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Cover art for Kronos Rising: Kraken (vol. 3), by Max Hawthorne
Artist's interpretation of Max Hawthorne's Diablo Caldera Velociraptors (raptors) running on water, from the Kronos Rising series. Copyright 2019 FFTTP, all rights reserved.
Author Max Hawthorne at the American Museum of Natural History, in NYC
Max Hawthorne's latest novel has it all, from water-walking raptors to acid-oozing octopuses. No wonder his readers are in a tizzy!
Hone your writing skills as if they were your finest weapons of war. For in the literary arena, your pen will truly be your sword. — Max HawthorneNEW HOPE, PA, US, August 3, 2020 / EINPresswire.com / -- Max Hawthorne 's latest novel has it all, from water-walking raptors to acid-oozing octopuses. No wonder his readers are in a tizzy!
Two-time Book of the Year and People's Choice award-winner, Max Hawthorne, continues to crank out what are arguably the tastiest dinosaur fiction novels since Michael Crichton. His new novel, Kronos Rising: Kraken (vol. 3) hit the shelves this past Independence Day, and hungry readers have devoured the 500+ page tome with great gusto.
'As an author, such passion from one's readers is incredibly flattering,' Hawthorne said during a recent interview. 'When you see comments from followers on social media, sternly warning others to not give out spoilers, you know they're really into the series. I even saw one reader post that he stayed up all night reading Kraken 3 and missed the 4th of July fireworks because he was so engrossed. At that point, I knew I'd done my job.'
When asked about comparisons to the late Michael Crichton and his Jurassic Park novels, Hawthorne was surprisingly humble. 'I've had readers compare me to both Peter Benchley and Crichton. It's a huge honor, but I don't know that it's deserved. Those guys are legends and always will be. I'm just an indie author with a flair for writing action thrillers. I consider myself lucky to have a fan base that puts up with me and my monsters.'
Although he never got to communicate with the aforementioned greats before their passing, Hawthorne did receive an endorsement for his current book from bestselling British author Peter Tonkin . Tonkin is the author of 45 novels including Killer, a 1978 hit that had a profound impact on an adolescent Max Hawthorne. 'Peter's timeless classic about a militarized Orca going on a rampage against humanity had an undeniable influence on me and my writing. He and I have spoken on social media, and I felt privileged to get a cover blurb from him for Kraken 3. Honestly, I was thrilled.'
To keep his stories fresh and to stir his readers' imaginations, Hawthorne states that he likes to add unique aspects to his stories, from exotic backdrops to the prehistoric terrors that roam the pages of his novels. He has monster octopuses that ooze acid and Velociraptors that can literally run on water! 'You always want to be innovative when it comes to your set pieces, characters, and, of course, creatures,' Hawthorne explained. 'My series started with the notion of a caldera off the coast of Cuba that is swamped by a mega-tsunami, caused by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. When that wave turned Diablo Caldera into a giant fish bowl, teeming with prehistoric nasties, it opened up a whole new realm of possibilities, both in terms of what's in there and what may have escaped.'
When asked about his titular Kraken, Hawthorne summed it up succinctly. 'The whole 'monster octopus' thing is based on real sightings and, of course, they've been featured in many books and films. Heck, there was one on 'Kong: Skull Island' recently. I wanted to give my octopuses a new spin. I made them deep-water predators that feed on hunting sperm whales, and I gave them a molecular acid that oozes from their suckers to help them grip slippery prey. It made them ten times more lethal.'
His water-walking raptors, however, were addressed in far more detail. 'Again, we've seen the 'raptor' thing done quite a bit – mainly from such mega-hits as the 'Jurassic Park' and 'Jurassic World' franchises. My raptors are imprisoned within Diablo Caldera, an 8-mile-wide saltwater lake with a crescent-shaped rain forest on one end. It's a relatively small landmass, so big dinosaurs like T-rex were automatically out. I needed something small but lethal and terrifying. Especially since my protagonist, Natalya Dragunova, the Russian-American captain of a US anti-biologic submarine, has an encounter with them. She calls them Messiya yashcheritsa, which means 'Messiah lizard'.'
The development of Hawthorne's water-walking raptors was a long and laborious process. 'I put them on the drawing board back in 2005, when I'd just finished the manuscript for my first novel and was mapping out book two. For the sequel, I wanted people to explore Diablo Caldera. It's where my pliosaurs originated, but I wanted them to discover that the forest there was just as dangerous as the water.'
Hawthorne's explanation for how his dinosaurs could walk on water was well researched. 'I based my design on the basilisk lizard, which can run on water over short distances. With my 'raptors' having only limited terrain on which to hunt, it made sense that they would also prowl the shoreline, and that those that were able to venture further out (without being eaten by a pliosaur or X-fish) would pass on the ability to move faster across the shallows to their descendants. Fast forward 65 million years and . . . presto!'
The actual mechanics was a bit more in-depth. 'Dromaeosaurs like Deinonychus had three main toes. They ran on two and kept the inner one, with its curved 'killing claw', retracted. I needed mine to run on three toes. They needed the water version of snowshoes to keep from sinking. So, I made the killing claw their dewclaw. Webbed feet would've been silly and fragile. Instead I gave them long, specialized scales on their toes that, when they're on land, are kept retracted, like a tent over each toe. But when they hit the water those scales all push down, giving them plenty of surface area. That way they can run across the surface of their lake like cheetahs, snatching fish as they go. It gives them the entire length and breadth of the caldera to hunt, instead of just a small rain forest.'
Hawthorne's impressive imagination seems to have no bounds, and his readers obviously love that. Fan approval is at an all-time high, and his presence on social media – like the monsters he writes about – continues to grow.
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Max Hawthorne's KRONOS RISING: KRAKEN (volume 3) official book video trailer.
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