Dinotopia, it’s not

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Tom Hopp

I’d like to do a little compare-and-contrast between the Dinotopia books and my Dinosaur Wars stories.

Dinotopian CeratopsianDinotopia, as you may know, is the brainchild of James Gurney, a fine storyteller and superlative illustrator. James’ stories have appeared in more than a dozen books and in a made-for-TV movie, so he’s a bit ahead of me. But he deserves his renown because Dinotopia is a compelling place, and a delightful concept, too: dinosaurs, still surviving in our present world, having escaped extinction 65 million years ago and now cohabiting with humans on a lost, legendary, South Pacific Island. That sort of concept isn’t new. It reads like King Kong or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s South American Lost World. But Gurney’s take is charming: these dinos don’t want to gore you with sharp horns or chomp you down in one bite — they want to have a chat!

In contrast, the dinosaurs of my Dinosaur Wars stories not only will gladly gore you or stomp you or crunch you like granola, but there are some among them with the ways and means to blast you with laser weapons first and eat you later. In a world where we are constantly reminded of the human capacity for conflict, you’ve gotta wonder which of these two takes on the big beasts of the past is the most realistic.

Now, I’m not knocking Dinotopia one iota. It’s a fabulous place filled with wondrous creatures and marvelous happenings sprung from a highly gifted mind. But it’s also reasonable to ask if there’s another way of looking at these remarkable creatures that offers a refreshing new take on an old subject. F’rinstance:

One look at a Dinotopia book impresses you that dinosaurs sure dress up well. They’ve got gold ornaments and jewelry and lovely tapestried saddle blankets, and people to hug and love them until you want to burst with joy that they weren’t all obliterated by that asteroid 65 million years ago. On the other hand, the Kra, the human-sized, intelligent dinosaurs of Dinosaur Wars, indulge a little adornment too, only in this case it’s laser-deflecting battle armor like we saw in Star Wars, fancy feathered ceremonial headdresses that are, unfortunately, not designed to amuse the crowds at parades as in Dinotopia, but to grace the blood-soaked altar of sacrifice in the Temple of Death. That’s a contrast.

Another one I’ve got to hand it to James Gurney for, is the notion that dinosaurs have developed a language, an alphabet, a system of government, and a set of rules and regulations that determine how dinos live their lives. I guess you could say I didn’t go so far. Yes, my Kra gab on and on sometimes in their language, Kranaga, and they of course have an alphabet as well, and on top of that a number system based on sixes rather than tens, to match their total of six horrifically clawed digits. But this numbering system outdoes that of Dinotopia by its demonstrated ability to do rocket science. How else could the Kra have escaped extinction 65 million years ago by hiding out on the moon? So then, despite in all the commonality, some sinister differences lurk. While the Dinotopian dinosaurs want to make friends and be nicey nice, my Kra are unfortunately as much interested in conquest as are we, their human opponents. And they’re quite capable of making the threat a reality, which tends to generate a little excitement from time to time.

Dinotopian CityAnother similarity is that Dinotopia has a mind-bogglingly beautiful civilization, with grand stone buildings, high pavilions, towers, turrets, colonnaded public forums, and architecture beyond comprehension, while Dinosaur Wars’ Kra have: a mind-bogglingly beautiful civilization, with grand stone buildings, high pavilions, towers, turrets, colonnaded public forums, and architecture beyond comprehension, all buried under a mountain of sandstone in Montana. Never fear, the Kra are quickly excavating their city, Arran Kra, which was buried under tidal-wave-washed sand on the day of impact and thereby frozen in time for 65 million years. So, give the Kra a little more time and we’ll really be able to compare and contrast civilizations. Won’t that be fun?

Lastly, James Gurney and his utopian dinosaurs are known throughout the world and have a zillion fans. My Dinosaur Wars stories and I are not so famous. But I’m working hard on this last bit and I could use your help. So, give me a hand by telling a friend about Dinosaur Wars.

Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Re-Imagining Chase Armstrong

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Tom Hopp

Something In The JungleFirst of all, I’m delighted to announce that my latest short story “Something In The Jungle” has made its way onto almost all of the major e-book outlets. It’s showed up on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, Apple iPhone, Diesel eBook, and probably a few formats I’m not even aware of. It’s a short story, so following the precedent of iTunes they’re charging just a scant 99 cents per download. What a deal!

Now, regarding the story’s hero, Chase Armstrong, let me say this about that: while he was the central figure in the original Dinosaur Wars novels, he was a little on the bland side. What with being a Yellowstone Park ranger, he was probably just a bit too polite, good with kids, nice to animals (except for charging T rexes!). So in my new series of stories he’s had a bit of a makeover. I’ve borrowed a bit from the James Bond playbook. He’s on a fat CIA expense account, he travels to exotic locales and pulls off daring escapades, and last but not least, he’s become irresistible to women.

