Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Dragon bones

And talking about China and fossils… 50 cents per kg is the price of dinosaur bones used as medicine in central China.

I was researching Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald, a German paleontologist that in the 1930s found a tooth belonging to a Gigantopithecus in an Hong Kong pharmacy, and I collected a few factoids about the practice of consuming “long gu” (“dragon bones”) for medical purposes – which is still is still going strong in China today.

Xu

The most common afflictions cured by boiling or grinding into powder the fossil bones are cramps and dizziness, but the list of possible applications is long and varied.

“… “dragon bones” are crushed to a fine powder, boiled, and mixed with other ingredients to make healing concoctions. According to an ancient Chinese medical text (dating back around 2000 years) pulverized fossils have been used to treat conditions ranging from diarrhea to epilepsy to “manic running about.” Some ancient “medical” conditions were mystical ailments. For example, dragon bone “mainly treats heart and abdominal demonic influx, spiritual miasma, and old ghosts.”

In 2007, the BBC revealed that one enterprising bone collector had found, dug out and sold about 8.000 kilos of old bones.
According to online sources, today, more than 100 tons of “dragon bones” are consumed each year in China and Southeast Asia.

All of which is great news not only for my Silk Road book (updates, updates!), but is also excellent fodder for stories.

 


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Killer fossils on a train

Some movies remain with us for a long time.
I caught the trailer for Horror Express in 1972, and later saw the movie in some seaside drive-in.
I was around 12 or thereabouts.
Horror Express.
Featuring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Telly Savalas.
A Spanish movie set on the Trans-Siberian.

B-Movie-Horror-Express-500x250

And yet, here I am, thirtyfive years later, a paleontologist writing a blog about my obsession for the East and the Silk Road and pulp writing and all the rest, and all of a sudden I remember… Continue reading →


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Shark Attack

Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie Jaws was one of the movies that changed the game, and the highest grossing movie of its time.
I was too young to go and see it in a cinema – although some of my pals did sneak in and emerge later from the darkness of the movie hall with tales of horror and wonder.
Today, I like to watch Jaws every time a TV channel runs it again.

And yet, if as a movie-goer and a fan of action thrillers I love Jaws, as a scientist I always felt the shark facts in the film leave more than something to be desired.

Ellis_SharkAttack-lowresShark Attack, a quick-read, fact-filled pamphlet by noted biologist Richard Ellis, published by Open Road Media, aims at setting the record straight, providing an ample overview of actual shark attacks – including those that inspired the original novel from which the Spielberg movie was made – and a passionate discussion of what sharks are really like, and what a shark attack is in reality.

But the booklet is not only a debunking of the 1975 movie.
This is a condensed introduction to the life and biology of the shark, its interaction with marine ecosystems and with humans.

It’s clear, concise, fun, filled with great images.
It does not detract from the enjoyment of the movie – and provides a further layer to the viewing.


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Rejection slips

Last week a publisher informed me that a story I had submitted for their next anthology is not good enough to be included.
Oh, they were much more tactful, but the bottom line is just that – the story is not good enough.

And re-reading it, I must agree.
I could make a lot of excuses – I rushed the job because of the deadline, it was my first English-language story in almost a decade, the word-limit was very tight, I had no time for availing me of my indispensible proof-reader and sounding board, or call on beta-readers.
But that would just be making excuses.

not deadI’m much more interested, at the moment, in revising and rewriting the story as much as possible, without time or word constraints, and then try my luck again.
What’s more, I like the two main characters, and I’d love to do at least two more stories featuring them.
And anyway, submitting that story, for all its weaknesses, was absolutely indispensible – it was necessary to overcome the stagefright one feels facing a new market, a new public, a new world.

Which leads me to the interesting part – the fact that my first English submission bounced back caused some parties to get into told-you-so mode. Continue reading →