Novels about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures are hard to find in many bookstores these days, at least outside the children's sections, so anyone looking for some paleo-fiction may need to look in other places. Some authors have turned to self-publishing to get their dinosaur fiction out.
First up is Eleven Days in the Valley and Other Stories by William M. Svensen. It is a self-published anthology set on Gondolend, a planet where dinosaurs and humans co-exist. The author has put together a pretty neat Web site and has obviously put a lot of effort into creating the world of his stories.
Next up is The Worlds of Naughtenny Moore by David Brown. The author writes the book belongs to the dinosaur hunting subgenre of paleo-fiction, although creatures other than dinosaurs make appearances and that a fair amount of metaphysical speculation is thrown into the mix. Visit the Web site of Open Page Publishing for ordering information.
As far as myself, I'm still debating whether to review self-published fiction. That may seem unfair given I have already reviewed self-published comics and will be reviewing a couple self-published RPG games in the near future, but I admittedly hold authors who have sold their works to publishers to a higher standard. They've had the benefit of an editor to review their manuscripts and a publishing team to market them, something self-published writers rarely have.
Regardless, if you want to get the word out about a novel or other work of fiction concerning prehistoric creatures -- no matter how it's published -- feel free to drop me an e-mail at prepulp(at)hotmail(dot)com. I'm always happy to at least let readers know the work is out there.
It was quite a surprise seeing that on your blog (I know Will through teh internets)
ReplyDeleteWarning! This posting contains mild spoilers.
ReplyDeleteI checked out 'The Worlds of Naughtenny Moore' on the website. I must say that it is extremely counter-intuitive to post the entire contents of a book to the Internet when you are trying to make money by selling. The author seems to have put a lot of effort into researching the settings for his story and coming up with a lot of action to carry the characters from one chapter to the next. And if surviving trips into the past wasn't enough, he threw in some Aryan Nation terrorists, to boot.
However, when the narrator of an action adventure story describes himself as being seven foot tall and weighing 295 pounds, he should probably have been named Marty Stu, the male equivalent of all the countless 'Mary Sue' fan fiction efforts.
I actually didn't realize he had posted the novel online. It does seem to work against what he is trying to achieve, but at the same time I know more than a few people who say they can't read novels from a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I didn't mention but should have is that I haven't read either of these works. So I can't vouch for how good or bad they may be, but I'm always happy to at least help authors get the word out.
Thanks for the reference. I don't resent my work being referred to as "self-published", but I would like to point out that this is not strictly true. I do have a publisher, though it is admittedly a "one-man operation" as far as permanent staff. It was actually at my publisher's request that Worlds of Naughtenny Moore was published in its present form. It is also my publisher's decision (which I have always supported) to post the full text on line. Finally, I would like to say a few things in response to Bob Mozark's post. I appreciate his review. However, I would like to state that Ted Flockman is entirely an original creation; I have simply never heard of the "Mary Sue" character he refers to. I would also like to explain that the presence of human villains. A significant influence on the "WNM" series was Connell's "Most Dangerous Game". In keeping with Connell's theme, I have deemed it important to have a conflict between time travelers and other humans as a dramatic climax for any "book-length" WNM project.
ReplyDeleteIt's me again... OK, I looked up "mary Sue", so it's foot-in-mouth time. I guess all I need to say is that readers can decide for themselves if Ted Flockman works as a fleshed-out, realistic character. As far as his physical characteristics, I HAD to make him big (otherwise he might be crippled by the recoil of his gun), but introduced some nuances, mainly through consulting with our illustrator. One other thing I would like to say is that I don't always think of Ted as the "main character"; to me, he sometimes seems to fade into the background of his own story.
ReplyDeleteFor David Brown: One of the things that I really appreciated about your novel was how well thought out your future timeline was to create the world in which the characters lived.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate that creating something is infinitely harder than simply writing a review of it, and is always to be commended.
To Bob Mozark,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the continued feedback. The human background is something I put a lot of work into; I think this is often the weakest element of "paleo fiction". I actually have a new book ready for release set in the WNM" future history, not involving time travel. I hope to do more time travel stories in the next year.