Okay...I apologize...well, sort of, for my last post.
Congratulations to everyone who caught my April's Fool joke for what it is. I don't normally do this kind of thing, but I just couldn't resist.
Actually, I had some genuine inspiration which might surprise you. In truth, I made up very little of that "Monster Fossil" story. Aside from the size of the animal, which is really less than a meter in length, and the quotes from the fictional scientific personalities (did you catch all the name homages?), and their resulting insanity, this paleontology report is pretty much dead on. Even the posted graphic, showing how the creature might have looked alive, is authentic.
The real article--yes, seriously, it's true--is pasted below. Still pretty cool, I think.
The whole abandoned fossil premise, forgotten and lost in the web-haunted depths of a museum vault, is what engaged me to compose this story, which was just as much a little creative exercise as it was an April Fool's joke.
I hope you will all forgive me, but this was just too much fun.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090319/sc_afp/scienceuscanadaswedenpaleontologydinosaur;_ylt=Am85Ea.lTikPKWq4drNv4397hMgF
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Sorry to have missed yesterday's fun-but the article link was interesting...and very weird.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Oh, man, tell me you're going to turn your prank into a longer story. I see two parts to it: 1) the expedition to find more specimens, and 2) the exhibit created out of the original fossil and what it does to that family from Kansas.
ReplyDeleteNo reals plans for that right now, Paul, although a few other people have also suggested that I expand on this idea.
ReplyDeleteActually, it's not a terribly original notion. H.P. Lovecraft's brilliant novel AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS is what inspired my little "prank" to begin with. HPL does this kind of thing far better than I ever could and if you haven't ever read the book, I highly recommend that you do so.
I am currently contracted to contribute to an upcoming anthology of ghost stories, and my tale will take place in a museum, but there the resemblance ends.
Still, who knows? Maybe someday...
I loved AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. Oddly enough, I'm currently making my way through the DVDs of the very first Dr. Who story in which the Daleks appear (all the way back in late 1963), and the shots of their city (obvious BBC model though it is) make me think of the city in HPL's tale.
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