Strange how things come about.
Something that cropped up a couple of times in the critiques for 'The Uinta Incident' was the science (in this case, palaeontology): some readers felt it was weak, implausible, wishy-washy. But I had deliberately kept it vague for the simple reason that I hate boring scientific explanations -- whether reading 'em or writing 'em. That and my knowledge is only that of the average layman, of course. In my story scientists potassium-argon date fossils and then use a time machine to go back and grab the animal as it comes to rest. Look, just take it as a given, will ya, folks.
But some folks won't. A fossil is just a cast or an impression, somebody said. Potassium-argon dating is inaccurate said another. Time travel? said yet another. Ha!
I need a friendly palaeontologist, methinks.
Later. Completely at random, I clicked on a name in the Critters biography page. Name of Geoff Habiger. My dad's name is Geoff. That's why I clicked on it in that bored, distracted way.
Geoff has moved from writing to publishing (Artemesia Publishing www.apbooks.net ) and, believe it or not (and I wouldn't blame anybody for not believing this) turns out to be a paleontologist and invites folks to contact him if they need assistance on related matters.
Now this is odd, I thought. But ... this is also GREAT!
Geoff's response to my questions -- I included the relevant passages from my story -- was nothing short of heroic. This is a man who knows his subject inside out and clearly delights in enlightening the great unwashed, like myself.
The upshot is, the science in my story was okay to begin with. Fossils can be casts, impressions or organic in nature -- not, as Geoff pointed out, it really matters in my story. But it's nice to know these things, and I'm sure as hell gonna casually drop this in somewhere.
K-Ar dating, like any radiometric dating, is only accurate to within a given range. But who's to say how accurate methods will be in 40 years time, which is when my story is set? He even offered some viable directions such methods may take. Oh, but he cheered me up, did this man.
All I need now is for someone to prove time travel is really a stroll in the park and I'm made. Failing that, I'm happy for my science fiction to be labelled fantasy.
There's always a way out. Just click randomly.
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