indie spotlight: tomb of the triceratops

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books, dinosaur, dinosaur books, fiction, michael ajax, science fiction, tomb of the triceratops, young adult

Click the cover for a free Kindle preview of Tomb of the Triceratops.

Tomb of the Triceratops takes you on a dinosaur dig where researchers and a group of young students uncover a realm where dinosaurs are still alive. The boys selected to go on this archaeological expedition risk their lives to free a triceratops from the clutches of its brutal, otherworldly tormentors.

And that’s just the beginning.

Author Michael Ajax seasons the story with plenty of dino facts that will surely please any dino-maniac. Between the action scenes, the characters are just as likely to discuss the biology of a Stygimoloch as they are their interpersonal conflicts. The people in this story are passionate about dinosaurs, and that makes it especially fun for those of us who share that enthusiasm.

Though action-packed, Tomb of the Triceratops keeps its language and violence in the “family-friendly” range. Even as an adult reader, I was pulled into the nightmarish struggle of the captive triceratops, but the level of detail and word choice did not venture into overly graphic territory. If you thought Jurassic Park and Rex Riders were fun, this is a good addition to your bookshelf.

The boy heroes of the story casually banter with each other, keep secrets from the adults, and have an unforgettable adventure in this first novel by Michael Ajax. Discover the mysteries inside the Tomb of the Triceratops in paperback or for just 99 cents in Kindle.

Author website: http://www.michaelajax.com/

 

The World Around Us #15: Prehistoric Animals

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Al Williamson, Classics Illustrated, dinosaur, dinosaur books, dinosaur comics, Gilberton, illustrated story of prehistoric animals, Prehistoric Animals, prehistoric mammals, Sam Glanzman, vintage dinosaur books, World Around Us, World Around Us 15

Gilberton published The World Around Us #15: Prehistoric Animals in 1959 as part of its Classics Illustrated line. World Around Us is a must-have for any collector of dinosaur comics. Despite the way current advances in understanding dinosaur anatomy have made much of this book obsolete from a scientific perspective, it has a quaint historic charm and many stunningly rendered pages. It features uncredited artwork by Sam Glanzman and Al Williamson, according to Steve Bissette’s essay on PalaeoBlog. While dinosaurs take up much of the book, it also features prehistoric mammals, the origin of the planet Earth, and biographies of important biologists and paleontologists.

Collectors can often find a low-grade copy of World Around Us #15 at MyComicShop in the $5-15 range. Copies in various grades appear on eBay, with Fine and Fine+ grades listed in the $30-50 range.

In our second year on this blog, we presented the individual stories in this book as a series of posts. But now, here it is all in one shot for you prehistoric animal enthusiasts. Enjoy!

Flesh: The Dino Files TPB

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black and white, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, dinosaurs, Flesh, flesh dino files, Indie Comics, Pat Mills, UK comics

This isn’t the first time Flesh appears this blog, so let’s keep it brief and look at some awesome dinosaur art! We got our copy at MyComicShop but you can also find it on Amazon. You can see more pages in our Flesh Archives. Okay? Wow, what a beautiful volume this is. Check it out!

kingfisher dinosaur encyclopedia

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Dino books, dinosaur, dinosaur book, dinosaur books, Dinosaur Encyclopedia, dinosaurs, Kingfisher, kingfisher dinosaur encyclopedia

Kingfisher Dinosaur Encyclopedia brings readers up to date on many current developments in dino science. Lavishly filled with photographs and paintings, and easily-read charts, it is a visual feast worthy of a hungry Allosaurus.

One of the best features: a focus on certain regions of dino discoveries. You will visit specific digs, sites in England, Portugal, and China, that yielded new discoveries in the last 10 to 20 years and pushed dino science forward. Many books lack this regional organization, making this one special. You get a picture of each unique biome certain dinos inhabited, where some books simply list dinos alphabetically or historically. The grouping also gives the writers a chance to share about current leaders in the field in these countries.

Kingfisher breaks up its pages into small blocks of text that the reader can take one at a time, or in chunks. Like any Megalosaurus could tell you, it’s easier to digest things when you break them into smaller peices first! This makes the book entertaining and light, but by no means insubstantial. A reader can simply enjoy highlights, or dig deeper.

From the 2000 specimens of a single Cretaceous bird unearthed in China, to the confident resolution of an old myth about Oviraptors, to the solid presentation of the meteorite impact site, Kingfisher gives new dino fans a great introduction, and updates us old dino fans about several solved mysteries.

Criticisms? Calling the book an Encyclopedia may be stretching it. It is not an exhaustive tome of the history of paleontology, or dino physiology, or even a complete list of all known species. I have several “encyclopedias” and scientific texts that are more intensive. They’re also a lot harder to read! So, although I wouldn’t call it an encyclopedia, it’s a worthy and exciting book.

The one missing bone in this skeleton is a pronunication key. Dino books lately have thrown this idea away, and Kingfisher’s isn’t the only culprit. Some help pronouncing the latest Chinese dinos would really help us read this out loud!

Glad to have this on my shelf with the other great dino books. Recommended for all ages, young and old.

Buy the Kingfisher Dinosaur Encyclopedia on Amazon.

World of Dinosaurs by Edwin Colbert and George Geygan

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dinosaur, dinosaur book, Edwin Colbert, George Geygan, Home Library Press, vintage dinosaur books, World of Dinosaurs

 
Some time ago we posted an ad for World of Dinosaurs from a vintage issue of The Brave & the Bold. We went looking for the book after finding that ad, and got an affordable copy. Colbert, a respected paleontologist who among other things discovered Coelophysis, would no doubt want to update some of the science in World of Dinosaurs, from the swamp-dwelling sauropods dragging their tails to the extinction theories. Nevertheless, we always get a kick out of the art in vintage dinosaur books, and George Geygan’s painterly approach is no exception.

Collector’s Guide:
– from World of Dinosaurs by Dr. Edwin H. Colbert and George Geygan; Home Library Press, 1961.
Note: an edition published in 1977 had the title The Dinosaur World.

 

 

He Could Hit Tyrannosaurus Rex with a Stick – the Biggest Stick He Could Find!

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Danger in Dinosaur Valley, dinosaur, dinosaur books, diplodocus, Joan Lowery Nixon, Marc Simont, Putnam, vintage dinosaur books, World Series baseball game

 
Danger in Dinosaur Valley portrays the intelligence and adaptability of a child who teaches his parents some important life skills. A young diplodocus observes a World Series baseball game when time travelers come to visit, and he uses baseball to save his family.

 

 
As with many older dinosaur books, Danger in Dinosaur valley gets some things wrong: pterodactyls are not birds, television signals do not travel across time with their televisions, and brutal hand-to-hand combat is not always the best option. But the story works in its own cute way, and this vintage dinosaur book entranced us many times as young Martians. Treat yourself and your dino-loving kids to this entertaining tale by Joan Lowery Nixon, with artwork by Marc Simont!

Collector’s Guide:
– from Danger in Dinosaur Valley; G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1978.
Note: most existing copies of this out-of-print children’s book are ex-library copies.

 

dinosaur toy

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dinosaur, iphone, photography, plasric, toy