Line #24 Literature/CretaceousRoulette


1	''Cretaceous Roulette'' is a three-part short story by Website/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...
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3	The author has said that the story "can be considered a reaction against [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology the way dinosaurs are most often depicted in fiction]]. (''Series/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."
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5	[[http://agahnim.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4hdvwa Part One]] [[http://agahnim.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4hdx6s Part Two]] [[http://agahnim.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4hdy8c Part Three]]
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7	!!The story provides examples of:
8	* DownerEnding: WordOfGod admits that it was meant to be open to interpretation, but with [[spoiler:several of the main characters being {{RetGone}}d and the strong implication that the ''entire human race'' is doomed to suffer the same fate]], the ending certainly doesn't feel too uplifting.
9	* FiveTokenBand: The time travelers.
10	* HuskyRusskie: Stanislav.
11	* InsaneTrollLogic: Karl is full of it.
12	* {{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.
13	* KarmicDeath: More like [[spoiler:Karmic RetGone for Stanislav]].
14	* KickTheDog: Stanislav enjoys making the eutherians suffer as much as possible while feeding them to the Stranger.
15	* KissingCousins: Stanislav thinks this is going on between Clay and Cerie, for no reason other than their race.
16	* LawfulStupid: Karl will follow orders even if it means [[spoiler:erasing humanity from existence]].
17	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Played with. Stephanie wonders whether the Navajo (Including Ahiga) have inherent tracking skills. Karl dismisses this idea as racist.
18	* MistakenForRacist: Stephanie.
19	* MultinationalTeam: The crew includes Stephanie (White American), Stanislav (Russian), Ahiga (Navajo Native American), Karl (Chinese), Clay, and Cerie (African American). This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] early on in part one.
20	* NoTrueScotsman: Karl can't wrap his head around the fact that a communist would harbor racist attitudes.
21	* OnlySaneMan: Stephanie.
22	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: Karl gets offended when Stephanie mentions the genetic differences between geographically isolated groups of people.
23	* {{Prehistoria}}: Averted. "The world 75 million years ago did not look that different from the present, really. There were none of the smoking volcanoes or steamy jungles that everyone liked to imagine it having."
24	* 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 ''Film/JurassicPark''.
25	* 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 little ''Microraptor''.
26	* RetGone: [[spoiler:What happens to Ahiga, Clay, Cerie, Stanislav and possibly the entire human race.]]
27	* 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 prey and biomechanic studies on the range of motion and potential functions of dromaeosaurid hands.
28	* TitleDrop: In part 3.
29	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
30	* TheWebAlwaysExisted: Averted when Clay tries to update Facebook.
31	* WouldHitAGirl: Stanislav beats up on Stephanie.
32	* {{Xenofiction}}: The sequences told from the Stranger's point of view.

Context Literature / CretaceousRoulette