Welcome to Jurassic Park

This is a repost from the Magic and Mayhem blog last week.


We own birds. Chickens, ducks, and geese. Now, before you say anything, I'm going to throw this out right off the bat: our birds live WELL. Even the ones that end up being food. They live in insulated, heated (when it's cold) buildings and eat top grade, premium food. Most days, they get the run of the place. Those damn birds live better than we do. Okay, now that that's out of the way, back to my post! ;)





These are buff Cornish crosses. Aren't they adorable? Don't let their innocent faces and fluffy bodies fool you. Just hatched, they're SO cute. Unassuming. Wouldn't hurt a fly. Yeah, right.



This is the buff Cornishes today. Two months old. Awww, still cute! NO! Don't get sucked in by they're cute feathers and curious stares. We've dubbed them "Baby Velociraptors" and rightly so. They are EVIL! In the past weeks I've witnessed these sweet, unassuming babies stomp, peck, scratch, and cannibalize their own. They've killed ten out of the group we purchased. (Five went down when they were still in the cute fluffy stage). When you go into the pen to feed them, they swarm like piranha, jumping, pecking, dead-set on pulling you down and making you into their next snack. Their violence astounds me. I can totally see how these babies could have evolved from dinosaurs. In one of my novels, these chickens would represent the bad guy.


This sweet boy is our African goose. I'd liken him to a Brachiosaurus. He's an herbivore through and through. He'd never stomp another bird into oblivion or peck his ducky pals to death. BUT--if he feels threatened, or if he feels any of his duck and chicken buddies are threatened, he will KICK YOUR ASS! In which case, he becomes an avenging T-Rex. If you've never been bitten by a goose--it is a pain like no other. In one of my novels, he'd be my alpha male.


Enter the Cochin rooster. He's gorgeous and he knows it. He flashes his cocky mane, crows nice and loud, struts his stuff. He tries to chase away any other male who dares to look at the ladies. In novel world, he'd be the thorn in our hero's side, the cocky bastard trying to steal the lady out from under my alpha's nose. But for all his flash, he'll never be what the ladies want: a sweet guy who'll die to protect his love.


Here's one of our Rouen ducks. In noveldom, he's the sidekick, the Stegosaurus trotting alongside the Brachiosaurus. He's not the biggest dino on the block, but he can be tough when he needs to be. He'd have the hero's back. No questions asked. Our sidekick isn't just a stage prop, however. He's a rake at heart (not even the chickens are safe when he's feeling amorous). But he's got charm and charisma all his own.

Well, there you have it. A cast of characters descended from dinosaurs. Where's your heroine, you ask? I didn't feel like any of our chickens would be a good representation of an UF/PR heroine. After all, they're not too particular on who they date (all of the roosters get a piece), and they lay around in nests all day, gabbing.
And if you're wondering if I get most of my inspiration from the animal kingdom, I'll leave you with this:


The Praying Mantis is 100% the physical inspiration for my Lyhtans in SHAEDES OF GRAY. Just thinking about my evil Shaede arch-enemies puts a smile on my face. :)