Gary Carter Resident Scholar Profiles TOP SCHOLAR: Harriet Klausner SCHOLARS:
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Review Summaries
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Publish America, 19.95, 177 pp.
ISBN 1413701930
Ready to quit if nothing comes of this field trip with his students to Death Valley, Jacob Malfusco and his team uncover what appears to be the bones of a flying dinosaur, but not like a pterosaur as the wings are different. Jacob feels crazy but tells his students it looks like the remains of a mythological dragon.
In Ayers Rock Australia, archaeologist Marsha Kimbrough hopes to salvage her dying career by proving that ancient astronauts came to earth. Her daughter Tricia accompanies her on the trek, but instead of studying cave paintings, they uncover the top of an Egyptian pyramid buried for centuries under the Australian sand.
In Mount Palomar, California, senior astronomer Papalov Darringer announces that millions of meteors are on a trajectory towards earth and will hit within a year. Pappy also states that these “rocks” all appear to be the identical size.
These three events seem to have nothing in common yet they do for what is coming to the earth has not existed on this orb in almost two millennium. The planet, in spite of technical advances, has no defenses unless Jacob, Marsha, and Pappy can find a way to save their species from extinction.
JUMP START grips the reader from the very moment that a depressed Jacob finds that first rib, remains at that pace through the next two discoveries, and then accelerates into a faster than light alien invasion tale. The action-packed story line contains solid key characters as Jacob and Marsha know failure in relationships and at work while Pappy feels every minute of his sixty-eight years. Gary Carter deserves accolades for this Von Daniken meets HG Wells in a modern retelling of George and the Dragon.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Gary Carter Scholar
"Millions of similar sized meteors fall harmlessly into the oceans of the world and disappear. Soon the fisheries of the world begin to dwindle and dry up. Humanity finds itself faced with another problem: starvation on a massive, worldwide scale.
At the beach six months later Jacob and Marsha are witness as hundreds of huge, ravenous, juvenile dragons emerge from the ocean, as they have begun to do world wide. Caught by surprise, the Malfusco's, along with the rest of mankind, beat a hasty retreat, but it is too late. The genetically engineered dinosaurs, livestock for a race of nomadic beings that circle the galaxy as a way of life, are elusive, adaptive and intelligent, mananging to outwit Earth's defenses at almost every turn. Jacob has to learn how to fight them."
Gary Carter, Resident Gary Carter Scholar
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Overall Review
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Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 60% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%
Tone of book
- scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Tech./$$$/Info hunt
Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying
- info about lifeform(s)/society/phenomena
Adversaries are…
- dragons (hostile)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
GIANT monster(s)
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- scientist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- magical being
- animal
Age:
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- Prince/Nobleman/King
- killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
Terrain
- Jungle
- Desert
- Water
- Mountains
- Forests
Earth setting:
- near future (later in 21st century)
- current (early 21st century)
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- some scientific explanation
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
How much dialogue?
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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