VickyCoules
@vickycoules.bsky.social
Artist www.victoriacoules.com
Occasional writer and copy editor, PhD at Bristol "Living Dinosaurs: dinosaurs in visual culture late 19th and early 20th C America".
Co-author 'The Art of Making Dinosaurs' with Mike Benton from Princeton UP.
Occasional writer and copy editor, PhD at Bristol "Living Dinosaurs: dinosaurs in visual culture late 19th and early 20th C America".
Co-author 'The Art of Making Dinosaurs' with Mike Benton from Princeton UP.
Reposted by VickyCoules
Because otherwise these kinds of things don't get read, boosting my 2023 article on the origins of 'the living fossil short story' genre and its descendant, cryptofiction. Includes an analysis of W. A. Curtis’s unforgettable ‘The Monster of Lake LaMetrie’ (1899): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Discovering the Living Fossil Short Story in the Late Nineteenth Century
The founders of cryptozoology in the 1950s implied that their objects of investigation, animals elsewhere presumed mythical or extinct, were beyond respectable science. Back in the late eighteenth ...
www.tandfonline.com
October 2, 2026 at 7:22 AM
Because otherwise these kinds of things don't get read, boosting my 2023 article on the origins of 'the living fossil short story' genre and its descendant, cryptofiction. Includes an analysis of W. A. Curtis’s unforgettable ‘The Monster of Lake LaMetrie’ (1899): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by VickyCoules
Tyrant Lizard Queen is one of Barnes & Noble’s best books of October 2026! 🦖
The Best Books of October 2026
The start of fall means cooler weather, cozier nights and fantastic reading. Settle into the season with the best books of October, featuring the return of Pulitzer Prize winners, enchanting fantasies...
www.barnesandnoble.com
September 28, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Tyrant Lizard Queen is one of Barnes & Noble’s best books of October 2026! 🦖
Reposted by VickyCoules
Tyrant Lizard Queen comes out one month from today!
I hope you love Snaggletooth as much as I loved writing her for you. 🦖
I hope you love Snaggletooth as much as I loved writing her for you. 🦖
September 27, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Tyrant Lizard Queen comes out one month from today!
I hope you love Snaggletooth as much as I loved writing her for you. 🦖
I hope you love Snaggletooth as much as I loved writing her for you. 🦖
Reposted by VickyCoules
Kory’s been my illustrator for The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, When the Earth Was Green, and, coming to you next month
Tyrant Lizard Queen
I love all the original pieces she made to illustrate my new story. Check out her work, and pre-order the book to get it off to a roaring start. 🦖
Tyrant Lizard Queen
I love all the original pieces she made to illustrate my new story. Check out her work, and pre-order the book to get it off to a roaring start. 🦖
September 21, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Kory’s been my illustrator for The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, When the Earth Was Green, and, coming to you next month
Tyrant Lizard Queen
I love all the original pieces she made to illustrate my new story. Check out her work, and pre-order the book to get it off to a roaring start. 🦖
Tyrant Lizard Queen
I love all the original pieces she made to illustrate my new story. Check out her work, and pre-order the book to get it off to a roaring start. 🦖
Reposted by VickyCoules
Just a little more than a month until Tyrant Lizard Queen stomps your way!
The latest dinosaur science in a tale readers have called beautiful, gross, empathetic, and nightmare-inducing.
Hardback, audibook, and ebook, out October 27th. 🦖
The latest dinosaur science in a tale readers have called beautiful, gross, empathetic, and nightmare-inducing.
Hardback, audibook, and ebook, out October 27th. 🦖
Tyrant Lizard Queen
From the author of the beloved The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, an imaginative celebration of T. rex from hatching to adulthoodTyrannosaurus rex is a prehisto...
us.macmillan.com
September 18, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Just a little more than a month until Tyrant Lizard Queen stomps your way!
The latest dinosaur science in a tale readers have called beautiful, gross, empathetic, and nightmare-inducing.
Hardback, audibook, and ebook, out October 27th. 🦖
The latest dinosaur science in a tale readers have called beautiful, gross, empathetic, and nightmare-inducing.
Hardback, audibook, and ebook, out October 27th. 🦖
Reposted by VickyCoules
I’m thrilled @libraryreads.bsky.social picked Tyrant Lizard Queen for their notable nonfiction in October!
Library staff do such amazing and important work every day - it means a lot to know my new book has perked their ears. Rawr. 🦖
Library staff do such amazing and important work every day - it means a lot to know my new book has perked their ears. Rawr. 🦖
The October 2026 Notable Nonfiction Pick is TYRANT LIZARD QUEEN by Riley Black! 🦖
📚💙
📚💙
September 16, 2026 at 10:56 AM
I’m thrilled @libraryreads.bsky.social picked Tyrant Lizard Queen for their notable nonfiction in October!
