History Literature / CretaceousRoulette

* StockDinosaurs: Averted. How many people have heard of ''Saurornitholestes''?

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Karl gets offended when Stephanie mentions the genetic differences between geographically isolated groups of people.

* RaptorAttack: Played with. Stanislav takes advantage of this trope to make Clay and Cerie feel uncomfortable, but the dromaeosaurs featured in the story don't hunt in packs, nor do they pose much of a danger to humans. Unfortunately, the company skimped on research and considers all "Raptors" "danger class three or higher". Even ''[[KillerRabbit Microraptor]]''.
* RetGone: [[spoiler:What happens to Ahiga, Clay, Cerie, Stanislav and arguably the entire human race.]]
* ShownTheirWork: Among other things, much of the behavior of the ''Saurornitholestes'' is based on actual published research, such as the discovery of trace fossils showing deinonychosaurs digging for mammals and biomechanic studies on the range of motion and potential functions of dromaeosaurid hands.

* JerkAss: Stanislav. He tortures small animals, does his best to make Clay and Cerie uncomfortable on their first day on the job, and generally acts like a bigoted asshole throughout the story.

* RaptorAttack: Played with. Stanislav takes advantage of this trope to make Clay and Cerie feel uncomfortable, but the dromaeosaurs featured in the story don't hunt in packs, nor do they pose much of a danger to humans. Unfortunately, the company skimped on research and considers all "Raptors" "danger class three or higher". Even [[KillerRabbit ''Microraptor'']].

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Karl is apparently based on a real person who the author has interacted with on Wikipedia. [[ParanoiaFuel Let that sink in]].

The author has said that the story "can be considered a reaction against [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology the way dinosaurs are most often depicted in fiction]]. (''TerraNova'', I’m [[TakeThat looking at you]].) It’s also a commentary on a lot of other aspects of human society, particularly the relationship between science and the media."

* RaptorAttack: Played with. The dromaeosaurs featured in the story don't hunt in packs, nor do they pose much of a danger to humans. Unfortunately, the company skimped on research and considers all "Raptors" "danger class three or higher". Even [[KillerRabbit ''Microraptor'']].

* RaptorAttack: Played with. None of the dromaeosaurs featured in the story hunt in packs, nor do they pose much of a danger to humans. Unfortunately, the company skimped on research and considers all "Raptors" "danger class three or higher". Even [[KillerRabbit ''Microraptor'']].

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Karl gets offended when Stephanie mentions the genetic differences between geographically isolated groups of people. Stanislav's blatant bigotry doesn't bother him because Stanislav is a Communist.

The author has said that the story "can be considered a reaction against [[SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying the way dinosaurs are most often depicted in fiction]]. (''TerraNova'', I’m [[TakeThat looking at you]].) It’s also a commentary on a lot of other aspects of human society, particularly the relationship between science and the media."

''Cretaceous Roulette'' is a three-part short story by DeviantArt user "Agahnim" (real name: Jonathan Kane). The story follows a group of time travelers (Stephanie, Ahiga, Clay, Cerie, Stanislav and Karl) who travel back to the Cretaceous period to capture a ''Saurornitholestes'' (Called "The Stranger" in the narrative). It's all going smoothly until members of the group start mysteriously vanishing...

* JerkAss: Stanislav. Just Stanislav.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Played with. Stephanie wonders whether the Navajo (Including Ahiga) have inherent tracking skills.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Karl gets offended when Stephanie mentions the genetic differences between ethnic groups. Stanislav's blatant bigotry doesn't bother him because Stanislav is a Communist.

* RaptorAttack: Played with. None of the dromaeosaurs featured in the story hunts in packs, nor do they pose a danger to humans. Unfortunately, the company skimped on research and considers all "Raptors" "danger class three or higher". Even ''Microraptor''.

* HumansAreBastards: The author has stated in the comments that he deliberately made the human characters unlikable: "Something I was going for in this story is the way it is in the movie 2001: ASpaceOdyssey, where it’s deliberately ironic that the most complex and human-seeming character is a computer, while the human characters are relatively uninteresting. I wanted to do something similar in my story, making the Saurornitholestes character at least as engaging as any of the humans. I feel like that fits the story’s theme about humans’ attitudes towards nature in general and prehistoric life in particular."

* RaptorAttack: Played with. None of the dromaeosaurs featured in the story hunts in packs, nor do they pose a danger to humans. Unfortunately, the company DidNotDoTheResearch and considers all "Raptors" "danger class three or higher". Even ''Microraptor''.
* [[spoiler:RetGone: What happens to Ahiga, Clay, Cerie, Stanislav and arguably the entire human race.]]

* PrehistoricMonster: Averted. The largest prehistoric creature the team encounters is the size of a coyote. Stephanie makes it very clear that prehistoric earth is nothing like ''JurassicPark''.