The Pirates Don’t Eat The Tourists: Jurassic Park & Prehistoric Fiction

Send me a voice message!
In this weeks episode I head underground with The Lost Valley’s Cian Gill to trace how Jules Verne turns geology, ciphers and sheer wonder became the template for every lost world adventure. Along the way we talk about deep time dread, dodgy Victorian translations, and the sea-dragon spectacle that still makes modern monster stories work.

Guests
Cian Gill
@the.lost.valley
Congo Book Episode 
Congo Movie Episode

The Book
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
F.A. Malleson 1877 Translation
Oxford World Classics - William Butcher Translation (affiliate link)
Penguin Classics - Frank Wynne Translation (affiliate link)
The Ladybird Classics Edition (the one with the music!)

Links 
Richard Fallon’s ‘Creatures from Another Age’  (affiliate link)
Alan A. Debus’s ‘Dinosaurs in Fantastic Fiction’ (affiliate link)
Tales from the Hollow Earth with Dr. Eddie Guimont - Wide Atlantic Weird Podcast (Cian’s other show and well worth a listen!)
Support the show
If you enjoy the show then it would mean a lot to me if you could rate & review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps this show find more Jurassic fans like you!
Presented and produced by Roland Squire
Theme music: Caleb Burnett (@calebcomposed)
Cover artwork: @thejurassicartist
Find us: @JurassicPiratesPod on Instagram

Send me a voice message!
Dinosaurs are real, which is exactly why they are so hard to write. Humans never lived alongside them, so any prehistoric fiction that wants characters, conflict, and drama has to cheat time, bend geography, or invent new science. I’m joined by Adam Roberts, professor of nineteenth-century literature at Royal Holloway and a leading critic of science fiction, to unpack how writers solve that problem and what those solutions reveal about our fears and fantasies.

The Book List:
Jules Verne – Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Arthur Conan Doyle – The Lost World
Edgar Rice Burroughs – The Land That Time Forgot Trilogy
Ray Bradbury – A Sound of Thunder
Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet
Harry Adam Knight – Carnosaur
Michael Crichton – Jurassic Park / The Lost World
James Gurney – Dinotopia
Greg Bear – Dinosaur Summer
Robert T. Bakker – Raptor Red
Stephen Baxter – Evolution
Ethan Pettus – Primitive War
Lee Murray – Into the Mist
Guests
Adam Roberts
@adamroberts.bsky.social
https://profadamroberts.substack.com/
(Affiliate links below)
The History of Science Fiction - https://amzn.eu/d/0g4lGWhJ
Pre Order ‘Frankenstein Rex’ - https://amzn.eu/d/09joNsmM
Pre Order ‘An A-Z of J.R.R Tolkien’ - https://amzn.eu/d/0bjirGu0
Support the show
If you enjoy the show then it would mean a lot to me if you could rate & review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps this show find more Jurassic fans like you!
Presented and produced by Roland Squire
Theme music: Caleb Burnett (@calebcomposed)
Cover artwork: @thejurassicartist
Find us: @JurassicPiratesPod on Instagram

Send me a voice message!
In today’s episode we walk through the Natural History Museum as both a beloved London landmark and a working scientific institution, from its cathedral-like main hall to the hidden stories baked into the terracotta. Along the way, we unpack how Victorian ambition, dinosaurs, and modern conservation collide inside the UK’s most visited attraction. 
Support the show
If you enjoy the show then it would mean a lot to me if you could rate & review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps this show find more Jurassic fans like you!
Presented and produced by Roland Squire
Theme music: Caleb Burnett (@calebcomposed)
Cover artwork: @thejurassicartist
Find us: @JurassicPiratesPod on Instagram

Send me a voice message!
Plymouth, summer of 1841. Richard Owen stepped before the British Association for the Advancement of Science and coined a word that would reshape our understanding of the deep past: Dinosauria. This episode follows that word from Owen’s meeting hall to South London, where sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins turned fragmentary bones into life-size stone giants.
I am joined by palaeoartist and author Mark Witton for a conversation about the history of the site and then Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs trustee Andrew Brady, and Jurassic Outpost’s Caleb Burnett and I go for a walk through the world’s oldest surviving prehistoric animal park.
For the extended interview with Mark Witton, you can hear it by subscribing to the Plus version of the podcast in Apple Podcasts or clicking the ‘support the show’ link below.

Guests

Mark Witton
Palaeoartist, palaeontologist and author
Markwitton.co.uk
@mark_witton
Andrew Brady
Trustee of the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, the charity formed in 2013 to conserve and celebrate the geological court at Crystal Palace Park. Follow the ongoing restoration and find out how to support the project.
Cpdinosaurs.org
@CPDinosaurs
Facebook
Links
Report of the 11th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Plymouth 1841
https://archive.org/details/reportofeleventh42lond
The Art and Science of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs by Eleanor Michel and Mark Witton
All author proceeds go to the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.
https://cpdinosaurs.org/projects/the-art-and-science-crystal-palace-dinosaurs

The Dragon of St Paul’s by Reginald Bacchus and Cyril Ranger Gull
The 1899 story referenced in the episode, in which a prehistoric creature thaws from a block of ice and runs amok across London. It can be found in Richard Fallon’a brilliant prehistoric story collection here:
https://amzn.eu/d/0ceDiAs4 (this is an affiliate link so might earn commission when using)
Support the show
If you enjoy the show then it would mean a lot to me if you could rate & review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps this show find more Jurassic fans like you!
Presented and produced by Roland Squire
Theme music: Caleb Burnett (@calebcomposed)
Cover artwork: @thejurassicartist
Find us: @JurassicPiratesPod on Instagram

Send me a voice message!
Charles Dickens opened Bleak House with a megalosaurus waddling up Holborn Hill. This episode traces the stories we told about the bones in the rock before we knew what they were. I’m joined by Bexhill Museum curator Julian Porter and author Natalie Lawrence.
For the extended interview with Natalie Lawrence, you can hear it by subscribing to the Plus version of the podcast in Apple Podcasts or clicking the ‘support the show’ link below.
A huge thank you to Guy Adams for the opening narration!
Guests

Julian Porter
Curator at Bexhill Museum and author of Bexhill on Sea: A History
https://amzn.to/4wL8eQ6 (affiliated link so I might earn commission on items bought)
https://www.instagram.com/bexhill_museum?igsh=ZXh5Mm12c2R6Z2pu

Natalie Lawrence
Author of Enchanted Creatures, a history of the monsters we have made from the natural world
https://amzn.to/4dQqtuK (affiliated link so I might earn commission on items bought)
https://www.nataliejlawrence.com/
https://www.instagram.com/natalie.j.lawrence

Links

Mark Witton: Unicorns, dragons, monsters and giants
Natalie references Mark’s work in this episode, picking apart the arguments for mythological creatures being derived from fossil discoveries.
https://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2018/04/unicorns-dragons-monsters-and-giants.html?m=1

Bexhill Museum: Dinosaurs and Geology
https://www.bexhillmuseum.org.uk/access-centre/museum-exhibitions-displays/dinosaurs-geology/
Support the show
If you enjoy the show then it would mean a lot to me if you could rate & review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps this show find more Jurassic fans like you!
Presented and produced by Roland Squire
Theme music: Caleb Burnett (@calebcomposed)
Cover artwork: @thejurassicartist
Find us: @JurassicPiratesPod on Instagram