In “Something In The Jungle,” I’m just getting warmed up. Chase will get more and more revved up in future stories. And let’s not forget his girl, Kit Daniels. She’s going through some changes too, which will become apparent in the next story in this series tentatively entitled “Riding Quetzalcoatlus.” While she has to take some heat for having broken up the relationship with Chase (permanently? temporarily? stay tuned), she’s also exercising some newfound independence and discovering character strengths she never knew she had (okay, I never knew she had).

So have a look at “Something In The Jungle.” If you’ve never bought an ebook, it’s time you joined the revolution. You don’t even have to buy a reader. There are formats you can read on your computer with free Adobe software so you’ve got no excuse. You can find any version you want on one of the vendors I’ve listed or go directly to my publisher, Smashwords, and get the version you want from them. And while you’re at it, write a review. I still get the occasional creep writing mean reviews, so nice reviews are always welcome.

Take the ebook plunge. You’ll be glad you did.

Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ghost Trees

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Tom Hopp

In my ramblings around the Pacific Northwest, I often come across peculiar-looking stumps I call Ghost Trees.

The stumps are almost always huge and look like they’ve been there a long time. They often have face-like markings on them, which, along with their rotting and decrepit condition, suggest to me that they are not just stumps, but the spirits of trees now long dead.

Ghost Tree
Native Americans believe trees, like humans, have souls that live on after they die. If these tree stumps are spirits, then are they friendly, or do they want revenge for their deaths? Perhaps restitution for the destruction of an entire ecosystem in which they sprouted as vernal seedlings a thousand or more years ago? They often have a brooding look, as does this one, which I photographed while hiking in the North Cascades National Park. Such grim expressions make me suspect that they’re not entirely friendly. Sometimes, you can find yourself in a dense, dark forest with dozens of these wraiths surrounding you. Anyone prone to superstition or to supernatural or paranormal musings, might just get the creeps.

Not convinced? Then consider this: each of these ghost tree stumps is the murder victim of the rampant and careless logging that swept across the great old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest with the pioneers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The marks are diagnostic of the style of logging done back then. They’re springboard marks. A pair of loggers with double-bladed axes would start their felling work by placing ladders against the “swell butt” of the tree (the flair of roots that expand the trunk to a width that no logger willingly would cut through). Then, standing on the ladders, the men would swing their axes, chipping out holes above them, into which they could insert wooden planks called “springboards.” Once a springboard was in place, a man could step up onto it and cut higher on the trunk, where the girth was smaller and the felling work could be finished quicker. Next, standing on pairs of springboards, the two lumberjacks would chip out a great notch in the trunk on one side of the tree, and then cut across from the other side with a long “whipsaw” or “misery whip” pulled back and forth across the trunk by tugging or pushing on two handles, one on each end of the saw blade.

Back in those days, no one asked the trees if they’d like to be cut down. No one cared. No one asked the Douglas squirrels or spotted owls if they’d like to have their homes demolished and hauled away by mule trains to sawmill towns. Every man who could stand the hard work, just cut and cut and cut and cut, until the landscapes of the Northwest were transformed from deep green forests to scraggly brush-covered ravines and ridges, dotted everywhere with ghostly tree stumps.

Time has marched on and the whipsaw loggers are as extinct as the spotted owl and marbled murrelet are in this part of the country, but the stumps remain. They stand as sentinels and slowly-mouldering reminders of what happened and of the beauty that was lost. Many stumps are fifteen or twenty feet across at the base, reminders of what were once stupendously huge forests where now only relatively young trees have had the chance to sprout and grow to any appreciable size.

Consider this: a fir tree that is seventy feet tall, with a trunk two or three feet wide, may seem like a dramatically big and beautiful living thing, and it is. But such a tree is really still in its adolescence. It has another thousand years or so of growing before it can claim the seniority of the trees that fell by the hundreds of thousands around here.

That’s why, when I hike in any forest around Seattle or other parts of the Northwest and I see one of these ghost trees, I get a chill. Considering it will be another thousand years, or two, before the world of the trees returns to normal, do they wish us well or ill in the meantime?

Next time you’re in the forest, beware.

P.S. The photo will be the basis of cover art for a new short Peyton McKean mystery I’m finishing now, called “Death Among The Ghost Trees.” It’ll be released sometime in the next few months. Keep an eye out for it.

Posted in Indian Country | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

My Rock Band, The Beaters

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Tom Hopp

Just in case you’d missed it, I do a little entertaining now and then as bassist for The Beaters, a Seattle area band known for its inimitable brand of hard hitting rock’n’rhythm’n’blues.  We’ve got a new website. Check it out at:

Meet THE BEATERS

http://thomas-hopp.com/beaterblog

The guys and I will keep you informed of upcoming gigs there, and you can listen to some of our music as well. The first song posted is one I wrote: my treehugger anthem, “Big Tree Blues.” Have a listen. I hope you’ll like it.

