Cover story for Fantasy and Science Fiction. Collected in Unintended Consequences. Nominated for Locus and International Horror Guild Awards.Purty nifty tale. Vandoise, an early fossil-hunter back in the Pre-Civil War days of the fossil wars where scientists tried to trick each other, witnesses the creation of a bone monster--an old dinosaur skeleton comes to life. It kills everything around that moves, so that they have to stand still--at least during those times it can see well: twilight and dawn. After awhile though, a hundred years or so, Vandoise tired of dodging the best and keeps asking different people to blow him and the beast up.
Way cool story. The nested story-structure is a little less clear despite the reread. Apparently in hearing the tale, listeners become a part of the story, culpable of its sins--torchbearers to pass on the tales. As I love such structures, it's disappointing it wasn't more developed.
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