Dinosaur Summer
Dinosaur Summer is a novel by Greg Bear, published in 1998. It is a modern sequel to Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel "The Lost World". Tony DiTerlizzi illustrated the book. Background. The novel is set in an alternate history in which the events of "The Lost World" actually occurred. (However, the events of the original novel's sequel, "The Poison Belt", which has a very different theme and treatment of characters, do "not" appear to have happened in the world of "Dinosaur Summer".) The setting is based upon a large plateau ("El Grande" or "Tepui Grande") in  Venezuela, where dinosaurs still live. Due to the capture and exhibition of dinosaurs, movie producers such as Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen never succeed, since the public's interest is instead captured by living dinosaurs. However, due to deaths caused by escaped dinosaurs and difficulty in obtaining new dinosaurs, the dinosaur circuses slowly die out. The novel is set in 1947, shortly after the Second World War. Plot. Peter Belzoni and his father Anthony Belzoni join an expedition to return the dinosaurs belonging to the last dinosaur circus to the plateau. To reach the plateau, the expedition must deal with  the vagaries of politics. One dinosaur dies en route, but the remainder are released on the plateau. However, the expedition members are trapped on the plateau and must face, and escape from, dinosaurs both real and fictional. Major characters. "Expedition members" Notable dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures. Real species Fictional species