Leah Looks At: Pteranodon Canyon

by | May 12, 2022 | Legends of Tabletop

Author Tim Meyer has granted me the opportunity to review “Pteranodon Canyon,” available April 19, 2022 from Evil Epoch Press.

The Action/Adventure Western can be found HERE.

Blood seeps through the opening scenes of “Pteranadon Canyon.” The harsh desolation of the desert is interrupted as a team of outlaws rush to butcher a Pteranodon, some for snack, but most of the corpse reserved for trophy. A brutal treatment awaits that majestic body, and doesn’t end until a serrated blade begins to saw against its massive beak.

We step away from this horrific scene, and nestle into a quiet southwestern settlement along the Arizona/New Mexico border.

An agent from Washington D. C. comes to meet with bounty hunter Charlie Archer. Sharpshooter Elinor Watts soon joins this group, and a proposal is made to securely capture and punish the criminal that slaughtered Charlie’s familyd years prior. The pair must travel to Pteranodon Canyon in Wyoming to stop Francis Burner and his villainous band of dino-poaching delinquents.

Through extermination of an unruly pair of Tyranosaurus Rex that descend upon the town, a previously unknown third party, Finn Hampton joins the crew. Neither Charlie nor Elinor want Finn to join, yet accept this third wheel to tag along with great reluctance. He is skilled with a weapon, knows his dinosaurs and is too familiar with one of the intended targets of their hunt.

A reality where humanity evolved alongside the dinosaurs captivates the imagination. A government that cares about preservation of endangered species, more interesting still.

I appreciated the author’s recreation of our country’s history in a way that accepted this alternate reality, one where the Chicxulub crater does not exist; that giant asteroid just passed on through. An early appreciation for environmental preservation and breadth of species coexistence could have circumvented a wide variety of problems that we directly face in this one.

Tim Meyer has crafted an entertaining read that worked hard to generate my suspension of disbelief. There were small comments that contradict this reality thrown in, but they serve to cement the one he’s built.

Moments of grace exist in the prose deserving of pause and ponder. Overall, this tale would translate very well to film, and deservingly so – Tim has past experience writing for the screen. I expected something similar to “Cowgirls vs. Pteradactyls” when I first corresponded with Tim about reviewing this book, but was surprised to find a minimal presence of cheese. It’s still there, but just a little bit, and not dripping from some trope-shaped bucket.