We invite additional submissions for Lands of the Lost, an edited collection that explores extinct animal parks real, imagined, unrealized, or yet to be. Our goal is to bring together multi-disciplinary perspectives to examine parks across time and space, across fact and fiction. We seek to understand how these projects, which reconstitute and enclose long-extinct life forms, intersect with histories of science, capitalism, imperialism, environmental change, and more.

Dinosaur parks have received less critical attention from scholars compared to traditional museum displays. There is good reason, however, to turn our gaze toward such parks, which are deliberate mise-en-scène of the geological past, assemblages with intentions, assumptions, and values designed into them. As such, they constitute strategic places to engage with urgent topics such as: the ongoing extinction crisis as; the politics of representing the past; the possibilities and perils of de-extinction.

Our definition of “dinosaur” is capacious, as true dinosaurs are often displayed in a milieu (alongside contemporary pterosaurs, for instance, or even anachronistically with Pleistocene beasts). Moreover, while some enthusiasts understand the intricacies of taxonomy, the general public tends to use “dinosaur” loosely. Our interpretation of “park” is similarly broad. We are mainly interested in outdoor displays (and yet outdoor could be inside of a computer, e.g., the Jurassic World: Evolution game). The book’s introduction will define and historicize these terms. 

We envision three main categories of dinosaur parks: (1) physical parks that do or did exist; (2) fictional parks that exist in books, TV, film, digital games, etc.; (3) parks planned but unrealized or ones yet to be made. Across these categories, contributions might take a variety of forms, including:

• Traditional essays that offer deep analysis of a single park or comparative analysis of several. 
• Braided essays that merge personal reminiscence of park visits with critical analysis.
• Speculative essays, grounded in scholarship, that imagine future dinosaur parks.

While we are looking forward to considering all proposals, we aim to offer a view of parks across time and space. At this stage of the book project, we especially welcome submissions that feature parks in the following geographical areas:

• Africa.
• Oceania.
• South America.
• Eastern Europe.
• Central, East, and South-East Asia.

We are also welcoming submissions that discuss the following themes:

• Abandoned dinosaur parks.
• Marine parks and other liminal sites.
• Dinosaur parks in literature, comics, and graphic novels.
• Dinosaur parks and the “sixth mass extinction”.
• Dinosaur parks and tourism economics.
• Outdated reconstructions and the implications of their display.

Submission Guidelines

We welcome submissions from scholars, museum professionals, speculative writers, paleontologists, and paleoartists whose work is informed by scholarship. Kindly submit your interest by March 31, 2026 via email to dinoparkfieldguide@gmail.com. In a word document attached to your email, include: your proposed title; an abstract (300-500 words) that mentions methodology and key sources to be examined; and a brief biographical statement (~150 words). The editors, Dr. Victor Monnin and Dr. Alison Laurence, aim to notify accepted abstracts by mid-April.

The anticipated deadline for full-length essay drafts (6,000 words, including references) is December 2026. This collection has received interest from the editor of the Environment and Society series at Bloomsbury Academic. We plan to submit a book proposal for inclusion in this series by May 2026.