Paleonet: Peter Ward's paleontological novel, Gorgon

[David Kopaska-Merkel]

Hope Peter doesn't mind this public review.

I love the book.

I have finally read "Gorgon," a novel-length manuscript by Peter Ward, which we were told about a couple of months ago on this list.  "Gorgon" is a thriller, featuring vertebrate paleontology in a pivotal role.  The second most important character is a vertebrate paleontologist.  This is a good story and it will be a good book. I read the whole thing in a day and it definitely held my interest.  If Peter hasn't found a publisher yet he needs to keep trying.  The book needs some intensive copyediting, but that is easily done.  The only serious problem I see is one point in the book where the global economy is briefly discussed.  The economy of today is not yesterday's economy, and if there are significant changes between now and the time the book is published this brief treatment will seem very odd.  This is because the book is set a few years in the future (need to add a few years to the date, too, so it'll still BE the future when the book comes out).  Probably the best solution is to be a lot vaguer about recent global economic trends.  I should also mention the gratuitous homophobia expressed by one of the viewpoint characters early in the book.  This character trait plays no role in later events and should be deleted.


David C Kopaska-Merkel
Geological Survey of Alabama
Box 869999
Tuscaloosa AL 35486-6999
205-247-3695
www.gsa.state.al.us<http://www.gsa.state.al.us>
fax 205-349-2861

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