Dinosaur Summer
Encyclopedia
Dinosaur Summer is a novel
by Greg Bear
, published in 1998.
Tony DiTerlizzi
illustrated the book.
's novel The Lost World
actually occurred. The setting is based upon a large plateau ("El Grande" or "Tepui
Grande") in Venezuela
, where dinosaur
s still live.
Due to the capture and exhibition of dinosaurs, movie producers such as Willis O'Brien
and Ray Harryhausen
never succeed, since the public's interest is instead captured by living dinosaurs. However, due to deaths caused by escaped dinosaurs and difficulty in obtaining new dinosaurs, the dinosaur circuses slowly die out.
The novel is implicitly set shortly after the Second World War.
Vince Shelabarger, Dinosaur trainer and unofficial leader of the expedition.
Others
Fictional species:
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Greg Bear
Greg Bear
Gregory Dale Bear is an American science fiction and mainstream author. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict , artificial universes , consciousness and cultural practices , and accelerated evolution...
, published in 1998.
Tony DiTerlizzi
Tony DiTerlizzi
Tony M. DiTerlizzi is an American fantasy artist, children's book creator, and motion picture producer.DiTerlizzi created The Spiderwick Chronicles series with Holly Black, and was an executive producer on the 2008 film adaptation of the series. He won a Caldecott Honor Medal for his adaptation of...
illustrated the book.
Background
The novel is set in an alternate history in which the events of Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's novel The Lost World
The Lost World (Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Lost World is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals still survive. It was originally published serially in the popular Strand Magazine during the months of April 1912-November 1912...
actually occurred. The setting is based upon a large plateau ("El Grande" or "Tepui
Tepui
A tepui , or tepuy, is a table-top mountain or mesa found in the Guiana Highlands of South America, especially in Venezuela. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran Sabana....
Grande") in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, where dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s still live.
Due to the capture and exhibition of dinosaurs, movie producers such as Willis O'Brien
Willis O'Brien
Willis Harold O'Brien was an Irish American pioneering motion picture special effects artist who perfected and specialized in stop-motion animation. He was affectionately known to his family and close friends as "Obie"....
and Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
never succeed, since the public's interest is instead captured by living dinosaurs. However, due to deaths caused by escaped dinosaurs and difficulty in obtaining new dinosaurs, the dinosaur circuses slowly die out.
The novel is implicitly set shortly after the Second World War.
Plot
Peter Belzoni and his father Anthony Belzoni join an expedition to return the dinosaurs belonging to the last dinosaur circus to the plateau. To reach the plateau, the expedition must deal with the vagaries of politics. One dinosaur dies en route, but the remainder are released on the plateau. However, the expedition members are trapped on the plateau and must face, and escape from, dinosaurs both real and fictional.Major characters
Expedition members- Peter Belzoni, the teenage protagonist, Anthony's son.
- Anthony Belzoni, a freelance reporter and Peter's father.
Vince Shelabarger, Dinosaur trainer and unofficial leader of the expedition.
- Merian C. CooperMerian C. CooperMerian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
, Ernest Schoedsack, John FordJohn FordJohn Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, Ray HarryhausenRay HarryhausenRay Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
and Willis O'BrienWillis O'BrienWillis Harold O'Brien was an Irish American pioneering motion picture special effects artist who perfected and specialized in stop-motion animation. He was affectionately known to his family and close friends as "Obie"....
, movie men looking for subject material on the plateau
Others
- Lothar Gluck, the owner of the last dinosaur circus
- El Colonel (no real name given), a military man who opposes the expedition to the plateau.
Notable dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures
Real species:- SaltasaurusSaltasaurusSaltasaurus is a genus of titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period. Relatively small among sauropods, though still massive by the standards of modern creatures, Saltasaurus was characterized by a diplodocid-like head...
, a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period - ArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
, primitive bird - AnkylosaurusAnkylosaurusAnkylosaurus is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur, containing one species, A. magniventris...
, armored dinosaur - CentrosaurusCentrosaurusCentrosaurus is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous of Canada. Their remains have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation and uppermost Oldman Formation, dating from 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago....
, horned dinosaur - AepyornisAepyornisAepyornis is a genus of aepyornithid, one of two genera of ratite birds endemic to Madagascar known as elephant birds. This animal was the world's largest bird until its extinction, about 1000 years ago.-Description:...
, giant flightless bird - LeptictidiumLeptictidiumLeptictidium is an extinct genus of small mammals; together with macropods and humans, they are the only known completely bipedal mammals. Comprising five species, they resembled today's elephant shrews...
, primitive mammal (however, the animal in the book is larger than its real-life counterpart)
Fictional species:
- Altovenator ferox - large carnivorous theropod dinosaur
- Neostruthiomimus planensis - ornithomimisaur
- Eoavis - avisaur (based on ArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
) - Stratoraptor velox - avisaur
- Lycognathus - therapsid
- Dog-lizard - therapsid
- Lizard-monkey - therapsid
- Lake-devil - therapsid (based on pliosaurPliosaurPliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles. Pliosauroids, also commonly known as pliosaurs, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. The pliosauroids were short-necked plesiosaurs with large heads and massive toothed jaws. These swimming reptiles were not dinosaurs but distant...
s) - Communisaur - a eusocial species of therapsids
- Unidentified nest-robbing mammal (loosely based on LeptictidiumLeptictidiumLeptictidium is an extinct genus of small mammals; together with macropods and humans, they are the only known completely bipedal mammals. Comprising five species, they resembled today's elephant shrews...
) - Hammerhead Amphibian - based on DiplocaulusDiplocaulusDiplocaulus is an extinct genus of leponspondyl amphibian from the Permian period of North America.- Description :...
& GerrothoraxGerrothoraxGerrothorax is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Triassic period of Greenland, Germany, Sweden, and possibly Thailand. It is known from a single species, G. pulcherrimus, although several other species such as G. pustuloglomeratus have been named in the past.Gerrothorax was about... - Death-eagles (fictional) - giant carnivorous birds
- Cleaner Ant
See also
- The Lost World: the novel is set in a parallel universe where, rather than being a story, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" is an account of actual events.
- King KongKing KongKing Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
: The characters are referred to, the makers appeared, and the film is mentioned.