Posted in Author | Tagged , | Comments Off on My Rock Band, The Beaters

VGS-12 at Guadalcanal

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Tom Hopp

I’ve continued to pursue my Uncle Herb’s valiant, if ill fated, World War II record. Delving into unpublished war records and archives, I’ve been able to trace him to his arrival at Guadalcanal in the heat of the battle. Many details are still missing and records are hard to find. If you happen to know anything about his unit, his ship, of any of his fellow Navy airmen, I’d like to hear about it.

I’ve drawn up this list based on the National Archive’s copies of the Deck Logs of the Escort Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Copahee from November 1942 through February 1943, as she carried the men and planes of Navy Squadron VGS-12 to relieve the embattled Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal. My Uncle Herbert Hopp was among the Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber crews set ashore on Guadalcanal on Feb 1, 1943. Anyone with additional information please leave a reply below or contact me at the email address at the bottom of the list.

Muster List of Escort Scouting Squadron Twelve (VGS-12) Personnel Reporting Aboard U.S.S. Copahee, ACV-12 (Later CVE-12) on November 29, 1942, San Diego

Officers

Name, commission                                                                   Notes

  1. Hulme, John, Lt Cmdr, USN
  2. Jackson, R.W., Lt, USN
  3. Henry, G.R., Lt, USN
  4. Savage, R.L., Lt, USN
  5. Speake, G.E., Lt, A-V(N), USNR
  6. Merrick, R.C., Lt, A-V(N), USNR
  7. Maione, M.C., Lt, A-V(N), USNR
  8. Wasey, G.D., Lt, A-V(S), USNR                     Temporary duty CASU-9, Feb 2, ’43
  9. Linehan, T.E., Lt, A-V(S), USNR                   Temporary duty CASU-9, Feb 2, ’43
  10. Ruth, T.A., Lt (jg), A-V(N), USNR
  11. Timmes, F.X., Lt (jg), A-V(N), USNR
  12. Parker, N.H., Lt (jg), A-V(N), USNR
  13. Dodd, W.L., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  14. Blakley, C.E., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  15. Woodcock, M.E., Ens, A-V(N), USNR                 F4F-4 crash, Dec 29, ’42, survived
  16. Brown, C.A., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  17. Roach, T.D., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  18. Smith, W.C., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  19. Yeager, R.N., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  20. Stevens, J.B., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  21. Gibson, R.R.M., Ens, A-V(N), USNR                  ? Returned Feb 2, ’43
  22. Janney, F.W.M., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  23. Riddle, Joseph Jr., Ens, A-V(N), USNR              KIA Feb 4, 1943, New Georgia Is; Destroyer Escort DE-185 named for him
  24. Champlin, N.D., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  25. Miller, M.J., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  26. Savage, F.J., Ens, A-V(N), USNR
  27. Ensley, E.C., Ens, A-V(N), USNR

Reported aboard other than November 29, 1942:

  1. Bliss, L.A.,                                       Crashed F4F-4 fighter, Feb 1, 1943, survived

Enlisted Men

Name, Service Number, Rate                                                                        Notes

