Radiodactylus langstoni Radiodactylus langstoni was a pterosaur that lived near what is now Dinosaur Valley State Park during the early Cretaceous. The one and only bone we have from Radiodactylus, a humerus, was found during construction at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Powerplant. Hence the Radio—as in radioactive. One measly wing bone may not seem like a lot …
I’d made it all the way to Dinosaur Valley. But now, after squeezing under the barbed wire fence that marked the border of the state park, I was having second thoughts about venturing out to meet up with the Black Ghost on my own. Nobody. Just us. Not safe. What was that supposed to mean? …
7/26/2022 I recently made some small changes on chapters 1 and 2. I had read on a couple different websites that Radiodactylus had a five-foot wingspan, but I was never able to verify that number. It seemed like the same websites were referencing each other in a circle. Since I couldn’t find any citation, I …
On my way to the lit-up barn, I crossed a meadow twinkling with lightning bugs, a sleeping bag under one arm and a backpack over my shoulder. You wouldn’t know it looking at my flip flops, athletic shorts, and tank top. But I was psyched up for a secret mission. Tonight, I was going into …
Grandpa used to sing this Lightnin’ Hopkins song called Black Ghost Blues. In it, Lightnin’ is haunted at night by a shadow he calls the Black Ghost, and the entire song is him begging the Ghost to go back where it came from so he can finally get some sleep. As a little kid, I …
The summer I lived on the ranch, Grandpa found newborn mice in the wall. When he’d pulled apart the insulation and uncovered a writhing ball of sealed eyelids, wormy tails, and thin, naked skin, full-body NOPE hit me so hard that I ran out of the barn. Uncovering that nest was about the most disgusting …
“My mother told me to hang out here while she’s working.” Dixon’s voice echoed down the hall and clear to the back of the lab. It sounded like he’d been stopped at the door. “She sent me with keycards.” “We’re busy.” Dr. Jacobs sounded ready to tan his oh-so-special hide. “Now get.” Meanwhile, Nuke sat …
There was no telling how long I’d been soaring circles over miles of evergreen forest and thrashing gray ocean. But it wasn’t until I noticed a long-necked dinosaur towering over the treetops that I realized this couldn’t be real. But it wasn’t a dream, either. More like a memory. Suddenly, over the roar of the …
It was close to midnight when Mom and I entered the Hemming Natural History Museum. Coming through the loading bay in the back made it feel like we were about to do something that would land my thirteen-year-old butt in juvie. A square-shouldered security officer looked up from a half-built Lego Star Wars kit on …
I never expected being embarrassingly good at a Japanese card game would get me into the First Annual Interplanetary Peace Camp. But when I applied to act as the U.S. representative, the board of interviewers asked, “Isa Flores, how would you befriend someone as unlike you as an arthroid?” And I already knew my answer. …