All the events of 1876 occurred as reported here, except that Marsh did not lead a party of students west that year (he had gone every year for the previous six, but remained in New Haven in 1876 to meet the English biologist T. H. Huxley); that all of Cope’s bones traveled safely on the Missouri steamer, and no one continued on to Deadwood; and that Robert Louis Stevenson did not go west until 1879. The descriptions of the Indian Wars are accurate, sadly so, and from a vantage of some hundred-plus years later, it seems safe to say that the American West described in these pages, like the world of the dinosaurs long before, was soon to be forever lost.
Afterword
Michael’s dedication to his craft was endless: over the course of his forty-plus-year career, he wrote thirty-two books; his work inspired many films, and as a director, screenwriter, and producer himself, he created iconic movies and television programs. Not only was he always working on his next project, he was always working on his “next projects.” Michael was constantly reading, clipping interesting articles, amassing research for new work by looking to the past, observing the present, and thinking about our future. He loved to tell stories that blurred the lines between facts and what-if scenarios. You always came out of a Crichton novel, film, or television event smarter and wanting more. Because his work was so densely researched, you couldn’t help but believe that, yes, perhaps dinosaurs could be brought back to life through DNA found in a well-preserved mosquito or that nanobots could operate intelligently and independently and wreak havoc on their human creators and the environment.
His work is as relevant and engaging as ever, as demonstrated by the gigantic success of the Jurassic Park franchise, and in HBO’s reimagining of his classic film Westworld.
Honoring Michael’s legacy has been my mission ever since he passed away. Through the creation of his archives, I quickly realized that it was possible to trace the birth of Dragon Teeth to a 1974 letter to the curator of vertebrate paleontology of the American Museum of Natural History. After reading the manuscript, I could only describe Dragon Teeth as “pure Crichton.” It has Michael’s voice, and his love of history, research, and science all dynamically woven into this epic tale. Nearly forty years after Michael first hatched the idea for a novel about the excitement and the dangers of early paleontology, the story feels as fresh and fun today as it was to him then. Dragon Teeth was a very important book for Michael—it was a forerunner of his “other dinosaur story.” Its publication is a wonderful way to introduce Michael to new generations of readers around the world and is an absolute treat for longtime Crichton fans everywhere.
Publishing Dragon Teeth has been a labor of love, and I want to thank the following people for their assistance in this endeavor: my creative partner, Laurent Bouzereau; Jonathan Burnham, Jennifer Barth, and the team at Harper; Jennifer Joel and Sloan Harris of ICM Partners; the remarkable team at the Michael Crichton Archives; Michael S. Sherman and Page Jenkins; and, of course, our beloved son, John Michael Crichton (Jr.).
—Sherri Crichton
Bibliography
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———. “The Story of a Pioneer ‘Bone-Setter.’” Natural History (March 1938): 224–27.
Colbert, Edwin H. “Battle of the Bones. Cope & Marsh, the Paleontological Antagonists.” Geo Times, vol. 2, no. 4 (October 1957): 6–7, 14.
———. Men and Dinosaurs: The Search in Field and Laboratory. New York: Dutton, 1968.
———. Dinosaurs: Their Discovery and Their World. New York: Dutton, 1961.
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Dippie, Brian W. “Bold but Wasting Race: Stereotypes and American Indian Policy.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, vol. 25, no. 3 (Summer 1975): 2–13.
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———. “The Great Northern Plains.” Backpacker (May 1986): 48–52.
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About the Author
Michael Crichton (1942–2008) was the author of the groundbreaking novels The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Disclosure, Prey, State of Fear, and Next, among many others. His books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, have been translated into thirty-eight languages, and have provided the basis for fifteen feature films. He was the director of Westworld, Coma, The Great Train Robbery, and Looker, as well as the creator of ER. Crichton remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Also by Michael Crichton
Fiction
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The Terminal Man
The Great Train Robbery
Eaters of the Dead
Congo
Sphere
Jurassic Park
Rising Sun
Disclosure
The Lost World
Airframe
Timeline
Prey
State of Fear
Next
Pirate Latitudes
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Nonfiction
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Jasper Johns
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
dragon teeth. Copyright © 2017 by CrichtonSun LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Digital Edition MAY 2017 ISBN: 9780062473370
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-247335-6
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* Editor’s note: Charles H. Sternberg attributed this discovery to Cope in his 1909 memoir, The Life of a Fossil Hunter. Others have credited the discovery of the Brontosaurus to Marsh.
Michael Crichton, Dragon Teeth
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