  1. Alfred, Robert Leo, 356 19 10, ARM1c, USN                                      b
  2. Allison, Paul Marrius, 630 10 69, ARM3c, V-6, USNR                    b
  3. Alston, Elmer Speirs, 660 20 03, Ptr3c, V-2, USNR
  4. Amos, Stanley Luther, 375 97 27, AMM2c, USN
  5. Anderson, Merwyn Duane, 316 52 76, AMM1c, V-6, USNR
  6. Andrews, J.D., 359 99 00, Matt1c, USN
  7. Anyzeski, Edward Joseph, 207 26 26, S2c, USN                                 b
  8. Ayres, William Matthew, 261 68 60, ACM(AA), USN
  9. Bailey, Horace Edward, 658 38 19, AMM3c, V-6 USNR
  10. Bailey, Robert Barker, 654 21 36, AMM3c, V-2, USNR                      a
  11. Baker, Charles Mervin, 372 03 30, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  12. Barisic, LeRoy William, 632 53 38, S2c, V-6, USNR                            a
  13. Bass, Herbert Cecil, 382 82 69, S2c, USN
  14. Benson, Kenneth Alva, 368 56 49, EM2c, USN
  15. Berken, Fredrick Weston, 414 39 56, AMM3c, O-1, USNR                a
  16. Bland, Edward Francis, 262 51 10, AM2c, USN
  17. Blazina, Jack William, 414 38 17, S1c, O-1, USNR
  18. Bowersock, George Edward, 371 81 14, EM1c, V-6, USNR
  19. Boyda, Joseph John, 243 47 17, AMM2c, USN
  20. Bozarth, Walter Bruce, 664 01 13, AOM3c, V-2, USNR                      b
  21. Bradley, Herman Horace, 257 95 29, ACRM(AA), USN
  22. Brittain, Jack Irvin, 625 38 00, S2c, V-6, USNR                                  b
  23. Brown, Stanley George, 393 47 56, S2c, USN                                       b
  24. Browning, Joseph Lant, 336 75 37, AM3c, V-6, USNR
  25. Brubaker, Edward Hugh, 283 24 43, AM1c, USN
  26. Brumbaugh, Jack Ross, 382 02 24, ACMM(AA), USN
  27. Burkhead, Jesse Lenard, 287 43 27, AMM3c, USN
  28. Bush, Lawrence Steven, 372 47 16, S2c, USN                                       b
  29. Butterfield, Forrest Dee, 316 69 64, AMM3c, USN
  30. Buzek, Albert Emil, 625 37 97, S2c, V-6, USNR                                   b
  31. Buzek, Julius Rudolf, 625 37 99, S2c, V-6, USNR                                b
  32. Byrd, Edward Milton, 265 67 61, Matt3c, USN
  33. Cain, Percy Joseph, 120 05 41, S1c, V-6, USNR                                         Jan 25, ’43 broke arm in laundry dryer
  34. Carney, James Patrick, 620 07 02, ARM2c, V-2, USNR                     a
  35. Carper, Jack Lee, 648 12 94, S2c, V-3, USNR                                       a
  36. Cate, Basil Holbert Jr., 360 56 57, S2c, USN                                         b
  37. Clark, Floyd Lee, 385 85 91, AMM3c, USN                                          a
  38. Cline, Carl Jack, 656 27 68, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  39. Cline, Hobert William, 266 41 65, AMM3c, USN                                a
  40. Conlon, Albert Joseph, 600 23 92, S2c, V-6, USNR                            b
  41. Cooper, Roscoe Lee, 625 38 29, AS, V-6, USNR
  42. Cox, Chester William, 664 15 22, AMM3c, V-6, USNR                       a
  43. Cox, Worth Austin, 632 79 47, S2c, V-2, USNR                                   a
  44. Danielson, Donald Lowell, 654 76 51, S2c, V-6, USNR                        b
  45. Day, William Henry, 272 91 72, S2c, USN
  46. De Spain, John Spencer Jr., 351 03 71, S2c, USN                        Feb 3, ’43 returned, lost liberty card
  47. Dial, Adwin Winston Jr., 360 04 67, ARM1c, USN                              a
  48. Duo, John Edward, 647 07 66, S2c, V-6, USNR                                    b
  49. Flannery, John, 336 54 44, S1c, V-6, USNR
  50. Freeman, Kearney, 644 04 49, AM3c, V-2, USNR
  51. Fries, Gene Earl, 321 70 07, ARM2c, USN
  52. Funk, George Arthur, 368 55 42, AMM3c, USN
  53. Gardner, Marvin LaDell, 660 00 94, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  54. Garner, Leslie Moore, 261 82 23, AMM3c, USN                                 a
  55. Glassett, Roy George, 664 55 40, S2c, V-6, USNR                               b
  56. Goodwin, Glen Marven, 350 00 15, AMM3c, USN
  57. Goold, Jack Everett, 316 87 90, S2c, USN
  58. Gorman, John Patrick, 610 40 67, ARM3c, V-2, USNR                       a
  59. Gorshek, Frank, 299 41 23, AOM1c, USN
  60. Gunn, Max Clellan Jr., 202 02 82, AOM2c, USN                                 b
  61. Hadsell, Herbert Orion, 234 23 87, EM2c, USN
  62. Hakenewerth, Herbert Peter, 337 71 16, ARM3c, USN                        a
  63. Halajian, Harry George, 316 67 53, AMM2c, USN
