Dino out of Time: 6 SF Novels about Humans Meeting Dinosaurs

Dinotopia, by James Gurney
Gurney both wrote and illustrated his picture book series set on Dinotopia, a utopian island where shipwrecked humans and dinosaurs living in harmony. It’s a pure fairy tale, from the idyllic plot to the rich pastel artwork. The illustrations are the best part: Gurney worked at National Geographic creating architectural designs for “What If” stories about history, and his expertise carries over into the creation of Dinotopia’s imaginative cities.

West of Eden, by Harry Harrison
In this parallel universe, the dinosaurs weren’t wiped out by an asteroid 65 million years ago, and now they’ve evolved beyond homo sapiens. Humanoid dinosaur species battle ancestors for the role of “most sentient.” Also, they literally battle. This isn’t Pixar, even if it shares a story concept with The Good Dinosaur.

Dinosaur Thunder, by James F. David
The entire Thunder series concerns the modern world colliding with the Cretaceous in bizarre time distortions, but Dinosaur Thunder has a particularly memorable moment: astronauts find that a T-Rex made it to the moon before they did. Worse, there’s a certain asteroid on the way that might destroy present-day Earth. Dinosaurs, sci-fi, and a trip to the moon? Awesome.

A Case of Conscience, by James Blish
This Hugo Award-winner sends a Jesuit scientist on an expedition to an alien planet inhabited by a reptilian creature. The aliens aren’t technically dinosaurs, but no one told the cover artists that. The dark book dives into issues like the connection between religion and logic, what constitutes heresy, and planet-wide demonic possession. Check it out if you’ve always wanted a good dinosaurs vs. Catholics story.

The Midas Flesh, by Ryan North
North runs a webcomic, Dinosaur Comics, using clip art of an enthusiastic T. Rex. In one installment, he floated an idea that eventually led to an 8-issue comic series at the Los Angeles-based Boom! Studios: What if when King Midas wished that everything he touched turned to gold, he turned the whole planet gold and everyone died? And then he died because all the air turned to gold flecks in his lungs? And then aliens in the future discovered the planet and used Midas’ undecayed flesh(because the microbes turned to gold) as a bioweapon to turn entire planets into gold? If you are wondering where I am going with this, one of the aliens is from a dinosaur planet. He even gets an entire issue dedicated to his backstory.

Dinosaur Tales, by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury might hold the record for the greatest proven love of dinosaur sci-fi: here, he presents an entire short story collection centered on dinosaurs. All of his tales touch on the thunder lizards in some way, from time-traveling big game hunters, to a lighthouse fog horn that sounds a little too much like a sea monster mating call.