Speculative Fiction Worth Reading: Jasper Flint and the Dinosaur Saddle

My love of dinosaur stories includes books as well as movies and TV shows. I always say, giant man-eating reptiles make any story better.

So, I picked up this book, Jasper Flint and the Dinosaur Saddle by Jack Geurts, excited but not expecting much. You know what? It was fantastic.

The story was surprising and filled with everything I love: dinosaurs, archaeology, aliens, and trips into ancient civilizations. What? I bet you're wondering how those things together make any sense. Well, they do, and in an awesome way. I couldn't wait to get back to reading this book every day. It was a pure delight.

It starts out at a dig where the dinosaur comes to life. What? Yes, and it was so fun. Then the story kept getting better from there, taking me places I didn't expect. This book gets 5 alien heads from me.

Here's the official blurb:

We thought we were the first civilisation to live on this planet…

We were wrong. 

65 million years ago, an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. But that wasn’t the only thing it did… 

It also caused the people who were living here at the time to flee to a nearby planet. And there they have lived ever since. 

Until now… 

Sixteen-year-old Jasper Flint joins his paleontologist parents on a dig in Outback Australia and finds something there he never expected. Something no one ever expected.
Buried for 100 million years with the fossilised bones of a dinosaur… A saddle. 

The only relic of a super-ancient civilisation who lives on in secret to this day. And some of them don’t want their existence known… 

Soon, Jasper is thrust on a time-bending quest through history to follow an ancient map and save the world.

You can find the book HERE

#Death #Life #Dignity #Happy #Sorrow #Miracle

On June 12, 2018, I lost my mother to a malignant disease. She was 85 years young. I feel greatly blessed that she survived another 20 years after the doctors had given her 3 to 6 moths to live in 1998 due to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It’s quite story, but long story short ~ we attribute her miracle to Father Baker and Our Lady of Victory for their intercession, and this miracle has gone to the Vatican. 

And my mom’s passing had me thinking…

We find great joy in a baby’s birth. Has anyone ever found happiness, relief in death?

Most of us have experienced death in one form or another. It’s earth shattering when a loved one is tragically taken from us. There aren’t any words of comfort for those who have gone before us in this way. Death rips out our hearts. 

On the other spectrum, my mother was recently in a nursing home for rehab. Walking down the halls, aged souls in the last throes of their lives sat in wheelchairs and laid in their beds. A myriad of feelings came over me. Pure sorrow and sadness. I give those nurses and aides great acclaim for their loving care, at least that’s what I experienced while in this facility. I have heard of atrocities occurring to the poor elderly, which is diabolical.  

However, I also experienced happiness there. People playing bingo, exercising in their wheelchairs, laughing, and talking. There is life and breath in their deteriorating bodies. A long, long life can be a blessing and a bane. 

I visited with my daughter’s and my 2-year-old granddaughter, Hazel. Baby Hazel brightened the eyes of everyone. Even the man who was across the hall from my mother, who normally just cringed when I waved to him, gave us a big smile and waved to little Hazel. One woman held out her arms, and Hazel dropped her tiny hand into hers. The woman said, “I love you.” And then took great effort to lean over and kiss Hazel’s hand. 

I’m positive each and every one of us has a story to tell about life and death. I pray for a life well lived and dignity in death.

I believe, death is a blessing for those viciously suffering from various diseases. My faith tells me, we are aliens living here on this planet, and in the end, we go to our real home. 

What are your thoughts?