  64. Hall, John Gunter, 316 50 98, AM3c, V-6, USNR
  65. Handt, Ferdinand Ernest, 304 89 71, AMM2c, V-6, USNR
  66. Hansen, Martin, 320 64 23, ACOM(PA), USN
  67. Haverty, John Robert, 265 67 99, AMM1c, USN
  68. Hendrick, John Allston, 212 64 00, ARM3c, USN
  69. Herzing, Ivan John, 652 15 42, AOM3c, V-6, USNR
  70. Holm, Rolland Larall, 632 38 20, RT2c, V-6, USNR
  71. Hopp, Herbert Albert, 664 09 50, AMM3c, V-2, USNR                     a     Feb 4, ’43 TBF-1 shot down New Georgia Island, survived
  72. Houghton, Claude Jr., 654 20 55, AMM3c, V-6, USNR                       a
  73. Hurst, Harold Wayne, 356 82 79, AS, USN                                           b
  74. Jensen, Jewel Mansfield, 638 49 93, S2c, V-6, USNR                         b
  75. Johnson, Jack Alfred, 632 77 30, S2c, V-6, USNR                                b
  76. Kading, Floyd Earl, 291 51 68, BM1c, USN
  77. Kissinger, William David, 620 07 27, AOM3c, V-6, USNR                 a
  78. Knowles, James Aaron, 604 83 81, AS, V-6, USNR                             b
  79. Knox, Donald Phillips, 383 12 97, S2c, USN
  80. Kolodzie, Burnell Vern, 414 38 34, S1c, O-1, USNR                            b
  81. Lamper, Joseph Henry, 368 53 75, AMM2c, USN
  82. Lancaster, Floyd Donald, 670 32 31, S2c, V-6, USNR
  83. Lauth, Andrew L., 664 43 86, S2c, V-2, USNR                                     b
  84. Lipton, Harold Joseph, 654 21 88, AMM3c, V-2, USNR
  85. Lowe, William Durley, 295 81 76, AOM3c, USN                                  b
  86. Lugger, Robert Joseph, 612 25 52, S2c, V-6, USNR                              b
  87. Machen, Paul Edsel, 604 19 51, S2c, V-6, USNR
  88. MacLeod, Kenneth Roderick, 375 24 73, AMM2c, V-6, USNR
  89. Madison, Perry Jr., 630 57 07, Matt3c, V-6, USNR
  90. Mallendick, Leland, 410 33 74, ARM2c, V-1, USNR
  91. Manning, Virgil Clarence, 381 49 03, S2c, USN                                     b
  92. Mayer, Herbert Theodore, 664 10 27, AMM3c, V-2, USNR
  93. McCall, Joseph Roscoe, 268 24 41, AMM1c, USN
  94. McKloskey, Joseph William, 243 59 34, AMM2c, USN                       a
  95. McDonough, Thomas Martin, 350 17 33, SK2c, V-6, USNR
  96. McFarland, Richard LaVerne, 316 88 14, ARM3c, USN                      a
  97. McKnight, Samuel, 630 54 80, Matt3c, V-6, USNR
  98. McReynolds, Donald Eugene, 385 67 90, Y1c, V-6, USNR
  99. Mendoza, Epitacio Ponce, 633 47 25, S2c, V-6, USNR                        b
  100. Merritt, Sheldon Slavens, 654 03 96, AMM3c, V-2, USNR
  101. Milsap, Furman, 657 03 22, Matt3c, V-6, USNR
  102. Mims, Cleo, 637 13 77, Matt3c, V-6, USNR
  103. Morse, William George, 311 82 25, ARM2c, USN                                a
  104. Munnick, Adrian Robert, 654 20 25, S2c, V-6, USNR                          b
  105. Nash, Clayton Henry, 618 28 09, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  106. Neiswender, Jesse Anthony, 664 04 02, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  107. Neuberger, Clifford Roy, 316 65 45, AMM2c, USN
  108. Norman, James Edward, 411 20 61, S1c, O-1, USNR                           b
  109. O’Brien, John Lou, 376 40 41, AMM3c, USN
  110. Owen, William Murrel, 626 20 50, ARM3c, V-6, USNR                    a
  111. Parker, Glen Irving, 321 37 93, S1c, USN
  112. Parsons, John Beach, 382 00 19, AOM1c, USN                                   b
  113. Patrick, Don Rayburn, 356 25 40, AMM3c, USN
  114. Paulk, Dempsey Earl, 274 82 85, S2c, USN                                          b
  115. Peek, Charley Clay, 356 77 05, S2c, USN
  116. Poe, Archie Lee, 644 33 85, S2c, V-6, USNR                                        b
  117. Popplewell, Theron Ord, 351 06 16, S2c, USN
  118. Porter, Raymond Wayne, 625 11 22, S2c, V-6, USNR                        b
  119. Powell, W.B., 630 12 48, S2c, V-6, USNR                                            b
  120. Prather, Charles Henry, 604 60 35, S2c, V-3, USNR                         b
  121. Pratt, Cecil R., 372 46 60, S2c, USN                                                      b
  122. Pucci, Alfred, 647 80 60, AMM2c, V-6, USNR
  123. Ray, John Elmer, 625 07 70, S2c, V-6, USNR                                       b
  124. Reed, Lonzo Calvin, 670 52 72, S2c, V-6, USNR                                   b
  125. Repine, Harry Edgar, 664 66 54, S2c, V-6, USNR                                b
  126. Ribero, Henry, 183 25 00, ACMM(PA), USN
