Phew. After a hectic few weeks preparing for a move, then moving, and filling a house to the brim with boxes of books, I’m ready to get back to featuring books. Today’s featured author, E.S. Evan, takes us into paleontological digs and murder. I want to read Pirates of Montana! Follow along with E.S. and the book on Twitter and Facebook.
About Pirates of Montana:
The Pirates of Montana is the coming of age story of Molly Tanner, a 15-year-old woman who travels to Montana, USA to learn about the intricacies of finding, excavating, and preparing dinosaur specimens for academia to study and to captivate the masses. This trip is an amazing opportunity for Molly: she will work closely with one of the world’s most famous paleontologists, learn the ins–and-outs of dinosaur hunting from his team of specialists and graduate students, all the while making connections and friendships that will last a lifetime. For a dinosaur lover like Molly, this is a dream come true.
While she is there she becomes entangled in a paleontological dig that will expose a creature that the world has never seen before, at least in modern memory. However, as more people learn about this impressive and potentially lucrative find, Molly, her friends, and her newfound colleagues will have front row seats to a world of governmental intrigue, Native American mythology and folklore, and murder. To survive Molly and her friends will have to rapidly adapt if they want to get out of this in once piece!
Q: What part of your world excites you the most?
A: This novel is the fictionalization of my own teen-hood, so many of the incidents in the novel are based on true stories. That has been fun to reminisce and write about. However, I’d have to say that the nerd in me LOVES the hard science writing. I’ve specifically woven science fact into the story in an effort to help novices reading the book understand dinosaur paleontology, geology, and biology. I’m not talking about what you’ve seen on the Discovery Channel. This is the nitty gritty, TMI, in your face paleontology. Prepare yourselves…for nerdiness…
Because this is science fiction, I’ve also invented some technology to help paleontologists and geologists with their jobs, but this tech is inspired from real machines and they could exist in the near future. They SHOULD exist. Someone should invent these items and make a ton of money on their patents. Like yesterday.
Q: Why did you choose to fund with Inkshares?
A: I’ve always been drawn to the idea of self-publishing a book. In fact, it was my 2016 New Years Resolution to write a book and publish it. I guess I’m making that happen! Fist-bump!
Inkshares is such a cool platform to drum up funding interest and produce a cool product. I love supporting crowdfunding projects, from helping a friend with medical bills to fun projects like a new TV show. The most recent (besides Inkshares!) my family supported was Con Man by Alan Tudyk. Inkshares is a neat way to self publish, as once you hit your funding goal, you just do what you enjoy best – write!
Q: What are some novels that are similar to yours?
A: I’ve looked around A LOT for a novel like mine, and I haven’t seen any. However that doesn’t mean there isn’t one! Maybe people are worried that young people (and adults! I’m not biased about who this book is aimed at) won’t like hard science. I call shenanigans on that—I read and loved Jurassic Park at age 10, and I didn’t have a newfangled computer thingy to help me figure out all those big words. I had a dictionary, a school library, and gumption. And I walked to and from school in the snow, uphill!
In terms of hard science fiction, Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton and Contact by Carl Sagan come to mind as most similar in style, and the first two, of course, have dinosaurs in them. But, I know of only two novels that have detailed scenes with people actually digging for fossils. I could be wrong, but these books have amazing descriptions of paleontologists in action: Jurassic Park, and The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn. In fact, one of the characters in The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn was based on me when I was in college. I’m still not 100 percent sure I agree with how I was fictionalized, but she did pay me in cheeseburgers for the privilege, and I was a hungry student at the time, so it is what it is.
