Now: more dinosaurs!

Fatty:

Protoceratops andrewsi

This tubby critter is the analogue to pigs and sheep (no wool-gathering on Paradise, kiddies!) The Wikipedia entry describes them as a little bigger than I remembered: 6 feet [...]]]> First off, two new inductees to Victor’s Dinosaur Army Roll of Honor: Brooks Powell and Nan Silvernail. Thanks for boosting the book, kids!

Now: more dinosaurs!

Fatty:

Protoceratops andrewsi

This tubby critter is the analogue to pigs and sheep (no wool-gathering on Paradise, kiddies!) The Wikipedia entry describes them as a little bigger than I remembered: 6 feet long, two feet high at the shoulder, not quite 400 pounds. Still, the ones I describe here in the Prologue of The Dinosaur Lords free preview, and refer to throughout the book are slightly larger models – maybe eight feet, three feet high, up to 800 pounds. I call them Protoceratops robusti.

The dinosaurs of Paradise are all real dinosaurs – or at least ones science believes, as of March, 2011, to have been real. Protoceratops were real; my childhood hero Roy Chapman Andrews turned ‘em up in Mongolia in 1922. P. robusti is a hypothetical larger subspecies.

That’s one explanation. Another is that they started out as standard-issue P. andrewsi and got bred up for beef. Or, well, pork. Heft, in any event. Paradisiacal domestic dinosaurs tend to be about as easy to breed to spec as dogs. Which is why the war-duckbills you’ll be encountering straightaway in Chapter 01 tend to come in so many gaudy colors.

Next -

Plate-back:

Stegosaurus stenops

One of everybody’s childhood favorites, right? Good old Stegosaurus!

If you think I’m kidding about the Thagomizer in the mouseover up there (you do always check the mouseover, yes?), click here.

On to other news … you’ll notice – boy, will you notice – that I’ve handily provided ways for you to link your favorite posts and pages on Digg, StumbleUpon, and many more. Indeed, I apologize for the buttons’ being so danged noticeable. The Tweet This software I use to produce them is reluctant to display changed settings.

I shall persevere. It’s what I do. (Among other things, granted.)

Anyway, should you feel moved to do so, please feel free to promulgate your favorite Sense of Adventure posts and pages using those handy (if overt) buttons! Doing so, (especially with the free Dinosaur Lords preview) is a great way to improve your chances of being able to hold your own copy of the novel in your hot little hand – soon.

Thanks for your help – as well as your faith in bearing with me through lo!, the many years wandering the wilderness of no, really, I’ll finish the draft someday!

And as always – thanks for reading!

Cute little spud, ain't he?

- this little guy. His name’s Anurognathus. As you can see, he was a sparrow-sized, [...]]]> 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.

Aww, aren't they cute li'l flesh-rending terrors?

Meet Hesperonychus elizabethae. At around two and a half pounds they’re half the size of your cat. Wait, that can’t be right, although I read it on some news service. A quarter-cat, say. Or less if [...]]]> Scientists, those scamps, have turned up the smallest known predatory dinosaur in Canada.

Aww, aren't they cute li'l flesh-rending terrors?

Meet Hesperonychus elizabethae. At around two and a half pounds they’re half the size of your cat. Wait, that can’t be right, although I read it on some news service. A quarter-cat, say. Or less if it’s a fatass like Squeak. It’s supposed to be North America’s smallest dino of any kind.

“It’s basically a predator of small things,” said the University of Calgary’s Curator of the Obvious.

Don’t you love the way they colored their feathers to be foxlike? Cute.  Of course, they were found in 1982. Nobody got around to popping a squint at them until Nick Longrich ran across ‘em in 2007.

On other fronts, water has finally returned to Bear’s Ditch, which is what I call the ditch that runs along the east side of the RGNC fields. Who cares what anybody else calls it? Anyway, that might not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me. And more to a certain Emma Dog.

For me it’s a sign of the changing seasons (as is, a little more poignantly, the draining of most of the ditches in Fall.) For Emma, it’s a chance to drink and wade to her heart’s content. Which she certainly did today.

The real thing about it is that it makes it easier for us to walk. Emma, who you might have gathered tends to be a bit particular, doesn’t like to drink out of a bottle or even a bowl her Daddy has thoughtfully lugged along. So it can get uncomfortable on walks. Especially in warmer weather.

It’s not as if she hasn’t gotten to splash around in a ditch all winter:  the clear ditch by the Nature Center proper flows year-round. But she hasn’t got to do it in Bear’s Ditch. And it was warmer today than it’s been.

Otherwise: another damned glorious and perfect Spring day in Albuquerque’s North Valley! It was warm, you might’ve gathered; a cool breeze blowing sporadically along the ditch proper was welcome. The sky was clear but for a few wispy or puffy clouds near the horizons.