  127. Roberts, William Bruce, 359 87 81, AOM2c, USN                               b
  128. Robertson, Peter, 311 10 01, AM1c, USN                                               b
  129. Rodgers, William Wilson, 262 30 39, EM1c, USN
  130. Rose, Richard Dale, 553 00 80, S2c, V-6, USNR                                   b
  131. Rubio, Catarino Garcia, 632 04 79, S2c, V-6, USNR
  132. Russell, Claude, 184 60 20, OC1c(T), USN
  133. Russell, Gilbert Lee, 664 12 14, AMM3c, V-2, USNR                           a
  134. Rymal, Douglas Ernest, 633 65 58, S2c, V-6, USNR                             b
  135. Sanders, Harold William, 604 34 04, S2c, V-6, USNR                         b
  136. Santo, William Louis, 633 65 63, S2c, V-6, USNR                                b
  137. Schindler, William Edward, 360 44 24, AMM3c, USN                         a
  138. Schroeder, Cletus Kenneth, 291 45 71, SK3c, V-6, USNR
  139. Scott, Samuel Spencer Jr., 604 68 37, AS, V-6, USNR                          b
  140. Selditch, Aaron, 405 03 04, PhM1c, V-6, USNR
  141. Selman, Obie Earnest, 625 39 63, S2c, V-6, USNR
  142. Shear, Harrison Melvin Jr., 662 93 66, S2c, V-6, USNR                       b
  143. Showalter, Glenn Ellerd, 283 32 22, Y3c, USN
  144. Shull, Quinten Burl, 628 45 49, S2c, V-6, USNR                                    b
  145. Simandl, Leonard James, 360 00 36, ARM2c, USN
  146. Sims, Joseph, 224 22 05, PR3c, USN
  147. Slason, John L.C., 382 55 89, S2c, USN                                                  b
  148. Slatinsky, Robert Vincent, 337 01 91, TM1c, USN
  149. Squire, Creighton Gail, 664 13 58, AM3c, V-2, USNR
  150. Stackhouse, Frank Allen, 664 46 57, S2c, V-2, USNR                           b
  151. Stamps, Gerald James, 356 76 15, S2c, USN                                           a
  152. Steadman, Charles Jesse, 633 43 26, S2c, V-6, USNR                           b
  153. Stovee, Robert Harold, 633 45 49, S2c, V-6, USNR                              b
  154. Sweet, Richard Myron, 233 86 10, AMM1c, V-6, USNR
  155. Tate, George Norris, 616 55 63, AOM3c, V-6, USNR                            b
  156. Taylor, Aubrey, 616 54 81, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  157. Taylor, D.L., 360 56 94, Matt2c, USN
  158. Thiessen, Raymond Edwin, 414 45 48, S1c, O-1, USNR
  159. Thompson, Donald Wesley, 664 16 82, AMM3c, V-2, USNR             a
  160. Thompson, Laurel DeVane, 386 17 87, S2c, USN                                 b
  161. Thornburg, Raymond George, 662 43 46, AM3c, V-6, USNR
  162. Thoryk, William James, 283 10 40, PR2c, V-6, USNR
  163. Trabucco, Joseph, 380 70 89, AM3c, USN
  164. Turner, Clarence Norman, 604 35 63, S2c, V-6, USNR                        b
  165. Venema, Robert Frederick, 636 09 76, AM3c, V-2, USNR
  166. Vilarino, George, 382 58 96, AMM3c, USN
  167. Walker, James Zebedee, 355 73 34, ACMM(PA), USN
  168. Wallace, Ralph Vance, 604 55 15, S2c, V-6, USNR                               b
  169. Walters, James L., 272 85 80, S2c, USN                                                b
  170. Walters, Paul Kenneth, 382 56 77, S2c, USN                                         a
  171. Wampler, Maurrice Achel, 654 23 06, AM3c, V-6, USNR
  172. Waskow, Howard Robert, 300 52 78, AM3c, USN
  173. Wells, Clarence William, 624 51 04, S2c, V-6, USNR                           b
  174. Wenzel, John Gaarden Lynn, 654 31 77, S2c, V-6, USNR                     b
  175. Wesner, James Edward, 414 40 34, S1c, O-1, USNR
  176. West, George Irven, 393 17 94, SC2c, V-6, USNR
  177. West, Scott Gray, 274 21 46, ACMM(AA), USN
  178. Whitehead, Everett Lewis, 622 06 45, AMM3c, V-6, USNR
  179. Whitehead, James Hershel Franklin, 553 52 07, S2c, V-6, USNR      b
  180. Whitley, Riley, 624 07 88, S2c, V-6, USNR
  181. Wiggins, Richard Irving, 238 79 42, AOM3c, USN                                a
  182. Williams, Fred Lee Jr., 630 22 51, S2c, V-6, USNR                               b
  183. Williamson, Allan Harold, 382 59 80, AOM3c, USN
  184. Wilson, Carl Jr., 604 84 08, AS, V-6, USNR                                           b
  185. Wilson, Milton, 616 52 03, ARM3c, V-6, USNR
  186. Wilson, Paul Hubert, 662 42 62, S2c, V-6, USNR
  187. Windham, Lee Hermese, 721 64 94, S2c, V-6, USNR                            b
  188. Woodfill, Lyle Thomas, 410 67 44, S1c, O-1, USNR
  189. Yirak, Rudolph Lawrence, 279 70 29, AOM2c, USN                             b