Library staff do such amazing and important work every day - it means a lot to know my new book has perked their ears. Rawr. 🦖
Library staff do such amazing and important work every day - it means a lot to know my new book has perked their ears. Rawr. 🦖
Yay! I love it when a plan comes together.. 😃
Oh, hello Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins' Paleozoic Museum workshop!
Joseph Palmer was BWH's right-hand man in New York, assisting him in this project
For those unfamiliar with this adventure, this paper by @vickycoules.bsky.social & Michael Benton is great:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Joseph Palmer was BWH's right-hand man in New York, assisting him in this project
For those unfamiliar with this adventure, this paper by @vickycoules.bsky.social & Michael Benton is great:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 16, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Yay! I love it when a plan comes together.. 😃
Reposted by VickyCoules
William got his start at the Smithsonian via his father, Joseph Palmer - who was the Institution’s FIRST permanent taxidermist, joining in 1872.
Joseph is on the right in this photo from 1904. Note the ladies (“Miss. Malone and Miss. Louise A. Rosenbusch”), who were likely secretaries in this era
Joseph is on the right in this photo from 1904. Note the ladies (“Miss. Malone and Miss. Louise A. Rosenbusch”), who were likely secretaries in this era
September 16, 2026 at 8:42 PM
William got his start at the Smithsonian via his father, Joseph Palmer - who was the Institution’s FIRST permanent taxidermist, joining in 1872.
Joseph is on the right in this photo from 1904. Note the ladies (“Miss. Malone and Miss. Louise A. Rosenbusch”), who were likely secretaries in this era
Joseph is on the right in this photo from 1904. Note the ladies (“Miss. Malone and Miss. Louise A. Rosenbusch”), who were likely secretaries in this era
Reposted by VickyCoules
upon arrival in Washington, Martha was thawed and then skinned by the Smithsonian's chief taxidermist, William Palmer. Some photos in the link below rather than in this post, for those that may currently be eating..
Oh, William Palmer was born in South East London...
birdaz.com/blog/2014/09...
Oh, William Palmer was born in South East London...
birdaz.com/blog/2014/09...
An Extinct Individual – Birding New Jersey
birdaz.com
September 16, 2026 at 8:42 PM
upon arrival in Washington, Martha was thawed and then skinned by the Smithsonian's chief taxidermist, William Palmer. Some photos in the link below rather than in this post, for those that may currently be eating..
Oh, William Palmer was born in South East London...
birdaz.com/blog/2014/09...
Oh, William Palmer was born in South East London...
birdaz.com/blog/2014/09...
Reposted by VickyCoules
Once sky-darkingly abundant, the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) became extinct, *somewhat* due to human involvement, at 1pm on 1st Sept 1914, in Cincinnati Zoo
Martha was believed to be 29yrs old, and died of old age
She was put in a block of ice, and sent by train to the Smithsonian...
Martha was believed to be 29yrs old, and died of old age
She was put in a block of ice, and sent by train to the Smithsonian...
September 16, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Once sky-darkingly abundant, the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) became extinct, *somewhat* due to human involvement, at 1pm on 1st Sept 1914, in Cincinnati Zoo
Martha was believed to be 29yrs old, and died of old age
She was put in a block of ice, and sent by train to the Smithsonian...
Martha was believed to be 29yrs old, and died of old age
She was put in a block of ice, and sent by train to the Smithsonian...
Reposted by VickyCoules
This is the stuffed body of Martha, the last known surviving passenger pigeon, on display in the Natural History Building of the Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum circa 1920
Martha, poor lonely Martha, has an interesting connection to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs...
🧵
Martha, poor lonely Martha, has an interesting connection to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs...
🧵
September 16, 2026 at 8:42 PM
This is the stuffed body of Martha, the last known surviving passenger pigeon, on display in the Natural History Building of the Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum circa 1920
Martha, poor lonely Martha, has an interesting connection to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs...
🧵
Martha, poor lonely Martha, has an interesting connection to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs...
🧵
..and the minor corrections have been approved to the exam board so it's finally final (even though I was told at the viva I had passed) 🎉
It's been a long and at times challenging journey but thanks to the support of two wonderful supervisors and two demanding but fair examiners, I got there!! 🎊
It's been a long and at times challenging journey but thanks to the support of two wonderful supervisors and two demanding but fair examiners, I got there!! 🎊
September 16, 2026 at 3:17 PM
..and the minor corrections have been approved to the exam board so it's finally final (even though I was told at the viva I had passed) 🎉
It's been a long and at times challenging journey but thanks to the support of two wonderful supervisors and two demanding but fair examiners, I got there!! 🎊
It's been a long and at times challenging journey but thanks to the support of two wonderful supervisors and two demanding but fair examiners, I got there!! 🎊
Reposted by VickyCoules
"Tyrant Lizard Queen follows Snag through the pit stops typical in many coming-of-age stories: peer rivalries and first loves."
