Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
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Poll: Best SF/Fantasy/Horror Movie Soundtrack?
February 22nd, 2009
OK, I don’t want to repeat myself exactly from yesterday’s sf band thing, but I was inspired by Phil Plait’s post about this utterly fantastic video:
As you may or may not know, Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’ was used extensively in the movie Excalibur. Other parts of the soundtrack had this great theremin-sounding stuff and wailing voices and I loved it.
My all-time favorite soundtrack has to be Conan the Barbarian by Basil Poledouris. Totally awesome:
OK, there are some other great soundtracks out there. Star Wars is quite memorable. I liked Bram Stoker’s Dracula sound track very well, too. Some strange ones, too, like Lady Hawke. A lot of good ones out there of different types. Which do you like the best?
Loading ...Again, pick up to 3. I’m sure I left a lot of worthy contenders off. Let’s share our love for genre-type music and turn each other on to some new great things.
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Dragonheart. It was the reason I bought a CD olayer – because the soundtrack was only obtainable on CD, and I *had to have it*.
There’s also a lot of Wagner’s “Ring” music in “Excalibur”, but to good use.
Favorite soundtracks? 2001: A Space Odyssey. Silent Running. Solaris (the remake). A Beautiful Mind (well, not SF, but close). A Clockwork Orange and The Shining by Wendy Carlos. Ghost in the Shell (the movie, plus some of the tracks from the series). Contact. Dune (original movie, pieces thereof, the television movie and the sequel television movie). Forbidden Planet. 300. Cosmos (not a movie, but few television shows had a soundtrack the equal). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (I guess you could call it a fantasy). Firefly (television series). The entire Babylon 5 series. The Outer Limits (the original!). Planet of the Apes (original!). The Day the Earth Stood Still (original!). Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Alien and Aliens. Sneakers (peripheral SF). The Princess Bride.
Oh goodness, more than three. Oh well.
Fred, you win the internets! 2001 is an obvious one I should not have forgotten. Seems like I need to listen to some more soundtracks…
Alma, Dragonheart does look highly reviewed.
The Fountain
Blade Runner by Vangelis.
Merry
i have to agree that the fountain’s soundtrack is amazing.
as far as rock things go, the soundtrack to the first resident evil was almost a religious experience. and i don’t know think they’d be considered sci-fi, but on the grounds of it being very surreal, the naqoyqatsi soundtrack gets a huge vote.
also, not to be picky, and i’m sure that as a writer it rubs you the wrong way, but it’s mortal kombat.
* The Day the Earth Stood Still – Bernard Herrmann (This is the soundtrack that defined what sci-fi sounds like, theremin and all.)
* Star Wars EP V: The Empire Strikes Back, by John Williams (Mainstream)
* Best dark horse soundtrack: The Rocketeer, by James Horner (despite the controversy that swirls around him)
There are a bunch of Hans Zimmer soundtracks that I listen to, but they aren’t really in these genres. Peter Gabriel has done some really nice work in smaller art films like Birdy, Last Temptation of Christ, and The Rabbit-proof Fence. I liked James Horner’s Star Trek themes very much, especially II and III. James Newton-Howard is great. Harold Shore did the LotR films, as well as Kingdom of Heaven.
2001 again, of course. I remember buying the soundtrack as a Christmas present for my father in 1970 or so.
Also I particularly remember liking the Dark City soundtrack while I was watching the film.
And the Blade Runner soundtrack (by Vangelis) I remember as being memorable at the time… I haven’t seen it in ages though.
“The Keep”, with a Tangerine Dream soundtrack that sounds like nothing before or since.
How about Highlander? Some great Queen stuff in there. “Who Wants to Live Forever” — absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful.
And Heavy Metal.
Yeah, Bill, I should have listed Heavy Metal. A block there, perhaps. That movie was so cool to me 25 years ago, and now just looks so ridiculous…
The music of the Star Wars SAGA wins, but that’s six films, including the incomparable Empire Strikes Back. You left out the music from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which is also damn good. I own all of these on CD/mp3, so it’s hard to choose. LOTR music is good for some writing moods, Conan (you left out Conan the Destroyer on your list) for others, Pirates, Star Wars, and even Ghost in the Shell – The Series all have their honored places on my laptop/desktop/mp3 player. Video games are also a good source of dramatic music. Some are out on CD, like the Halo soundtracks. Others you have to harvest from the games themselves, which I did with Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament. Man, I need to crank up my tunes now…..
Devil’s Rejects!
Yeah,
Unbelievable, that’s definitely what I was shooting for! You just saved me alot of work