As of November 10, 2015, BORROWED TIME (the sequel to CHRONAL ENGINE) is now available in bookstores everywhere as well as online (in hardcover and ebook)! Signed copies are available from
BookPeople.
In an article titled,
'Borrowed Time' mixes paleontology and fantasy, Saturday's Austin American-Statesman had a great review of BORROWED TIME, stating it's "a slam-dunk for dinosaur aficionados and will appeal as well to those who are fans of literary time travel and outdoorsy adventure."
Sunday was the launch party at
BookPeople! I had great fun doing a presentation discussing the connections between the book,
Charles Umlauf, dinosaurs,
Johnny Weissmuller, and me (really).
The dinosaur standees for the photo booth were a hit, as were the refreshments including water, soft drinks, wine and cheese, and crackers. (The wine, from the Languedoc region of France, is made from grapes grown in Cretaceous clays where dinosaur fossils have have been found).
But the real eye-opener was the mosasaur cake by author/cakelustrator
Akiko White. About two feet high, it featured a mosasaur sculpted from modeler's chocolate on a chocolate cake base with buttercream frosting! She'll be doing a youtube video on the making of it soon (and I'll link when it's available). Suffice to say that still pictures don't do it justice -- it was mounted on a motorized turntable and illuminated with a blue strobe that made it look like it was underwater!
Here are the pics:
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| Me and cake |
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| Carmen Oliver and T.rex |
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| Akiko assembles! (photo courtesy Akiko White) |
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| Presenting (photo courtesy Akiko White) |
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| Cake! |
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| Refreshments |
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| Signing |
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| Frances Hill and Lindsey Lane (photo courtesy of Shelley Ann Jackson) |
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| Shelley Ann Jackson and Lindsey Lane (photo courtesy Shelley Ann Jackson) |
Many thanks to BookPeople for hosting the event, to everyone who came for the event, and to everyone who helped out: Akiko, for making the awesome cake;
Cynthia Leitich Smith;
Carmen Oliver;
Lindsey Lane;
Shelley Ann Jackson; and
Cory Putnam Oakes!
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| Cake topper in its natural habitat |
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| Me and Leo |
In two days, the 3D version of
Jurassic Park is released, which explains the T-shirt.
It's been twenty years since the movie was originally released and it still has some of the best, most-true-to-life effects and realistic dinosaurs of any dinosaur movie, anytime, anywhere. And the score and main theme by John Williams are his best, IMHO.
I have a lot of favorite scenes, particularly the one where the lawyer gets eaten by the
T.rex. :-). It also formed the basis for some irreverent but nonetheless legitimate science:
In
The Complete Dinosaur (Indiana University Press 1997), M.K. Brett-Surman and James O. Farlow address the question thusly:
It is agreed by all living humans that the highlight of the movie Jurassic Park (Universal Studios 1993) was the consumption of the lawyer by the true hero of the movie, Tyrannosaurus rex. This brings up the obvious question: how many lawyers would it take to properly feed a captive T.rex?
The answer: it depends on whether a
T.rex is endothermic or exothermic (i.e., cold or warm-blooded). Their conclusion? If the
T.rex is warm-blooded, 292 lawyers per year. If the
T.rex is cold-blooded, 73 lawyers per year. Assuming the average lawyer weighs 150 pounds and weighs around 4.5 tons, that is. Now you know.
That said, my favorite scene of the movie was (and still is) is the one where Grant and Sadler first see the brachiosaur and the herd of hadrosaurs in the distance. It just has a majestic feel to it, and was the first time you actually saw dinosaurs as "real" animals:
So, yes, I'm going to see it in 3D, and enjoy every minute of it. :-).
P.S.
The Complete Dinosaur just issued as a second edition last fall and you should check it out.
