after many years trying.
Anyway: it’ll actually be done fairly soon. And it’ll be great.
And thanks again to Sara! It’s always great to get more raw material.
Yay!
It’s always so wonderful to be of service! ^_^
And you are. And thank you.
At dinner tonight my pal Larry suggested I call the critter Sarasaurus.
Doesn’t actually fit in my fantasy ficton, sadly. A wondrous conceit, though. Consider it proclaimed the vernacular name for Anurognathus in our world forevermore!
Also, I’m sure I can come up with something in the novel…
Cool webpage! Thank you Vic! Thank you Sara!
- M. \”/
“Anurognathus … made his living pestering insects. … Clearly, I must use these in The Dinosaur Lords.”
Mosquito control?
- M. \”?
Would your book have an Anurognathus named Buffy, who zooms around exterminating these evil, blood-sucking mosquitoes? Would she be assisted by a Triceratops named Spike, or a reformed mosquito named Angel? I need more coffee.
That would be a different book, Ann. A very different book. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be an interesting book (I especially like the idea of a Triceratops named Spike) but it would be … different.
Basically, I want Anurognathus and his little pals as chrome. Shiny up the joint.
In other news: coffee good.
By the way, the small picture I used in the post doesn’t really do credit to Anurognathus’ sharp little teeth. To better appreciate those, check out the larger image here.
Ooh, I _like_ the word, “Flugsaurier.”
- M. \”/