Customer Reviews

Dinosaur Fantastic (Daw Book Collectors)

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All stories herein were written for this collection, so readers must seek Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" and Silverberg's "Lady of the Sauropods" elsewhere.

Allen, Roger MacBride: The narrator's *very* paranoid friend Bueber has finally outdone himself with the "Evolving Conspiracy", starting at the *very* top regarding Who could fake fossil evidence. (Bueber has echoes of both Sherlock Holmes and of one of Lord Peter Wimsey's most famous opponents.) No relation to Allen's FARSIDE CANNON.

Cadigan, Pat: Nanotechnology makes it possible to customize anything almost instantly, from interior decoration to body shape; Cadigan avoids exposition altogether and *shows* the reader what can be done. Marcia and Randall are playing with the current "Dino Trend" of assuming dinosaur shape, since she brought home a free sample of Bronto-Cream. (Tyrannosaurs are so popular that they're about to become passe.)

Casper, Susan: Eldon found the mosasaur while fleeing a false accusation as a child, and believed she'd brought him luck in exchange for silence. Now that his luck's turned as an adult, however, he feels the sting of "Betrayal".

Delaplace, Barbara: "Fellow Passengers" The narrator's boss at _The Blatant Inquirer_ hated breaking the story of a *real* deinonychus preying on cattle, only to be elbowed out by the mainstream press. Then the animal-rights people weighed in to release the carnivore back into the wild...

DiChario, Nicholas A.: "Whilst Slept the Sauropod" inside Sleepy Mountain, the human villagers had only dim records of its existence, since it woke with earthquakes only at very long intervals to feed; this awakening is a harbinger of change to this place forgotten by the world.

Fawcett, Bill: The triceratops were among the last survivors "After the Comet"; this follows the leader of one shrinking herd seeking shelter from the winter that brings no spring.

Feeley, Gregory: "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Dinosaur" - Interesting essay, mixed with assorted story outlines.

Gerrold, David: "Rex", the only carnivore in spoiled little Jill Fillman's miniature dinosaur collection, has been so overfed that his aggression and size allow him to escape his enclosure regularly, but the greatest toll is on the Fillmans' marriage. Jonathan feels that the main difference between tyrant-lizard and tyrant-child is that Rex eats hearts only once...

Hernandez, Lea: The narrator (all 1st-person present tense) always knew her familiar would be a pterodactyl, but the summoning ritual for "Pteri" acted like a dose of truth serum.

Kerr, Katharine: Lilas Rock-shaper narrates "The Skull's Tale" - that of the peace-token between her and the Hookclaws given for their warning of a trespasser on her family's territory.

Koja, Kathe and Malzberg, Barry N.: "Rex Tremandae Majestatis" ("Awe-Inspiring King", see Mozart.) Depressing, with a sexually explicit opening scene, but well-constructed story. Leona's depression clothes entropy in dinosaur images, which are only reinforced by her ex's cartoon-show work and her 6-year-old son's toys.

Lackey, Mercedes and Dixon, Larry: "Last Rights" The 3 self-styled animal-rights 'guerillas' seeking to liberate GenTech's DinoSaurian experiments have a dismal track record on predicting consequences or learning from experience.

Meacham, Beth: Combine the narrator's friend who photographs bizarre architecture + chameleon skin + dinosaurs sneaking around "On Tiptoe" = move over, NYC sewer alligators...

Nimersheim, Jack: "The Pangaea Principle" = 'To know yourself, you must be willing to learn from others.' Pietor Sinkovich's father carved his favorite proverb as a gift for the day Pietor took his Biogenetics degree in St.Petersburg. Now his old friend Rashad, a paleontologist, has an interesting sample for him to work with - but what is Pietor's true objective?

O'Donnell, Kevin (jr.): The vermin infesting the Copes' apartment are a "'Saur Spot" that persuades even Gideon's wife that they need a 6-inch Coelophysis for pest control.

Resnick, Laura: "Curren's Song" The legend of how St. Columba once saved a swimmer from the Loch Ness monster, from the swimmer's viewpoint. Why wouldn't he be grateful?

Robinson, Frank M.: As the museum's titular director (read: chief fund-raiser) explains the meteor-strike theory of "The Greatest Dying" to a reporter covering the new 6-story dinosaur exhibit, Reid Locke is examining some *very* unusual amber, and avoiding both the director and the *real* research chief (who doesn't subscribe to the meteor theory).

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: Young Willi's witch powers mean that she needs to learn her mother's "Chameleon" skills to survive among humans, but the only things that don't taunt her there are the animals and the replica dinosaurs.

Sawyer, Robert J.: "Just Like Old Times" is in non-linear braided format. In one thread, Cohen has been sentenced to end his life in a tyrannosaur's mind (unable to affect its movements, thus avoiding a butterfly-effect on history). In the other thread, the trial unfolds, with a judge who strives to fit punishment to crime.

Sheckley, Robert: "Disquisitions on the Dinosaur" suffers from pointless exposition and discontinuity; bored time-travellers introducing dinosaurs to Nero's Rome.

Sherman, Josepha: "Wise One's Tale" is her just-so story of how her people got their wings.

Smith, Dean Wesley: The city plans on "Cutting Down Fred" - the limerick-prone oak who broke up the narrator's relationship by commenting at an awkward, sexually explicit moment - who can access his ancestors' memories. (A ginkyo would have made more sense.)

Stith, John E.: "One Giant Step" - although the reptilian time-travellers have gone millions of years into their own past, rather than to the Moon, in this alternate history.

Tarr, Judith: By the time a couple qualifies to have children, they're usually ready to split from the stressful testing. The narrator's ex has this year's custody of their 4-year-old daughter, despite the fact that he joined an Ice Age commune. (The custody system's interesting in its own right.) Nevertheless, mom takes Janie to the "Revenants" petting zoo.

West, Michelle (as Michelle M. Sagara): April Stephens follows a quiet, solitary routine, with only occasional wistful glimpses of colour in other people's lives that her own lacks. There's no one to really care when the "Shadow of a Change" first falls upon her sleep.

An lucid indication that a literary anthology is proving compelling reading is the vigorous twirling of the sundry wayward whiskers dangling dangerously from my scruffy countenance. "Dinosaur Fantastic" provoked such behavior as an noteworthy ensnaring of dinosaur tales. A+ tales include: "Cutting Down Fred" which features a limerick-reciting tree borne of an acorn/contraceptive fusion; "Rex", the story of a harried and henpecked husband's battle with the household carnivore; "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Dinosaur", part non-fiction and part speculation of future dino-story themes; "Just Like Old Times", with a homicidal Canadian physician being sentenced to imprisonment within the confines of a T-Rex's mind; "Dino Trend", a hearty and incisive stab at the trendcrazies that corrupt our culture. On the flip side, a trio of duds: "After the Comet" utilizes an omnipotent observer to account a herd of triceratops seeking sustainance, but this voice is obnoxious like a narrator from those Walt Disney nature shows from the 1950's; "On Tiptoe" showed promise--blurred images in a photographer's pix may be dinosaurs living on the fringe--but concludes without appeal, satisfaction, or style; "The Skull's Tale" also dazzled initially but lost its lustre by the second page. Don't let the 3 unwise inclusions prevent you from the acquisition of an otherwise stalwart entry into the dino-fiction universe.

Dinosaur fantasic was overlong and some of the stories had little to do with dinosaurs.And a few that did were ones that had been put into every other collection of dinosaur stories.So I had to reread a lot of ones that I had already read.Very dull reading