Primary information source: deck logs of U.S.S. Copahee. Other information from various sources as available.

Notes: (a) transferred to Cactus Air Force, Guadalcanal, Feb 1, 1943; (b) transferred to U.S.S. Nassau (ACV-16), Feb 2, 1943

Send additional information or inquiries to: tom[at]thomas-hopp.com, or leave a comment below.

Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Dinosaur Tales #1

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Tom Hopp

Yesterday being my birthday, I treated myself to the author’s greatest delight: I put the finishing touches on another story. This morning, not too hungover from dining and drink the night before, I got up and submitted the manuscript to my e-book publisher, Smashwords. It’ll take a few days for them to get it formatted and presentable for Kindle, Nook, and a half dozen other e-book readers and computers, but that’s quick compared to the months or years it used to take to put out a piece of work. Here’s a look at the cover:

Something In The Jungle

I was inspired to write this “Chase Armstrong bullfights a Coahuilaceratops” story while vacationing in Sayulita, Mexico. I made the cover art myself, using the Poser program with DinoRaul’s Coahuilaceratops model, along with Poser’s human character, James G2. It came out okay, didn’t it?

I expect the e-book to be available within a week or two on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other e-book sites. Check it out. Free samples are available for the first half or so, and then you’ll have to decide if you want to spring for the 99-cent cost for the whole short story. I hope you will.

This is the first in a series of stories based on my Dinosaur Wars novels. I’m calling the series Dinosaur Tales, in the spirit of dino-fiction pioneer and science fiction superstar Ray Bradbury. Like me, he’s had a lifetime fascination with the big prehistoric beasties.

Note added June 12, 2015: The short story version of “Dinosaur Tales: Something in the Jungle” has been incorporated into the full length book Dinosaur Tales.

Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Dinosaur Tales #1

And now on Kindle

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Tom Hopp

Woke up early this morning and snooped around the web, as I often do. Was surprised and delighted to see that Amazon.com has made two of my stories available as Kindle ebook downloads: Dinosaur Wars: Earthfall and The Re-Election Plot.

Dinosaur Wars: EarthfallWhat’s especially pleasing is the pricing: just $2.99 for the dino novel and only 99 cents for the Re-Election short story. Now, I suppose an author should bemoan the fact that books priced so cheaply result in royalty payments measured in pocket change rather than large bills, but I don’t look at it that way. As a relatively unknown author, I’ve got to reach out to new readers and convince them to add me to the short list of authors they like to read. Given the huge number of choices out there, and the pervasiveness of poorly written stories–some by well-known authors–there has to be a way to convince the casual web surfer that this new book he or she has stumbled on is worth the risk of downloading. A bargain basement price goes a long way in helping with that decision.

Re-Election Plot COverMeanwhile, inspired by the ease with which I’ve penetrated the online book business, I’ve been in quite a fit of inspiration lately. With my mind racing forward at the speed of thought, I’ve been waking in the middle of the night, or jumping out of the shower dripping wet, or dropping my dinner chopsticks to rush to my computer and tap out new story ideas by the dozen. Both my Dinosaur Wars science fiction series and my Peyton McKean mystery series have been heavy beneficiaries of this tidal surge of thought. As fast as I can get them completed, these new stories will hit the ebook shelves.

Stay tuned. Much more good stuff coming soon!

Posted in Author, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on And now on Kindle

Seattle Civic Pride

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Tom Hopp

The Seattle Seahawks just beat the New Orleans Saints, last year’s Superbowl Champions, in a hard-fought playoff battle. I’m not so totally engrossed in writing fiction that I couldn’t come up for air and take in some prime time football. Given how well the Hawks handled the Saints, you have to wonder how the sports-pundits ever came up with the notion of giving the Saints an 11-point advantage in predicting the outcome.

I sometimes get to thinking that every pundit east of the Mississippi has his or her head where the sun don’t shine. Have they heard of Seattle? No really.

Sure, they might sip their Starbucks coffee while flying in a Boeing 747 and typing some notes in Microsoft Word on their PC, but what’s that got to do with Seattle?

Now, I don’t mean to be a Seattle Chauvinist, but this town’s got a lot more going on than most of the US realizes. Maybe it’s just as well. We’ll keep it quiet. Why make the rest of the country aware that Jimi Hendrix was born here, that Ray Charles worked out his blues chops here, Grunge music was born here, and on and on.

