Astrosaurs
Encyclopedia
Astrosaurs is a series of children's
science fiction
novels written by Steve Cole. The main characters are space-going dinosaur
s. The series are published by Random House
. The first two Astrosaurs books were released on 1 February 2005. The Teeth of the T. Rex was a special edition book written especially for World Book Day. Free trading card
s come with each Astrosaur book. However, the World Book Day
title The Teeth of the T. Rex does not include cards. The first five Astrosaurs books have now been released in Audiobook format on CD in the UK.
|-
! Title !! Published
|-
| Riddle of the Raptors || 1 February 2005
|-
| The Hatching Horror || 1 February 2005
|-
| The Seas of Doom || 5 May 2005
|-
| The Mind-Swap Menace || 4 August 2005
|-
| The Skies of Fear || 5 January 2006
|-
| The Space Ghosts || 2 March 2006
|-
| The Day of the Dino Droids || 1 June 2006
|-
| The Terror Bird Trap || 3 August 2006
|-
| Teeth of the T-Rex || 1 March 2007
|-
| The Planet of Peril || 5 April 2007
|-
| The Star Pirates || 7 June 2007
|-
| The Claws of Christmas || 4 October 2007
|-
| The Sun Snatchers || 7 February 2008
|-
| Revenge of the Fang || 7 August 2008
|-
| The Carnivore Curse || 1 January 2009
|-
| The Dreams of Dread || 7 May 2009
|-
| The Robot Raiders || 4 February 2010
|-
| The Twist of Time || 29 April 2010
|-
| The Sabre-Tooth Secret || 3 February 2011
|-
| The Forest of Evil || 4 August 2011
|-
| Earth Attack! || 6 October 2011
|-
| The T.rex Invasion || 2012
|-
millions of years ago; they had in fact discovered space travel during the Triassic
period and had already left earth by the time the meteor struck. The dinosaurs subsequently settled in a part of space called the Jurassic Quadrant, which is divided between the carnivores and herbivores; between the two sectors is a neutral area of space. The two factions broadly stay at peace by avoiding each other, but invariably trouble flares up between the two from time to time. In Earth Attack, which is notable for being an extra-long edition, General Loki goes back in time to try and prevent the dinosaurs leaving Earth, so the whole history of Astrosaurs would never have happened.
|-
!width="100"| Name !! width="550"| Description
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Captain Teggs Horatio Stegosaur || Captain Teggs Horatio Stegosaur, a Stegosaurus
from the planet Steggos, is an elite Astrosaur in the Dinosaur Space Service (DSS) and the captain of the DSS Sauropod. Headstrong and brave, Captain Teggs' love of adventure is matched only by his love of food. Teggs battle armour includes a special electric shock in the spike in his tail, which can be used to stun his enemies in a fight. He was made captain by Admiral Rosso.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Arx Longhorn Orano || Arx Longhorn Orano, a Triceratops
from the planet Tri Major, is the first officer on the DSS Sauropod. He is the oldest member of the crew, at 52, and by far the brainiest. When the crew run into a sticky situation, Arx is usually the crew member who figures out the solution to the problem. Even so, he can run into dangers like cutting his leg on a megalodon tooth in The Terror-Bird Trap.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Iggadoo Tooth
("Iggy") || Iggadoo Tooth (or "Iggy"), an Iguanodon
from the planet Iguanos, is the chief engineer
on the DSS Sauropod. As well as being a brilliant mechanic, Iggy has thumb spikes and stun claws on his battle armour making him a doughty fighter. He is the second-oldest, of 26. Also a good friend of Arx. His favourite weapons are his trusty stun claws. His brother Wimvis is also a mechanic.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Gipsy Saurine || Gipsy Saurine, a Corythosaurus
from the planet Corythos, is the communications officer on board the DSS Sauropod. She is the only female member of the crew, and at 21 is also the youngest (excluding Sprite). She speaks almost every dinosaur language, which is immeasurably helpful on the crew's missions. On more than one occasion, she and Teggs have shown affection toward each other.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Sprrti-aaaat**o
("Sprite") || Sprite is a Dimorphodon
from the planet Dimorphia. He is the leader of the dimorphodon flight crew. Up until The Skies of Fear, Sprite is a peripheral figure, rarely referred to in the background. Afterwards he plays an increasing role in the books, and in The Star Pirates he accompanies the primary crew on a mission and is actually referred as being an Astrosaur himself. Sprite is 16. In earlier books only Gipsy could communicate with him, but in The Star Pirates he has a conversation with Teggs where Teggs speak in whistles and Sprite speaks in cheeps and whistles that Teggs can understand.
|-
|}
There are over 50 dinosaurs onboard the DSS Sauropod - including Alass Tikka, some ankylosaurs, and Terri Alarmosaurus, an alarm pterosaur.
Destination: Danger: Published - 1 May 2008
Contest Carnage: Published - 1 May 2008
Terror Underground: Published - 4 September 2008
Jungle Horror: Published - 5 February 2009
Deadly Drama: Published - 2 July 2009
Christmas Crisis: Published - 1 October 2009
Volcano Invaders: Published - 1 April 2010
Space Kidnap: Published - 3 March 2011
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novels written by Steve Cole. The main characters are space-going dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. The series are published by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
. The first two Astrosaurs books were released on 1 February 2005. The Teeth of the T. Rex was a special edition book written especially for World Book Day. Free trading card
Trading card
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
s come with each Astrosaur book. However, the World Book Day
World Book and Copyright Day
World Book and Copyright Day is a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright...
title The Teeth of the T. Rex does not include cards. The first five Astrosaurs books have now been released in Audiobook format on CD in the UK.