A new review of Tyrant Lizard Queen is out in @sciencenews.bsky.social! Though if you want to remain unspoiled, might be wise just to just take my word it's good. 🦖
A new review of Tyrant Lizard Queen is out in @sciencenews.bsky.social! Though if you want to remain unspoiled, might be wise just to just take my word it's good. 🦖
'Tyrant Lizard Queen' offers a nuanced look at T. rex
Paleontologist Riley Black’s latest book explores how this misunderstood carnivore might have lived.
www.sciencenews.org
September 11, 2026 at 2:24 PM
"Tyrant Lizard Queen follows Snag through the pit stops typical in many coming-of-age stories: peer rivalries and first loves."
A new review of Tyrant Lizard Queen is out in @sciencenews.bsky.social! Though if you want to remain unspoiled, might be wise just to just take my word it's good. 🦖
A new review of Tyrant Lizard Queen is out in @sciencenews.bsky.social! Though if you want to remain unspoiled, might be wise just to just take my word it's good. 🦖
Reposted by VickyCoules
Kory illustrated Tyrant Lizard Queen and nailed every prompt. You really have to see for yourself! 🦖
September 13, 2026 at 4:21 AM
Kory illustrated Tyrant Lizard Queen and nailed every prompt. You really have to see for yourself! 🦖
Coming in March!
A new book co-authored with Michael Benton, from University of Bristol
published by Princeton University Press - available for pre-order.
(With thanks to Riley Black and Steve Brusatte 😊❤️🦕🦖)
#dinosaurs #dinosaurart #palaeontology #historyofscience #palaeoart
A new book co-authored with Michael Benton, from University of Bristol
published by Princeton University Press - available for pre-order.
(With thanks to Riley Black and Steve Brusatte 😊❤️🦕🦖)
#dinosaurs #dinosaurart #palaeontology #historyofscience #palaeoart
September 12, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Coming in March!
A new book co-authored with Michael Benton, from University of Bristol
published by Princeton University Press - available for pre-order.
(With thanks to Riley Black and Steve Brusatte 😊❤️🦕🦖)
#dinosaurs #dinosaurart #palaeontology #historyofscience #palaeoart
A new book co-authored with Michael Benton, from University of Bristol
published by Princeton University Press - available for pre-order.
(With thanks to Riley Black and Steve Brusatte 😊❤️🦕🦖)
#dinosaurs #dinosaurart #palaeontology #historyofscience #palaeoart
Reposted by VickyCoules
So here we go then: the result of many years thinking about how dinosaurs make science and the imagination work together. It's written for both literary critics and scientists and my dearest hope is that it will help foster an academy where we talk to each other more
August 14, 2026 at 10:46 AM
So here we go then: the result of many years thinking about how dinosaurs make science and the imagination work together. It's written for both literary critics and scientists and my dearest hope is that it will help foster an academy where we talk to each other more
Reposted by VickyCoules
I have a Polacanthus plush available on my website (the darker one already has a home)!
You can take a look over here: www.palaeoplushies.com/shop/polacan...
You can take a look over here: www.palaeoplushies.com/shop/polacan...
May 6, 2026 at 4:49 PM
I have a Polacanthus plush available on my website (the darker one already has a home)!
You can take a look over here: www.palaeoplushies.com/shop/polacan...
You can take a look over here: www.palaeoplushies.com/shop/polacan...
I have some Palaeoplushies and they are fabulous!!!
Running Palaeoplushies is getting really hard. Business expenses are getting higher and higher, whilst people have less spending money to buy themselves little plush-shaped treats. I'm really thankful that I've been able to do this for as long as I have, but it's getting tough.
May 1, 2026 at 8:21 AM
I have some Palaeoplushies and they are fabulous!!!
And... I've finished the thesis.
Done. 😮
It's only taken me 9 YEARS (including my little detour via the NHS).😱
It's about to be dispatched into the ether, at the mercy of the Gods. (Or two examiners.) 🦖
Maybe I'll finally have the time, space, and energy to go back to painting...🎨
Watch this space!
Done. 😮
It's only taken me 9 YEARS (including my little detour via the NHS).😱
It's about to be dispatched into the ether, at the mercy of the Gods. (Or two examiners.) 🦖
Maybe I'll finally have the time, space, and energy to go back to painting...🎨
Watch this space!
