Subgenre: YA Science Fiction
About Rhonda Wray, Raptor Wrangler:
There’s hard science, explosions, plenty of dinosaurs (with feathers), diversity, no sex (although there are a few references to it), less violence than many dinosaur stories, cliffhangers galore, and a little bogus science just to honor the fine tradition of speculative fiction (what if raptors had syrinxes and could sing like birds?).
Excerpt:
As she approached the meadow, she could see large shapes moving around, and as she got closer she saw they were two-legged dinosaurs, colored the same greenish-gold as the grass that surrounded them. Besides the stream, they had a pond, where even more of them were wallowing near the banks eating vegetation.
Rhonda cheered up when she saw them eating plants. They wouldn’t eat her. Plus they’d distract anything that might be interested in eating her.
That didn’t necessarily mean they were safe to be around. An angry bull might trample and gore you even if it didn’t plan to eat you. A flock of geese would mess with humans for the sheer fun of it.
When she got closer, she could see bright red crests on their heads, and bright patches of reddish orange on their cheeks. Their tails were striped in bands of orange and tan. The biggest ones were the size of cars and moved on all fours, but there were also quite a few small ones toddling on their hind legs. The perimeter of the meadow was marked with their dung – big crumbly balls that resembled horse poop and didn’t have much scent. She was pretty sure they were lambeosaurs, but didn’t want to ask Maripop.
A bright flash lying in the mud caught Rhonda’s eyes. She dashed over to it, hoping she had found the fooder, but instead it was a shard of something with a pebbly texture. Not a hide, and not something from a plant.
There was another shard a short distance away. This one was larger, and curved.
It wasn’t until Rhonda’s next find – most of an empty oval made of the same kind of substance – that her mind made the connection. These were eggs.
Her stomach growled.
Maripop pronounced the eggs nutritious and non-toxic. She also pointed out a few food plants in the immediate vicinity – potatoes, a starchy white fruit that reminded Rhonda of cauliflower, some extremely tart citrus things, edible greens.
Rhonda heaped together a pile of sticks and kindling and built herself a roaring fire. She tucked the food directly into the embers, since she lacked a cooking pot, except for the greens and citrus. She ate a few mouthfuls of each, very carefully, chasing them with water.
Then she waited. Her stomach was so empty she could almost feel her spine on the other side of it. Rhonda was normally a little bit thick, with strong arm and leg muscles. Her time in space had erased most of her body fat, and her muscles had been toned more through yoga and aerobic dancing than from hauling feed buckets and bot parts. She had no reserves. Any lost weight was coming directly out of her muscle mass.
When it seemed her belly was inclined to accept the food, Rhonda finished her salad. It would have been better with dressing, and a table, with a tablecloth. In a room far away, where you could just pick up the phone and order a fork if you didn’t have one, like the big city hotel rooms. With screens. And air conditioning. And sweet-smelling lotion for your skin, and a bathtub full of bubbles.
Amazon
About Charon Dunn and Sally Smith:
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