Carnosaur
By Harry Adam Knight
2022 Valancourt
Paperback, 205 pages
John
Brosnan was a prolific Science Fiction, comic book (2000 AD), and movie
book writer, but when he strapped on the name “Harry Adam Knight” or “Simon Ian
Childer” (often co-writing with Leroy Kettle), he let the entrails fly and the
world became a better place. The “HAK” and “SIC” (Brosnan was very aware
of the words that his pseudonyms were almost
spelling) are all great fun and worth the gore-hound’s time.
Carnosaur
was one that I had been yearning for for quite some
time but prices on old copies of the 1984 Star paperback and the movie tie-in
edition from Tor in 1993 have gotten out of hand. Enter Valancourt Books, my
Knight in shining armor! Their new release (with a snazzy cover by Lynne Hansen
and an introduction by Will Errickson of the indispensable Too Much Horror
Fiction blog) made my 2022 suck a lot less.
Were
those gory murders committed by a Siberian Tiger that had escaped from a
private zoo? Rich zoo owner Sir Penward says yes and has his tiger put down.
But one witness, a kid, says something else, setting reporter David Pascal off
in pursuit of the truth. To cut to the chase, he finds it. Penward has been
extracting DNA from dinosaur fossils and creating his own living dinosaurs.
Before you can say “Holy Jurassic Park!,” you need to know that this mofo came
out six years before Michael Crichton’s best-seller.
Brosnan
(writing alone as Knight this time) gets a lot of action going with an exciting
pack of dinosaurs. Featured most prominently are Deinonychus, Tarbosaurus,
Megalosaurus, and Plesiosaurus, but there are others, as well as big cats and
bulls and other things that can fuck you up. Goddamn, this is a lot of fun. If
the dinosaur doesn’t get you, the panther will.
Gore, sex, cartoonish adversaries, and dinosaurs. It really doesn’t get much
better than this.
If
you’ve seen Roger Corman’s production of the film adaptation, you haven’t
enjoyed this story. While I enjoy the film (and its sequels), it just
doesn’t have the scope of the book. Buy this, read it, and thank me later. No,
thank Valancourt Books for the wonderful work they’ve been doing bringing these
kinds of books back from the dead.
Update: Since writing this review in 2022, I have obtained the original Star Books edition and the movie tie-in from Tor in 1993. Enjoy these covers!
Star Books 1984 Tor movie tie-in 1993
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