Because of increasing interest in my Dinosaur Wars series of stories, I recently began an extensive rewrite of the second book, Dinosaur Wars: Counterattack, to make it ready for release as an ebook. If you’ve already read the paper copy don’t worry, I’m not really changing the story. I’m just cinching it up a bit to make it read faster and hotter.
Every writer improves with age, just like fine wine or the value of a comic book. So, given my complete faith that the Dinosaur Wars stories have the potential to hit the big time, I think it’s worth the trouble of hammering on the prose and making DW2, as I call it, really sing.
Like I wrote on this blog before, there are a couple of changes that just have to be made to keep the story abreast of the current and ever-changing state of the science of paleontology. Just like with DW1 before it, I’m renaming the nasty carnivores. The megaraptor is dead! Again! As I explained before, paleontologists have uncovered new skeletal material that suggests the old interpretation of the animal as a member of the maniraptor group, which includes velociraptors and other fierce creatures, was wrong. In fact, some have even suggested that the big hooked claws they’ve dug up were on the animals’ hands, not feet.
That’s too much confusion in the scientific world for me to continue feeling comfortable about starring the creatures in my books. The new replacement, on the other hand, is a pretty nasty beast itself: utahraptor. New fossils of this animal have confirmed that it is a larger relative of velociraptor, which comes off rather wimpy by comparison to utahraptor, which got up to about racehorse size. Yikes!
Another change is the inclusion of a couple short scenes were Saurgon gets a starring role. Saurgon is a much more complex villain than I’d portrayed in the original editions of DW1 and DW2. He’s shaping up as I revise him, into a more dangerous and a much more insidious bad guy. If you’ve read the new DW1 Earthfall then you probably recognize him as the commander of the death beam from the moon, Gar’s arch rival for control of the armies of the Kra, and humanity’s worst enemy. Stay tuned. He’s got a new role as High Priest of the Cult of Wealth and a new costume: a glittering suit of armor plumed with golden feathers, not to mention that he’s become a blond, aryan supremacist kind of creature. He’s a real trouble maker, sharing traits with the great villains of all time including Darth Vader and James Bond’s nemesis, Goldfinger.
More changes are in the offing, so stay tuned. I should have the new edition done sometime in the next couple of months and I hope to release it as an ebook in the mid to late fall.
I have a question regarding the Kra. What group of theropods do they belong to? A friend of mine was trying to figure this out, and for a time thought maniraptora but then decided that may not make sense.
Or are Kra in a class of theropods of their own, not belonging to any group we know to exist?
That’s a good question, Inferdramon. The Kra are in a line of theropods all their own, but they lie very close to both the maniraptorans and the troodonts. I like them in that ambiguous phylogenetic position because it leaves some room for authorial maneuvering. Look what happened to the megaraptors. New fossil evidence has thrown their exact relationship to other theropods into doubt. I also wanted to be free of specific relationships so the Kra could “evolve” a little as I write about them. There might be new phenomena yet unknown to Dr. Ogilvey that will come out in future stories. As of Something In The Jungle, they turn out to be blonds, brunettes and redheads. Who knew?
Will you be making this available to Barnes And Nobles Nook readers? I have just purchased book three but I was not able to find book 2 for Nook. I am holding off on reading #3 till the new rewrite is out. I really enjoyed the first book and am looking forward to the others!
jhepp, yes, DW2 Counterattack will come out as a Nook edition right about the same time it comes out in other ebook formats. I can’t give a definite date yet, but sometime in September is very likely. Thanks, and I hope you’ll enjoy Counterattack. I’m having fun revising it! -Tom
Interesting. I had a feeling the Kra were in a class of their own, since their physiology didn’t completely fit any particular class. The Kra, to me, kinda look like a cross between an oviraptoroid and a troodontid, with some dromaeosaurid crossed in.
I have read most of Something In The Jungle, but I haven’t purchased the full short story yet, so the last few pages, I haven’t been able to read. I found it nice to read some kind of continuation of Dinosaur Wars after a few years not knowing what may happen. The continuation was somewhat like I imagined, with the Kra and humans not warring with each other and trying to live peacefully.
There was something about Dinosaur Wars and Dinosaur Wars: Counterattack that had me confused, I admit. The Kra in the first book are clearly mentioned to use light as ammunition. This remained consistent throughout the whole book, from what I remember. But in Counterattack, their weapons are suddenly powered by electricity. Was there a reason for this or was it an honest error?
Inferdramon, I love getting into the fine details of the Kra and their technology. Thanks for egging me on! I think your art has captured the essence of the Kra quite well. That must be because you’ve given some thought to their relationships to other dinosaurian species. Nice work!
Regarding Something in the Jungle, yes, things are very different in the series of stories I’m beginning to craft as my “Dinosaur Tales.” In DW books 1, 2 and 3, humans and Kra are strictly at war, and that limits their interactions. As you’ve seen if you’ve read the free give-away part of Something, when humans and Kra are no longer at war, the interactions become even more complex, intriguing, and likely to result in tricky situations, which all leads to a more exciting story.
Regarding your confusion about light vs electricity, it’s not too complicated. The Kra weapons are POWERED by kekuah, the frozen light powder. That does not mean they only SHOOT light. They also are capable of converting the light energy into electricity and blasting that out to stun their opponents. This is true of the fighter-walkers and of the tintza rifles as well.
Finally, here’s a bit of Kra trivia I’ve never disclosed in detail: Because the Kra have never found a way to miniaturize the kekuah-to-light converter, they cannot make a laser hand gun. How ’bout that?
You’re welcome, and thanks. I like drawing the Kra. When drawing them, I usually use a combination of reference from the old cover for Dinosaur Wars, which has a Kra pictured on it, and what I know about anatomy of other theropod dinosaurs.
And thanks for clearing that up. I was wondering about that. I’ll have to make that fix to a sketch I was working on. Changing the light blast to an electrical blast shouldn’t be too hard; the picture is still a sketch.
Oh I forgot to add something in my last post. I wanted to ask you about the differences between male and female Kra. I had wanted to draw Gana for some time, but I wasn’t sure if she would possess any notable differences between herself and Gar, other than the presence of nesting feathers of course, or if they look pretty much the same.
Gar and Gana are both dark feathered Kra. I believe I described Gana’s looks in one or the other of the books in some detail, in Gar’s reminiscences of her. Sorry, but I don’t remember exactly where. I do recall that her crest is colored slightly differently than his. One thing I imagine about the Kra, although I’ve never written it, is that the females’ crests are smaller than the males’. That’s consistent with many birds, where the female’s looks are understated and the males are the ones with the big flamboyant displays.