Books in the series
{| class="wikitable"|-
! Title !! Published
|-
| Riddle of the Raptors || 1 February 2005
|-
| The Hatching Horror || 1 February 2005
|-
| The Seas of Doom || 5 May 2005
|-
| The Mind-Swap Menace || 4 August 2005
|-
| The Skies of Fear || 5 January 2006
|-
| The Space Ghosts || 2 March 2006
|-
| The Day of the Dino Droids || 1 June 2006
|-
| The Terror Bird Trap || 3 August 2006
|-
| Teeth of the T-Rex || 1 March 2007
|-
| The Planet of Peril || 5 April 2007
|-
| The Star Pirates || 7 June 2007
|-
| The Claws of Christmas || 4 October 2007
|-
| The Sun Snatchers || 7 February 2008
|-
| Revenge of the Fang || 7 August 2008
|-
| The Carnivore Curse || 1 January 2009
|-
| The Dreams of Dread || 7 May 2009
|-
| The Robot Raiders || 4 February 2010
|-
| The Twist of Time || 29 April 2010
|-
| The Sabre-Tooth Secret || 3 February 2011
|-
| The Forest of Evil || 4 August 2011
|-
| Earth Attack! || 6 October 2011
|-
| The T.rex Invasion || 2012
|-
Synopsis
The broad plot synopsis of the Astrosaurs series is that the dinosaurs were not in fact wiped out when a large meteor hit the earthCretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly named and still commonly referred to as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. It was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant...
millions of years ago; they had in fact discovered space travel during the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
period and had already left earth by the time the meteor struck. The dinosaurs subsequently settled in a part of space called the Jurassic Quadrant, which is divided between the carnivores and herbivores; between the two sectors is a neutral area of space. The two factions broadly stay at peace by avoiding each other, but invariably trouble flares up between the two from time to time. In Earth Attack, which is notable for being an extra-long edition, General Loki goes back in time to try and prevent the dinosaurs leaving Earth, so the whole history of Astrosaurs would never have happened.
Books in the series
{| class="wikitable"|-
!width="100"| Name !! width="550"| Description
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Captain Teggs Horatio Stegosaur || Captain Teggs Horatio Stegosaur, a Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
from the planet Steggos, is an elite Astrosaur in the Dinosaur Space Service (DSS) and the captain of the DSS Sauropod. Headstrong and brave, Captain Teggs' love of adventure is matched only by his love of food. Teggs battle armour includes a special electric shock in the spike in his tail, which can be used to stun his enemies in a fight. He was made captain by Admiral Rosso.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Arx Longhorn Orano || Arx Longhorn Orano, a Triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
from the planet Tri Major, is the first officer on the DSS Sauropod. He is the oldest member of the crew, at 52, and by far the brainiest. When the crew run into a sticky situation, Arx is usually the crew member who figures out the solution to the problem. Even so, he can run into dangers like cutting his leg on a megalodon tooth in The Terror-Bird Trap.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Iggadoo Tooth
("Iggy") || Iggadoo Tooth (or "Iggy"), an Iguanodon
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
from the planet Iguanos, is the chief engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
on the DSS Sauropod. As well as being a brilliant mechanic, Iggy has thumb spikes and stun claws on his battle armour making him a doughty fighter. He is the second-oldest, of 26. Also a good friend of Arx. His favourite weapons are his trusty stun claws. His brother Wimvis is also a mechanic.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Gipsy Saurine || Gipsy Saurine, a Corythosaurus
Corythosaurus
Corythosaurus is a genus of duck-billed dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period, about 77-76.5 million years ago. It lived in what is now North America...
from the planet Corythos, is the communications officer on board the DSS Sauropod. She is the only female member of the crew, and at 21 is also the youngest (excluding Sprite). She speaks almost every dinosaur language, which is immeasurably helpful on the crew's missions. On more than one occasion, she and Teggs have shown affection toward each other.
|-
|-valign="top"
|align="center"| Sprrti-aaaat**o
("Sprite") || Sprite is a Dimorphodon
Dimorphodon
Dimorphodon was a genus of medium-sized pterosaur from the early Jurassic Period. It was named by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1859. Dimorphodon means "two-form tooth", derived from Greek δι/di meaning 'two', μορφη/morphe meaning 'shape' and οδων/odon meaning 'tooth', referring to the fact that...
from the planet Dimorphia. He is the leader of the dimorphodon flight crew. Up until The Skies of Fear, Sprite is a peripheral figure, rarely referred to in the background. Afterwards he plays an increasing role in the books, and in The Star Pirates he accompanies the primary crew on a mission and is actually referred as being an Astrosaur himself. Sprite is 16. In earlier books only Gipsy could communicate with him, but in The Star Pirates he has a conversation with Teggs where Teggs speak in whistles and Sprite speaks in cheeps and whistles that Teggs can understand.
|-
|}
There are over 50 dinosaurs onboard the DSS Sauropod - including Alass Tikka, some ankylosaurs, and Terri Alarmosaurus, an alarm pterosaur.
Astrosaurs Academy
A spin-off series of Astrosaurs started on 1 May 2008. This series focuses on Teggs Stegosaur in Astrosaurs Academy, it is based before Teggs becomes an Astrosaur. In Astrosaurs Academy, Teggs has two best friends, Blink and Dutch. Gipsy, Arx and Iggy do not appear in this series. The series ended with Space Kidnap on 3 March 2011.Destination: Danger: Published - 1 May 2008
Contest Carnage: Published - 1 May 2008
Terror Underground: Published - 4 September 2008
Jungle Horror: Published - 5 February 2009
Deadly Drama: Published - 2 July 2009
Christmas Crisis: Published - 1 October 2009
Volcano Invaders: Published - 1 April 2010
Space Kidnap: Published - 3 March 2011