"The Monster of Lake LaMetrie" is a short story by American writer Wardon Allan Curtis. It was originally published in September 1899 in Pearson's Magazine and collected in Sam Moskowitz's Science Fiction by Gaslight, Hank Davis' The Baen Big Book of Monsters and Michael Moorcock's England Invaded . Its original publication featured illustrations by Stanley L. Wood.
The story is told through the extracts of a diary written from 1896 to 1897 by a professor and physician named James McLennegan, addressed to a colleague, Professor William G. Breyfogle.
McLennegan had been studying Lake LaMetrie, a lake within the mountains of Wyoming. With him was a sickly boy named Edward Framingham, who came along in hopes of recovering from dyspepsia. McLennegan's reason for studying the lake is for its remarkable property of prehistoric life washing ashore, such as tree-like ferns and placoderms. McLennegan believes that the lake is connected to an “inner earth” from which the plants and animals originate.
One night, a loud roaring brings McLennegan's and Framingham's attention to the lake. The roaring is the result of the lake's rapid rising, which forces McLennegan and Framingham out of their makeshift house. The next morning, the lake's level is back to normal as the result of a whirlpool. McLennegan knows this to be one of the lake's discharges of strange life, and discovers what seems to be a short, thick log with a long root attached to it. The next day, while walking along the shore, McLennegan finds that the “log” is actually a live Elasmosaurus . The beast attacks him, but McLennegan slices the top of its head off with a machete and removes its brain, which is found to be remarkably a lot like a human's. Despite the brain's removal, the creature's body continues to operate.
The next day, Framingham almost dies, with only his mind still functioning. Using his knowledge and skills of surgery, McLennegan removes Framingham's brain and grafts it into the Elasmosaurus’s head. Seven days later, the beast begins to stir, and five days after that, starts to interact with McLennegan – the beast can understand him, and later is able to speak somewhat rudimentarily.
Although the situation is peaceful at first, Framingham's behavior has significantly changed a year later to that of the animal his mind controls. McLennegan's last entry indicates that he will be leaving.
The narrative is then revealed to have been found by a military captain, Arthur Fairchild, who discovered the beast eating McLennegan while searching for Native Americans who left their reservation. He had ordered the team to fire upon the creature, killing it, and found the manuscript with McLennegan's remains.
The Monster of Lake LaMetrie is part of the tradition of hollow earth and lost world literature. In particular, it bears the clear influence of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), sharing the motif of a plesiosaur surviving into modern times in an underground body of water. Within the text, the character of McLennegan mentions John Cleves Symmes Jr. by name as a proponent of the hollow earth theory.
Curtis' story was written in the wake of the Bone Wars (1877-1892), an ongoing rivalry between American paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, during which over a hundred dinosaur species were discovered and described across Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. The publicity around the Bone Wars helped to popularize dinosaurs in the American public consciousness, [1] and link them to the western United States. Prior to the Bone Wars, Cope had formally described and named the Elasmosaurus in 1868. By the year of the story's publication in Pearson's Magazine, Wyoming in particular was still a popular destination for hopeful paleontologists from eastern museums. [2]
The idea that prehistoric animals might still be extant on the American frontier had earlier been promoted by Thomas Jefferson, who, as early as 1799, was speculating that the mastodon might survive somewhere in the continental interior. [3]
The Monster of Lake LaMetrie is an early instance of the Weird West genre, blending science fiction tropes with a frontier setting. The idea of Mesozoic animals surviving in remote corners of the American or Canadian West would appear again in The Monster of "Partridge Creek" (1908), and in such films as The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918), The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956), and The Valley of Gwangi (1969).
Algis Budrys said that the story was effective but wished that the author had further developed events. [4]
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a 1964 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965. Like many of Dick's novels, it utilizes an array of science fiction concepts and explores the ambiguous slippage between reality and unreality. It is one of Dick's first works to explore religious themes.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein about a lunar colony's revolt against absentee rule from Earth. The novel illustrates and discusses libertarian ideals. It is respected for its credible presentation of a comprehensively imagined future human society on both the Earth and the Moon.
Willis Harold O'Brien, known as Obie O'Brien, was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," and is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome in collaboration with Jerome Bixby, John A. Sentry, William Scarff and Paul Janvier. In the 1990s he was the publisher and editor of the science fiction magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction.
The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection of science fiction stories by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1967, all part of his Future History.
Elasmosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur that lived in North America during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 80.5 million years ago. The first specimen was discovered in 1867 near Fort Wallace, Kansas, US, and was sent to the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, who named it E. platyurus in 1868. The generic name means "thin-plate reptile", and the specific name means "flat-tailed". Cope originally reconstructed the skeleton of Elasmosaurus with the skull at the end of the tail, an error which was made light of by the paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh, and became part of their "Bone Wars" rivalry. Only one incomplete Elasmosaurus skeleton is definitely known, consisting of a fragmentary skull, the spine, and the pectoral and pelvic girdles, and a single species is recognized today; other species are now considered invalid or have been moved to other genera.
Time and Stars is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Poul Anderson, published in 1964.