The branches of the trees have started getting furred with green. You can smell growing things. A big gaudy cock pheasant was working the fields down by the cul-de-sac past Glenwood. A wonderful day.

A white purse-model terrier or poodle barked most ferociously at us from the far side of the ditch as we passed. I bet it could’ve taken that damn Hesperonychus.

Not pictured: anyone who ever ate his veggies

I was frankly unaware that any link between carnosaurs and the big plant-eaters had [...]]]> An Argentinian paleontologist, Oscar Alcober, claims an omnivorous dinosaur whose fossils he and an associate turned up three years ago constitutes a “missing link between carnivorous dinosaurs and giant four-footed herbivores.”

Not pictured: anyone who ever ate his veggies

I was frankly unaware that any link between carnosaurs and the big plant-eaters had been reported missing, but then I’m not a paleontologist. Just a lifelong dinosaur buff. Mr. Alcober seems pretty worked up over it, in any event.

Mainly the news provides an excuse to link to articles on Giganotosaurus carolinii, the largest known land carnivore (depending, I suppose, on whether or not Spinosaurus only ate fish) – that’s him above, sans skin. And also Argentinosaurus Huinculensis, the largest known land herbivore, and probably the longest known anything from the animal kingdom. Both of them were found in Argentina too, as the article informs us.

Except Amphicoelias seems to’ve been bigger than Argentinosaurus. Maybe. As does Bruhathkayosaurus. Which I didn’t either make up.

Oh, well. Not much seems to’ve really been cleared up here, does it? Plus I defy you to look away for five seconds and then spell Amphicoelias or Bruhathkayosaurus without peeking.

Then again perhaps we should cut paleontologists some slack. Reconstructing long-extinct animals is no easy task. You try being dead 100 million years, see how much people get right about you. The media have trouble keeping straight what happened earlier today.

(And if you suspect all this is all a cheap attempt on my part to prime the pump for my upcoming High Fantasy with teeth, The Dinosaur Lords – thanks for reassuring me that my readers are people of unusual wit and discernation.)

To start with, you go, Tyler! But it gets better. Turns out the fossil includes not [...]]]> I love this kind of stuff: in 1999, a 16-year old kid named Tyler Lyson found a fossilized hadrosaur of the kind called Edmontosaurus in Hell Creek, North Dakota. (How great a name is Hell Creek, anyway?)

To start with, you go, Tyler! But it gets better. Turns out the fossil includes not just bones but what scientists somewhat creepily call its skin envelope. Which in turn means science can derive a pretty good idea of the actual size of its hindquarters and tail.

In the past they’ve had to “[infer] from skeleton structure,” which seems to be academic-speak for, “make a scientific wild-ass guess.”

It turns out that Big Eddie’s scientific name should probably be something like E. steatopygous, or whatever the appropriate word-ending would be – “steatopygous” being a fancy way of saying fat-assed.

Turns out this duckbill had a big ol’ butt. What is additionally incredibly cool is that one of the researchers “has now reconstructed its gait and bio-mechanics, concluding that it had a top speed of about 28mph (45km/h), making it swifter than one of its most fearsome predators, Tyrannosaurus rex.”

Ahem.

This is the sort of thing that keeps me terrifically excited about science: the clever application of technology to derive ever-more detailed information about the past, whether it’s reconstructing an ancient British war-chariot to see how they were likely put together or, as in this case, determining what these endlessly fascinating animals looked and behaved like from bits of bone and skin. (Okay, in this case evidently big bits.)

I should mention that it’s appropriate that it turns out hadros can apparently run at a good clip, since as every schoolchild knows, on the world Paradise various species of duckbills serve as the war-mounts of choice for Dinosaur Knights.

You didn’t know that? Well, stick with me, kids, and you’ll learn that any many more wonderful things, once The Dinosaur Lords is done!

(Soon. Really!)

No, not this video of a computer-simulated race. Who cares about that?

What I’d pay to see is a video of a T. rex actually running down and devouring an overpaid, has-been Brit soccer star. And I’d like the screen to then switch to his wife, Ubiquitous Spice or [...]]]> And I’d pay to see it!

No, not this video of a computer-simulated race. Who cares about that?

What I’d pay to see is a video of a T. rex actually running down and devouring an overpaid, has-been Brit soccer star. And I’d like the screen to then switch to his wife, Ubiquitous Spice or whatever the hell her name is, sitting in the stands watching and showing no more emotion than she did when hubby finally scored a goal for American “major league” soccer. Is that so much to ask, in this age of CGI?

Interestingly, the Telegraph article I got that from claims a top speed of 18 mph for the Big T, seven miles an hour less than claimed by the piece that so evoked my ire a couple of months ago. But whereas the Times Online sniffishly dismissed T. rex as a “slow, clumsy beast” for running 25 mph, the Telegraph calls it “no slouch” for doing 18.