I think it has something to do with the collision of high tech with nature hereabouts. We have space and cyberspace pioneering companies and uncut old growth forests that still haven’t been fully explored all within a hundred miles or so of the epicenter of this place where the Duwamish River meets the sea. The what river? you say.

I’m happy to let that recognition remain elusive. Who wants a mass of hangers on to start coming around and stealing our chops? For my part, I’ll just keep on grinding out science fiction and mystery stories, waiting on the day, not so much when I’m discovered by the East-Coast powers that be, but rather when I find my path to popularity the way those others did, just by being part of the stream of innovation that seems to run stronger here than anywhere else on earth.

In the meantime: GO SEAHAWKS!!!

Posted in Author | Tagged | 1 Comment

Writing makes me weep

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Tom Hopp

That’s right, writing makes me break down and cry sometimes.

Not always, but sometimes the weight of what’s to be said is too much.

I spent the last couple hours revising a manuscript I call “Herb Short’s Story.” After I’d put the draft away, I got to thinking about my Uncle Herb and the tears started to flow.

It’s tough to be the inheritor of Herb’s story. I think my life as a writer would be way more carefree if the memories of Herb weren’t always there, lurking beneath the other tales I spin. But Herb’s story is one so profound that it won’t lie still the way Herb’s ashes do. It won’t let me shirk. I started working on an entirely different story today but Herb’s story is always there, and today Herbert Albert Hopp just couldn’t be put off to another day.

Herb was a hero of World War II, as were a lot of other guys. He was a man who broke down after the war and killed himself with alcohol and self pity. So did a lot of other guys. But still, beyond all that, and all those other heroes who suffered, Herb’s story is more. Much, much more.

Much more pain. How many of you have, isolated and all alone, buried your best friends in the muck of a jungle island hell in the South Pacific? How many of you have dug an enemy fighter airplane’s machine gun slug out of your breastbone with a stick? How many of you have crawled through a malaria-infested jungle with shrapnel in your skull and wounds on every part of your body to find your way back to safety? How many of you have experienced such events, and come home to receive not accolades, but neglect?

I have only one single memory of my Uncle Herb. At a family gathering, aged four, I was playing with a lawn mower while my parents and Herb drank and carried on. When my fingers got caught and almost severed, it was Herb who accompanied my father to the hospital to get me stitched up. Just before the nurse put a gauze compress with ether over my mouth and nose, Herb leaned near and said, “You’re not hurt too bad. You’ll pull through.”

That image, and that image alone, is my sole memory of Uncle Herb, the hero of the pain, the long-sufferer, the war winner. No wonder I weep when I think too much about him.

And more. It isn’t just about heroism, to which so many dedicated themselves in World War II. It’s about accomplishment. Herb’s job on that Grumman Avenger aircraft was to man the turret gun and shoot down Japanese Zero pilots as the plane made its torpedo run on the battleships of the Japanese Imperial Fleet, and he did his job well, downing two in one mission.

That was Herb’s only mission, and he spent the remainder of the war recovering from massive injuries and trauma that gave him a permanent limp and woke him screaming in the middle of the night for the rest of his life. And drove him to booze.

Enough said, for now. More on Herb later, when I can stand it.

Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Iguanas verdes

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Tom Hopp

You never know when or where inspiration will strike. I’d hoped that coming to Sayulita would unbind the creative spirit, and it definitely has. Days of body surfing, hiking in the jungle, eating fine meals in the little restaurants lining the town plaza, and just generally lazing, have contributed to inspiration all right. However, inspiration is hard to bridle. It comes and goes where it will.

I had intended to brush up the fine points of my mystery series detailing the exploits of Dr. Peyton McKean, biotech sleuth. Instead, I’ve awakened deep in the night, thinking up scary stories in my Dinosaur Wars series.

I wonder what caused that to happen? Could it be the plethora of primitive creatures crawling, running and flying around here? Iguanas, like the one pictured, roaming the streets of Sayulita, climbing the trees outside our kitchen window? Geckos scurrying over the ceiling at night? Exotic colorful birds screeching and squawking all day? That mangrove swamp we passed while driving to Punta Mita, where Shelley absolutely refused to get out of the car and join me in a hunt for crocodiles?

Yeah, somewhere in there came the inspiration for a revamping of my Dinosaur Wars series, which is now well underway with a half dozen new stories either outlined or in progress. Before coming to this reptile dominated biosphere, I’d been thinking all about spies and murderers as villains for my stories. Now I’ve got a few big reptiles to add to the mix.

I’d been hoping to get a new take on my writing by coming here, and it worked. Viva Las Iguanas!!!

P.S. The restaurant I wrote about last week isn’t the Iguana Azul. That’s the place next door. The place with the awesome salsas where the waiter first turned us on to the local iguanas, is called TierraViva.

Posted in Author, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Iguanas verdes