"If There Were No Benny Cemoli" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in the December, 1963 issue of Galaxy magazine with illustration by Lutjens.
Agathaumas is a dubious genus of a large ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in Wyoming during the Late Cretaceous. The name comes from Ancient Greek: αγαν - 'much' and θαυμα - 'wonder'. It is estimated to have been 15 metres (49 ft) long and weighed 17.5 tonnes, and was seen as the largest land animal known at the time of its discovery.
Tyrannosaurus rex is unique among dinosaurs in its place in modern culture; paleontologist Robert Bakker has called it "the most popular dinosaur among people of all ages, all cultures, and all nationalities". Paleontologists Mark Norell and Lowell Dingus have likewise called it "the most famous dinosaur of all times." Paleoartist Gregory S. Paul has called it "the theropod. [...] This is the public's favorite dinosaur [...] Even the formations it is found in have fantastic names like Hell Creek and Lance." Other paleontologists agree with that and note that whenever a museum erects a new skeleton or bring in an animatronic model, visitor numbers go up. "Jurassic Park and King Kong would not have been the same without it." In the public mind, T. rex sets the standard of what a dinosaur should be. Science writer Riley Black similarly states, "In all of prehistory, there is no animal that commands our attention quite like Tyrannosaurus rex, the king of the tyrant lizards. Since the time this dinosaur was officially named in 1905, the enormous carnivore has stood as the ultimate dinosaur."
Cultural depictions of dinosaurs have been numerous since the word dinosaur was coined in 1842. The non-avian dinosaurs featured in books, films, television programs, artwork, and other media have been used for both education and entertainment. The depictions range from the realistic, as in the television documentaries from the 1990s into the first decades of the 21st century, to the fantastic, as in the monster movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
The Best of L. Sprague de Camp is a collection of writings by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in February 1978 and in paperback by Ballantine Books in May of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. The book was reprinted by Ballantine in May 1986. It was reissued in trade paperback and ebook editions by Phoenix Pick in December 2014. It has also been translated into German.
The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs are a series of sculptures of dinosaurs and other extinct animals, inaccurate by modern standards, in the London borough of Bromley's Crystal Palace Park. Commissioned in 1852 to accompany the Crystal Palace after its move from the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, they were unveiled in 1854 as the first dinosaur sculptures in the world. The models were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific direction of Sir Richard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. The models, also known as the Geological Court or Dinosaur Court, were classed as Grade II listed buildings from 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007.
Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology is a 2005 graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by the company Big Time Attic. The book tells a fictionalized account of the Bone Wars, a period of intense excavation, speculation, and rivalry in the late 19th century that led to a greater understanding of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Bone Sharps follows the two scientists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh as they engage in an intense competition for prestige and discoveries in the western United States. Along the way, the scientists interact with historical figures of the Gilded Age, including P. T. Barnum and Ulysses S. Grant.
The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. Each of the two paleontologists used underhanded methods to try to outdo the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and the destruction of bones. Each scientist also sought to ruin his rival's reputation and cut off his funding, using attacks in scientific publications.
Masters of the Maze is a science fiction novel by American writer Avram Davidson, originally published in 1965 by Pyramid Books with a cover by John Schoenherr. The first UK edition, the only hardcover to date, was issued by White Lion in 1974. An American paperback reprint followed from Manor Books in 1976. Ebook editions appeared in 2012, from both Prologue Books and SF Gateway.
Paleontology in Wyoming includes research into the prehistoric life of the U.S. state of Wyoming as well as investigations conducted by Wyomingite researchers and institutions into ancient life occurring elsewhere.
A substantial amount of paleontological research has occurred within or conducted by people from the United States. Paleontologists have found that at the start of the Paleozoic era, what is now "North" America was actually in the southern hemisphere. Marine life flourished in the country's many seas. Later the seas were largely replaced by swamps, home to amphibians and early reptiles. When the continents had assembled into Pangaea drier conditions prevailed. The evolutionary precursors to mammals dominated the country until a mass extinction event ended their reign.
Paleontology in the United States can first be traced to the Native Americans, who have been familiar with fossils for thousands of years. They both told myths about them and applied them to practical purposes. African slaves also contributed their knowledge; the first reasonably accurate recorded identification of vertebrate fossils in the new world was made by slaves on a South Carolina plantation who recognized the elephant affinities of mammoth molars uncovered there in 1725. The first major fossil discovery to attract the attention of formally trained scientists were the Ice Age fossils of Kentucky's Big Bone Lick. These fossils were studied by eminent intellectuals like France's George Cuvier and local statesmen and frontiersman like Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin, William Henry Harrison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. By the end of the 18th century possible dinosaur fossils had already been found.
Nebula Award Stories 3 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Roger Zelazny. It was first published in the United Kingdom in hardcover by Gollancz in November 1968. The first American edition was published by Doubleday in December of the same year. Paperback editions followed from Pocket Books in the U.S. in February 1970, and Panther in the U.K. in November 1970. The American editions bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories Three. The book was more recently reissued by Stealth Press in hardcover in June 2001. It has also been published in German.