Astrosaurs

Astrosaurs is a series of children's science fiction novels written by Steve Cole. The main characters are space-going dinosaurs. So far there are 14 books in the series. The series are published by Random House.

Free trading cards come with each Astrosaur book. However, the World Book Day title "The Teeth of the T. Rex" does not include cards.

Astrosaurs began on the 3rd of February 2005. The first 2 books were released on that day. There are 144 pages inside every Astrosaur book except "The Teeth of the T. Rex" which has 80 pages. The Teeth of the T. Rex was a book written especially for World Book Day. It was like a special edition book.

The first two Astrosaurs books have now been released in Audiobook format On CD in the UK. [cite web|title = Astrosaurs Audiobook "Riddle of the Raptors"|url = http://www.bbcshop.com/invt/9781405677226&bklist=|accessdate = 2008-03-06] [cite web|title = Astrosaurs Audiobook "The Hatching Horror"|url = http://www.bbcshop.com/invt/9781405687836&bklist=|accessdate = 2008-03-06]

Novel series

#"Riddle of the Raptors", published - 1 February 2005
#"The Hatching Horror", published - 1 February 2005
#"The Seas of Doom", published - 5 May 2005
#"The Mind-Swap Menace, published - 4th August 2005
#"The Skies of fear", published - 5th January 2006
#"The Space Ghosts", published - 2nd March 2006
#"The Day of the Dino Droids", published - 1st June 2006
#"The Terror Bird Trap", published - 3rd August 2006
#"Teeth of the T-Rex", published - 1st March 2007 (This book is a special edition book it has no free collector cards and 80 pages)
#"The Planet of Peril", published - 5th April 2007
#"The Star Pirates", published - 7th June 2007
#"The Claws of Christmas", published - 4th October 2007
#"The Sun Snatchers", published - 7th February 2008
#"The Revenge of The Fang", published - 7th August 2008
#"The Carnivore Curse", to be published - 1st Jaunuary 2009

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 earth millions of years ago; they had 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 known as the "Vegmeat zone". The two factions broadly stay at peace by avoiding each other, but invariably trouble flares up between the two from time to time (almost invariably the fault of the carnivores).

The vegetarian sector formed the Dinosaur Space Service, or DSS, who are responsible for training elite Astrosaurs. The Astrosaurs mission is to explore space, go on exciting missions, protect the innocent, and fight evil (usually, but not always, carnivores) wherever they find it.

The most recent book is The Revenge of the FANG (Fearsome Army of Nasty Geniuses) and is when his rivals from previous books (such as The Mind Swap Menace) come back to try to get revenge on Captain Teggs.

The next Astrosaurs book is The Carnivore Curse and is to be published on 1st January 2009.

Crew

Astrosaurs Academy

A new series of Astrosaurs came in 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 the series.However, Blink the "Gnathosaurus" and Dutch the "Diplodocus" do appear in the book Revenge of the FANG in the main "Astrosaurs" series. Books are as follow:

"Destination: Danger": Published May 1, 2008.

"Contest Carnage": Published May 1, 2008.

"Terror Underground": Published September 4, 2008

"Jungle Horror": To be Published February 5, 2009

Influences

Although Steve Cole is not reported as having said so expressly, the series appears to have been influenced to a significant degree by the original "Star Trek" franchise. The characters are relatively easy to transpose: Captain Teggs is similar to Captain James T. Kirk; Arx is the highly intelligent second in command, similar to Spock; Iggy the engineer is (more loosely) similar to Scotty; and Gipsy and Uhura are both token females and communications officers. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a children's book, there is no direct equivalent of Bones McCoy or the anonymous red-shirted crew member, although arguably Sprite could be said to fill the latter role, but with the twist that he doesn't get killed in every episode.

The plot synopsis usually follows a pattern not dissimilar to the classic "Star Trek" episode: Captain Teggs will usually find himself, together with one other crew member, separated from the ship and the rest of his crew, but eventually manages to resolve the task ahead once he is reunited with the crew who have, during his absence, worked out what is happening and why in the relevant episode.

Cows In Action

On 3rd May 2007, Steve Cole started "Cows In Action", a new series. Two Books were published to date on 3rd May 2007 These books were "The MOO-MYS CURSE" and "The TER-MOO-NATORS". The third book is to be published on the 6th September 2007, and the following book will be published on the 3rd January 2008. There will also be other books. The series is about three Cows who are part of the C.I.A (Cows In Action) and they have to travel to different times in their "time shed" to stop the F.B.I (Fed up Bull Institute) from changing history and the future.

List of Cows In Action books

* Cows In Action: The Ter-moo-nators Published May 3rd 2007
* Cows In Action: The Moo-mys Curse Published May 3rd 2007
* Cows In Action: The Roman Moo-stery Published September 6th 2007
* Cows In Action: The Wild West Moo-nster Published January 4th 2008
* Cows In Action: World War Moo Published August 7th, 2008
* Cows In Action: Battle for Christ-moos Published October 2nd 2008
* Cows In Action: The Pirate Mootiny to be Published April 2nd 2009

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.astrosaurs.co.uk Official Astrosaurs web site]