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.
Popularity: 23% [?]
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. \”/