Sauria Monstra: Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, and Other Fossil Saurians in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy

Contained in this anthology collection are 14 classic tales and one novel of prehistoric survivors. The majority were originally published in the first two decades of the 20th Century, with a few prior to 1900, a few later than that, and one from the mid-50's.Although most of the stories are entertaining, I was disappointed that HALF the book is a reprint of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'. If you don't have a copy of this classic adventure tale, or haven't read it yet, this isn't likely to be a problem. It IS a good novel. However, I found the novel's inclusion odd, considering Coachwhip's other anthologies normally incorporate lesser known or hard to find stories. Perhaps there weren't enough good short stories out there to fill an entire book.Aside from that, some of the best stories include Charles John Cutcliffe Hyne's 'The Lizard', about a bizarre subterreanian relic within a cave. Wardon Allan Curtis' 'The Monster of Lake LaMetrie', involving a plesiosaur, and in a Frankenstein-like plot twist, receives a human brain transplant. The most recently published tale, Terence Robert's 'Report on the Status Quo' from 1955, involves entire Mesozoic ecosystems (complete with diseases and vermin) returning after World War III. It has a very similar feel to Max Brook's 'World War Z', as it's given in a report form, where initial warnings go unheeded, disasterously unprepared military forces are overwhelmed, and ending in a changed globe. Substitute zombies with dinosaurs, and you could have World War D.Interestingly, the aforementioned 'The Monster of Lake LaMetrie' and Georges Dupuy's 'The Monster of "Partridge Creek" ', about a bristly Alaskan ceratosaur and included in this collection, have both been occasionally mentioned in cryptozoology lore as factual rather than fiction. However, the veracity of these claims has been disputed by Dr. Karl Shuker and others.On the less positive, some stories took frustratingly long to involve their prehistoric survivors, often with little payoff (in regards to prehistoric mayhem at least). The stories are still atmospheric, but the saurian relic aspect seems minimal. Willis Knapp Jones' 'The Beast of the Yungas', Richard Dehan's 'The Great Beast of Kafue', and especially Charles Finger's 'The Lizard God' best typify this.However, the only story I truly disliked was Porter Emereson Brown's 'The Diplodocus', about an animal bred from various creatures. It's a farce obviously not intended to be taken seriously.In short, there are some great stories, and some good stories included. A few I've read in the past, but many I'd only heard of, so I recommend this tome for many good, classic tales of dinosaurs, plesiosaurs and pterodactyls.

This anthology is worth the price if for no other reason than it has the classic "The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Since most of the stories are 100 years old or older, it is also interesting in that it reveals some of the earliest thoughts (prejudices) about dinosaurs.