Podcast Show Notes: Episode 28 – Prehistoric Animals and Asher Elbein

Marc, Niels and Natee essay a new and improved, that is, much more informal, news section, as we follow up on previous items and comment on two new palaeo media releases. This month’s Vintage Dinosaur Art is illustrated with the sculptures of Arthur Hayward and others and is an approach that we at least would very much enjoy seeing a return of in newer publications. Finally, our Lord and Blogmaster, David Orr, makes another very welcome appearance and joins Niels in interviewing writer, Asher Elbein, about his new book, co-written with Cindi Sirois Collins, Dinosaurs and Other Ancient Animals of Big Bend.

In the News

• Episode 27 Show notes, with Donna Braginetz’s response in the comments. Niels’s posts on Donna’s work for a series of Don Lessem’s books.
• Paleo Pines game. Palaeontologist and artist, Natalia Jagielska, who consulted on the game, was interviewed in Episode 2.
• Mary Anning statue, sculpted by Denise Dutton, unveiled in Lyme Regis on what would have been Anning’s 222nd birthday on 21st May, 2022.
• The Hatchling short film, from director Tim Cianfano, producers Max Bellomio, Anthony Feliciano, Luke Lotardo, and Chris Pugh, and writers Bri Bollmann, Tim Cianfano, and Chris Pugh.
• Life on Our Planet, available to stream from Netflix. The Guardian review by Jack Seale.

Vintage Dinosaur Art

Prehistoric Animals: the Extraordinary Story of Life Before Man, written by Ellis Owen, published by Octopus in 1975.

The book focuses on sculpture photography rather than traditional illustration. Many, though not all, of the featured sculptures come courtesy of Arthur Hayward, who also sculpted the earlier Invicta dinosaur toys, discussed in epsidoe 23. We unerthed a YouTube video of him at work at stop-motion animation, which we mention in the show and which can be seen here.

(Slight erratum: Natee of course means Sir Edwin Landseer, not ‘Edward’, as the painter of The Monarch of the Glen.)

 

Interview

Asher Elbein is a freelance journalist, writer, and artist based in Austin, Texas. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Texas Monthly, and Audubon Magazine, among others. His fiction work includes the Anna O’Brien books and Tales from the Blended Earth. His latest title, Dinosaurs and Other Ancient Animals of Big Bend, is co-authored with Cindi Sirois Collins, and is published by Texas University Press.

Asher is also a Chasmosaurs contributor-emeritus. You can revisit some of his posts on our old blog, namely, Dinosaur Art: The Agony and The Ecstacy, Archosaurs of Alabama and All Yesterdays: Some Thoughts.

He can also be found on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.

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