Two Tiny Claws

by Brett Davis

Montana, 1907. Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History aims to dig up fossils of Tyrannosaurus Rex, the most fearsome carnivore ever to walk the Earth. He dismisses rumors of earlier paleontologists encountering both resurrected dinosaurs and aliens from space. He's more worried by reports that notorious bank robber Luther Gumpson is in the neighborhood. But then Brown discovers that the aliens are real, they're back, and they're mad. And he'll see more than the bones of T-Rex, when he encounters the awesome ground-pounding predator in the flesh....

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1998

About the author

Brett Davis is a lifelong writer of both journalism and fiction. Growing up in north Alabama, he learned both about the Tuskegee Airmen and the German rocket scientists in Huntsville who helped put men on the moon. He’s glad to be able to bring their stories together in his latest novel, The Moon Above.

Brett is the author of five science fiction and fantasy novels but spends most of his time writing nonfiction about robots and drones. He studied journalism and photography at the University of North Alabama and the University of Missouri and has lived in Washington longer than anywhere else, but it doesn’t seem to have done him any harm.

He’s an avid runner and biker and likes to spend as much time underwater as possible. He also bakes a mean scone. Follow him on Twitter at Brett_Davis and Instagram at Bsivad.

Reviews

[Nick Cincotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off Barnum Brown is one of my heroes. Davis did a decent job creating a science-fiction story over actual events. My primary concern with the historical inaccuracies. Yes I know there were no aliens and that was not something I was at odds with. Starting place in making seven, bottom Brown was one in 1873, he would've been 34 years old during dig season not 33. The T-Rex was discovered in 1902 and named 1905 the second specimen was discovered in 1908. Davis stated that the Rex was discovered in 1900 and the second specimen was discovered in 1905. In order for this to have been more Realistic from a paleontological history point of view the story should have taken place in 1908 not 1907. Overall a quick and easy read and a very interesting concept.

[Corvidae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slightly better than its predecessor, but only in that there is a bit more action to move things along. All in all, a lot of the same issues from the previous book stand. Characters are largely hollow and their motives change to suit the plot without enough explanation as to why they would suddenly change their motives. They also tend to appear and disappear in the plot without a lot of preamble or explanation. There are a lot of sudden changes or addendums to the "rules" of the aliens' technology, as if the writer kept writing himself into a corner and had to explain his way out of it. Getting stuck in your writing is fine, but you should weave changes to the rules back through the rest of the book so that the reader isn't suddenly blindsided by all these additions.

In summary: good ideas poorly executed.

[Pam Bales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sequel to Bone Wars, another good read - sci-fi - dinosaurs and aliens are hard to beat,