{"id":838,"date":"2012-07-14T07:05:49","date_gmt":"2012-07-14T15:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/?p=838"},"modified":"2023-08-12T12:12:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T20:12:37","slug":"hows-this-for-starters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/14\/hows-this-for-starters\/","title":{"rendered":"How’s this, for starters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Danger!<\/a>I’ve been working hard writing the third Dinosaur Wars novel, Blood On The Moon, and the end is in sight. As I approach completion of the first draft, I’ve begun looking back to see how well what I wrote up front meshes with what’s coming at the end. So far, so good. It looks like this book will tie up all the loose ends of the trilogy quite nicely.<\/p>\n

Glancing over the early passages, I got to thinking folks might want a preview, maybe just a short snippet to whet the appetite for the soon-to-be-completed ebook. So here’s an excerpt of what’s coming, just a quick little clip from the very front end at the start of Chapter One. It will give you a taste of the sort of fast-paced read I’m going for in what will be an action-packed adventure romance if I can help it. I hope you’ll enjoy the following teaser:<\/p>\n

CHAPTER ONE<\/p>\n

The tyrannosaurus was a big one. It stalked across the brushy grassland of the Montana high plains smoothly on two towering legs that somehow moved gracefully despite their tree-like size. The huge carnivore placed one three-clawed foot on the ground almost gently, followed slowly by the other foot in a stealthy, fluid motion. The immense, tawny-furred animal blended into the tan colors of the grasslands so well as to be almost unnoticeable despite its size. Keeping its head low and its long tail stretched out behind, it was stalking something it smelled on the air currents. The brown and tan zebra-striped mane along the crest of its neck stood tall with anticipation of a kill. Its nose came up slightly each time it sniffed the light breeze, and then it would adjust its course slightly to follow the scent it was homing in on.<\/p>\n

That scent was far too faint for a human nose to detect, but was easily followed by the powerful sensory system within the rex\u2019s snout, one that rivaled or surpassed that of a wolf\u2019s nose. After a few more paces into the wind the rex sniffed again, adjusted its direction once more\u2014and caught sight of its quarry.<\/em> Now the huge carnivore accelerated its pace, tracking visually but still moving fluidly and silently on its well-padded feet. It obviously hoped to reach its prey without causing it to flee.<\/p>\n

That prey, Chase Armstrong, adjusted the bill of his green National Park Service ball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes. \u201cHe\u2019s seen us!\u201d Chase murmured with just the hint of an edge on his voice. \u201cHere he comes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God,\u201d Kit Daniels whispered from just behind Chase\u2019s shoulder. \u201cAre you sure this is a good idea?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess we\u2019ll see,\u201d said Chase, rising from his exposed driver\u2019s seat to face the oncoming rex. \u201cHey you!\u201d he shouted at it. \u201cWant some of this?\u201d He waved his arms to be certain the rex was fixated on him. It was.<\/p>\n

As the rex accelerated to a full charge, its feet now thundering on the ground, Chase turned around and bent over, slapping a butt cheek provocatively. \u201cNice and meaty!\u201d he shouted. \u201cCome and get it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChase!\u201d Kit cried as the T-rex loomed larger with each stride. \u201cI don\u2019t think you should be doing that!\u201d She peered around Chase from where she sat behind him in the second seat of the Kra walking machine. She\u2019d planned to stand up with Chase when this moment came, but something about a T-rex charging in her direction made her too shaky to rise without her knees buckling. After all, it had been she, not Chase, who\u2019d escaped the jaws of one of these huge carnivores twice in a single day. And those memories were recent enough that their terror hadn\u2019t entirely faded.<\/p>\n

When the rex was within twenty paces it let out a piercing shriek like the battle cry of a titanic eagle.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough is enough, Chase!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gotta get closer,\u201d Chase replied in a voice that remained calm somehow, though Kit\u2019s heart was racing crazily. Perhaps Chase\u2019s years of dealing with angry grizzly bears had prepared him better for this challenge. \u201cGar says we need to give him a good look at us and make sure he knows it\u2019s humans he\u2019s trying to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be humans he does<\/em> eat, if you don\u2019t do something, quickly!\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read the first two books of the Dinosaur Wars trilogy, check out the ebooks here<\/a>. The first book is free for a while. Hard copies are harder to find, but you can try used book sellers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s an excerpt from the first few pages of Dinosaur Wars: Blood On The Moon, coming soon to an ebook seller near you! Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[119,9,35,97,37,52,18],"class_list":["post-838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dinosaur-country","category-uncategorized","tag-chase-armstrong","tag-dinosaur-country","tag-dinosaur-wars","tag-kit-daniels","tag-science-fiction","tag-story","tag-tyrannosaur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2970,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions\/2970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}