Raptor Red - Background

Background

Paleontologist Robert T. Bakker originally suggested the genus name Utahraptor for a new dinosaur specimen that had been found by an amateur bone-hunter in Utah. Bakker was at the time consulting with the designers of the Jurassic Park film, whose largest portrayed Velociraptor—called the "big female" in the script—was coincidentally the same size as the newly discovered Utahraptor. Bakker was motivated to write the book by both his interest in dinosaur behavior and his desire to marry science and entertainment, saying that "nature is a drama. It is the most ripping yarn ever written. You've got life and death and sex and betrayal and the best way to approach it is through individual animals." According to Bakker, "It was fun to put myself in the mind of a raptor, especially since being a top predator is so challenging ... much harder than a herbivore." He credited the turn-of-the-century naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton's works that focused on life from the perspectives of grizzly bears and wolves as having inspired him to write the novel from the dinosaur's point of view.

Raptor Red was an attempt to introduce Utahraptor to the public, as well as explain some of Bakker's theories regarding dinosaur behavior. Bakker's raptors are shown as monogamous, relatively intelligent and social creatures, an assertion he defends, saying "the life of dinosaurian hunters was hard. Most skeletons we excavate have clear marks of old wounds. To survive and raise their young, the predators needed more than sharp teeth and strong claws. They needed social bonds." Bakker also advances his controversial theory that an asteroid impact did not kill the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, but rather a disease spread through migration.

Another of the novel's goals was to dispel the common perception of predators as evil and portray them as creatures to be admired and empathized with. "Being a top predator is difficult," Bakker said, noting that fossils of big predators often show multiple broken and healed bones, as well as signs of serious infections, all evidence of a harsh lifestyle. He continued, "Most predators had some trauma, they had been beaten up—for a simple reason: Dinner fights back." The behavior of the raptors and other animals featured in the novel was based on a combination of fossil evidence and observations of modern animals, such as chimpanzees and alligators.

Bakker received a large advance for the novel from Bantam Books, rumored to be in the six-figure range. The book was prominently featured at the American Booksellers' Convention in Chicago, alongside Michael Crichton's The Lost World. Coverage of the event noted that both novels were on the trailing end of the dinosaur fad fueled by Jurassic Park, as the new trend in American books was shifting toward politics in the aftermath of the 1994 US elections.

Raptor Red was initially published as a mass-market paperback and hardcover book, and was later released as an audiobook by Simon & Schuster Audio, read by Megan Gallagher. Bakker's audiobook royalties—at least $34,000 by November 1995—were donated to the Tate Museum in Casper, Wyoming, where he was curator.