April 12, 2026 at 2:27 PM
And... I've finished the thesis.
Done. 😮
It's only taken me 9 YEARS (including my little detour via the NHS).😱
It's about to be dispatched into the ether, at the mercy of the Gods. (Or two examiners.) 🦖
Maybe I'll finally have the time, space, and energy to go back to painting...🎨
Watch this space!
Done. 😮
It's only taken me 9 YEARS (including my little detour via the NHS).😱
It's about to be dispatched into the ether, at the mercy of the Gods. (Or two examiners.) 🦖
Maybe I'll finally have the time, space, and energy to go back to painting...🎨
Watch this space!
Reposted by VickyCoules
The Story of Birds comes out in a few weeks. And for first time, I’m doing a US book tour!
If you’re in Seattle, Bozeman, St. Louis or Boston, please join us!
Full details and ticket info⤵️
If you’re in Seattle, Bozeman, St. Louis or Boston, please join us!
Full details and ticket info⤵️
April 8, 2026 at 2:48 PM
The Story of Birds comes out in a few weeks. And for first time, I’m doing a US book tour!
If you’re in Seattle, Bozeman, St. Louis or Boston, please join us!
Full details and ticket info⤵️
If you’re in Seattle, Bozeman, St. Louis or Boston, please join us!
Full details and ticket info⤵️
Reposted by VickyCoules
My book's on the shortlist for the 2025 @thebsls.bsky.social Book Prize. Stiff competition though! Winners announced at the annual conference this Friday (www.bsls.ac.uk/2026/04/2025...).
April 8, 2026 at 8:03 AM
My book's on the shortlist for the 2025 @thebsls.bsky.social Book Prize. Stiff competition though! Winners announced at the annual conference this Friday (www.bsls.ac.uk/2026/04/2025...).
Reposted by VickyCoules
Today, for the safety of all SVP members, I request with this open letter that the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social provides an online option for this year's annual meeting. Myself and many others no longer feel it is safe to travel to and within the USA. Please share the letter everywhere you can!
April 7, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Today, for the safety of all SVP members, I request with this open letter that the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social provides an online option for this year's annual meeting. Myself and many others no longer feel it is safe to travel to and within the USA. Please share the letter everywhere you can!
Reposted by VickyCoules
For some Monday morning reading, a report on current emotional investment in dinosaurs - with contributions from me, @vickycoules.bsky.social and @stevebrusatte.bsky.social : edition.cnn.com/2026/04/05/s...
Mourning for dinosaurs, 65 million years too late | CNN
Dino-heads on TikTok are chopping up animated footage of the prehistoric beasts (mostly taken from the recent Netflix docuseries “The Dinosaurs”) and lamenting their loss. It’s part of a long history ...
edition.cnn.com
April 6, 2026 at 9:32 AM
For some Monday morning reading, a report on current emotional investment in dinosaurs - with contributions from me, @vickycoules.bsky.social and @stevebrusatte.bsky.social : edition.cnn.com/2026/04/05/s...
Reposted by VickyCoules
The book "Palaeontology in Public" is one year old today! 🦣🦖🦕🎂🎉
We've apparently had 7,756 downloads (!!), so many thanks to @uclpress.bsky.social for publishing it and making it open access, and to all the contributors, and to everyone who has read it so far
We've apparently had 7,756 downloads (!!), so many thanks to @uclpress.bsky.social for publishing it and making it open access, and to all the contributors, and to everyone who has read it so far
"Palaeontology in Public: Popular Science, Lost Creatures and Deep Time" is out today, and is freely downloadable as an open access pdf, published by @uclpress.bsky.social !
uclpress.co.uk/book/palaeon...
🎺🦕🦕🦕⚒️🎥🦖🦖🦖📖📰🦣🦣🦣🎺
uclpress.co.uk/book/palaeon...
🎺🦕🦕🦕⚒️🎥🦖🦖🦖📖📰🦣🦣🦣🎺
January 21, 2026 at 9:59 AM
The book "Palaeontology in Public" is one year old today! 🦣🦖🦕🎂🎉
We've apparently had 7,756 downloads (!!), so many thanks to @uclpress.bsky.social for publishing it and making it open access, and to all the contributors, and to everyone who has read it so far
We've apparently had 7,756 downloads (!!), so many thanks to @uclpress.bsky.social for publishing it and making it open access, and to all the contributors, and to everyone who has read it so far
Wishing you all a peaceful Winter Solstice today (at 3.03pm GMT) and a prosperous new year.. ☀️
December 21, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Wishing you all a peaceful Winter Solstice today (at 3.03pm GMT) and a prosperous new year.. ☀️