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Did you know...?
 The
plot of my sci-fi novel, "Dragon Dawn," revolves around an earth-shattering
event
–
some 65.5 million years ago, a huge comet or asteroid smashed into the Earth, ending the Age of the Dinosaurs. Yet
did you realize dinosaurian relatives live among us still? The next time you listen to
warbles carried on the breeze, or relish the taste of a Thanksgiving
feast, thank these relatives
–
the birds!
Michael Crichton and Stephen Spielberg got it wrong
in "Jurassic Park!" But they aren't truly at fault.
Back in the 1990s, no one dreamt "raptors" had feathers.
New paleontological research linked to some extraordinary fossil
finds from China, Italy and Montana indicates that all
meat-eating dinosaurs
–
like the ferocious Deinonychus pictured here
–
possessed plumage. Even T-rex might have had
feathers! In "Dragon Dawn," my time traveling heroes
must deal with packs of feathered deinonychosaurs and other
predatory dinosaurs as they struggle to survive in
ancient North America.
 Orthodox Russians believe their painted religious images, or icons,
provide a window to heaven
–
directly through the eyes of the saints
and Holy Family. The Stroganoff family (the subject of my
novel, "The Sacred
Cradle") founded a school of icon painting, which was
characterized by works exhibiting intricate brush strokes and soft
colors, like this image of John the Baptist.
 For
sheer size, the empire of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan and his heirs has never been surpassed; at its
height, it stretched from the Arabian Peninsula to northern Russia,
from the coast of China to the very gates of Vienna. While
Mongolians still venerate the Khan for this and other
accomplishments, others consider him a ruthless leader, who left behind mountains
of skulls in the wake of his conquests. In my time travel
tale, "Conjurer," he is the archenemy of my heroes, a
formidable opponent in their desperate flight through the ages.
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