Go figure.

The Dinosaur Lords has gone on the back burner – also again, sigh – as I strive heroically to wrap up Annja’s latest adventure so I can get started on the new one. [...]]]> (I’m tickled by the subject line because it sounds like the title of an anime. OK, that’s probably just me. Again.)

The Dinosaur Lords has gone on the back burner – also again, sigh – as I strive heroically to wrap up Annja’s latest adventure so I can get started on the new one. This flu thing is less than fun, although it finally seems to be receding. At least last night I didn’t wake up unable to breathe.

None of which prevented an epiphany about DinoLords hitting me whilst I was in the bathtub just now. An environment in which I’m historically at-risk for such things…

Anyway, I was struck like a temple gong just now (and I mean just now: I’m still damp, with a towel over my head) with the right and true way to sum up the novel, and the cycle of which it’s part:

The Renaissance. With dinosaurs.

There you have it.

It may be gilding the lily to expand, but that’s never stopped me before. For those who aren’t automatically filled with a sense of what I’m saying: you have the exuberance and the extravagance and the treachery and the gorgeousness and passion and the violence of the Renaissance.

And you have dinosaurs. What more do you need?

Okay, that’s what it’s about. The plot can be high-concepted thusly:

Exiles and outlaws must join forces with the very Empire which outlawed them to stave off an Exterminating Angel’s hordes.

The novel features some of my favorite themes: friendship, loyalty, betrayal, intrigue, war, sex, and, of course, Disrespect for Authority. And dinosaurs.

The good stuff.

Now all this is pretty minor. I’ve been trying to restate the book succinctly to my own satisfaction for the five-plus years I’ve been writing it in desultory wise. Now I’ve got two capsule descriptions which I like.

What these really signify to me is that the impetus is building. I’ve been, candidly, afraid of the project for too long. I’ve been afraid of a lot of things, for too long. I’m learning to spurn those fears and just get going. So The Dinosaur Lords will not remain on the back burner long, as it has in the past. I will finish it, and soon.

And you know what? It’s gonna be great.

How can you possibly resist?

If you should happen to find yourself at NASFiC/Archon on Thursday afternoon, August 2, at 4:00 PM, clearly you can’t.

I’ll be reading from my finally-nearing-completion-dammit high fantasy epic novel The Dinosaur Lords. The excerpts I read at the Albuquerque Science [...]]]> Yes, dinosaurs. As in, I make toy dinosaurs fight.

How can you possibly resist?

If you should happen to find yourself at NASFiC/Archon on Thursday afternoon, August 2, at 4:00 PM, clearly you can’t.

I’ll be reading from my finally-nearing-completion-dammit high fantasy epic novel The Dinosaur Lords. The excerpts I read at the Albuquerque Science Fiction Society meeting last month got a pretty rockin’ reception from the audience. Of course, you could probably read from the phone book white pages and get a good reaction if you accompany it by having a molded-plastic Allosaurus bite a model Corythosaurus on the neck.

(Friendly tip: if you write to tell me Allosaurs weren’t, so far as we know, contemporary with Corythosaurs, I shall mock you. They are on my world, buddy boy. As I’m at pains to tell my audiences right off, it ain’t Earth. Please feel free to go back and review the definition for “high fantasy” if you need a refresher, here.)

So anyway, of course I have to schlep a pack of the things in my luggage to St. Louis. This will complicate my keeping my checked bag under the airline’s 50-pound limit. One is tempted to stuff ‘em in the backpack. One can, however, too readily imagine the grotesque melodrama that would educe from “security” screeners. That’s enough of a nightmare already, thank you kindly.

Oh – just struck me: I’ve actually made to-scale plasticine dudes, weapons, and even a howdah to help me visualize my action scenes. I’m sure the bitty figures would not survive the trip, so I thought about just taking a block of modeling clay and making them up when I get to the hotel.

Then I thought again. That’d go well, given the most recent phony terror scare. So, sadly, the fans’ll have to settle for dinosaurs sans riders.

Anyway … Dinosaur Lords is a smokin’-hot yarn, even without the visual aids. On the other hand, if you’ve never seen a middle-aged 230-pound guy with a ponytail thrash around onstage making model dinosaurs attack each other while making growling noises – and very, very few have – it’s not to be missed.

Really.

And if you have to miss it, there’ll be another performance at Bubonicon in August. Even if you have caught a prior reading, I should be reading different excerpts. And there’s no telling what’ll happen when I get rolling with the ‘saurs!

And of course, Friday the 3rd is my birthday. Just to drop an unsubtle hint like a brick, there.

Hope to see you soon. The cons really will be fun. Both of ‘em. And so will my readings.