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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On Science Fiction and Novelty Seeking
June 15th, 2009
One of the reasons I love science fiction is that, frankly, I am easily bored and depressed by normal everyday life. I mean, TV commercials, ick! Pumping gas. Going to the bathroom. Showering. Shaving. Driving. Cleaning. Grocery shopping.
Hours every day filled with so many things of little intrinsic interest, pretty much destined to never change or improve.
Even as a kid, I sought out novelty. Astronomy and dinosaurs. Other places and other times. Books, especially mysteries and science fiction. Monster movies, waiting for 90 minutes to finally get a glimpse of what the horrible thing looked like. An escape from the drudgery of the normal that bored me so much of the time.
School was better, although I was well enough read quickly enough that I tended not to learn much in class, and grasped ideas much faster than most of the other students. You do get in trouble sometimes correcting the teacher, and it isn’t good to always raise your hand, and that made me sink into silence too often.
I’m sure I’m not the only science fiction fan like this.
Most people prefer comfort and security to an unending stream of new challenges and experiences. I’m sure this is why movies and TV fail to be very innovative, and why science fiction remains a niche area rather than being recognized as the only significant literature of our technological era.
But I’m really writing this because I’ve become a little concerned about how far I may be taking this novelty with my entire life.
I always seem to be looking for the next great thing. I never seem to be happy with good and steady. This tendency has brought me some real rewards, I acknowledge, and is an important quality for both a writer and scientist to have.
I could have gone a lot of other directions, however. Passions right up there with astronomy, dinosaurs, and science fiction have been movies, video games, drawing, engineering, running, travel, and more.
Since my divorce in 2005, I’ve done all kinds of things that have surprised me. My wardrobe is quite different. I have tattoos. I have an earring. I’ve temporarily moved to Brazil and am gaining some skill with Portuguese. I’ve run a marathon for the first time. I started blogging seriously. I created Launch Pad. There have been some X-rated things I won’t go into here, but they would seriously impress and scare the me of twenty years ago (and ten years ago). And now that I’m a few months away from returning to Wyoming full time, I’m getting excited about remodeling my house (or buying a new place even).
It always seems like I have to be doing something new and dramatic.
The good and steady stuff has been okay, with Spider Star coming out last year, and getting tenure and sustaining funding for my research group. I still love writing and astronomy, but it gets harder to get the same juice out of it that I once did, and I’m looking for ways to rediscover that sense of wonder in what I’ve learned to do well.
So, maybe this sort of thing is normal for some of us. I’ve tackled some things like writing and research science seriously, things that always provide an opportunity for novelty. I’ve also made the time and money to enable all sorts of other novel activities. For instance, I’ve got the awareness and frequent flyer miles to be able to travel any where in the world for a vacation and get a lot out of the experience. Fewer and fewer places are looking that different or interesting to me, however…
This post is more personal than many I make here. I know I like the bloggers who go personal regularly, but that takes a lot of courage and not everyone respects their boundaries in real life. I usually like to disguise my personal issues in my fiction, where there’s some plausible deniability.
There is a place for someone like me. I know a lot about a lot of things, and that enables me to write about things difficult for others, and to do research that others can’t do. It also makes me into more of an amateur at everything I do sometimes, and I have a lot of envy sometimes for the people who love only one thing and do it very well. The experts tend to get more attention, and rightly so.
Anyway, I’m proposing that a lot of you reading this are like me, too. Science fiction fans, novelty seekers, always looking for the next big thing in your lives. Any of you beat the monkey, or learn how to ride it instead of it riding you? I manage, sometimes, and sometimes I don’t. Perhaps that’s being balanced, or perhaps that’s failing some of the time.
And if it looks like I’ve got all my shit together and should have no worries, realize that everything looks different from the inside and the introspective ambitious personality is always second-guessing himself, and I’m no different. I just try to tell myself that my problems are problems that most people would like to have.
My immediate problem has been trying to beat insomnia and sleep issues instigated by fighting the computer virus of a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had a big hit to my productivity and general outlook, with more time thinking and less time doing. The other way around feels better, although isn’t sustainable either.
And part of it is probably just “mid-life crisis,” although I hate to put such a trite label on something complex. Labels make people think they understand things when the things are intrinsically complex and timeless problems people have always struggled with. This one probably comes under the heading of the eternal problem of how to find meaning in a long and nominally successful life (one of the central themes of Star Dragon so I’ve been struggling with it for a while now). I have too much intellectual integrity for many of the pat answers, and in any event, an individual emotional response is the one that counts.
Maybe it’s like the title of that movie, As Good As It Gets. Jack Nicholson, the OCD writer whose life is in turmoil wonders “Is this as good as it gets?” The trite answer there is that he needs to change to win the love of a good woman, and love conquers all.
Maybe the old trite answers are the only ones that ever work, but my curse is that I’m always looking for a new answer, and they’re usually not as effective.
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Anyway, I’m proposing that a lot of you reading this are like me, too.
Somewhat. If I had to give a single phrase description of my character, “serial monomaniac” would probably be a leading contender.
I have half of an Associate Diploma in Community Welfare, a bit of a Wood Machining apprenticeship, half of a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Rehabilitation Counselling) and a B.Sci (Psychology, History and Philosophy of Science).
My honours thesis was in psycholinguistics, which was immediately followed by a switch to psychopharmacology for my Phd…and although it’s mostly just a reaction to early-doctorate stress, I’m already wondering about jumping ship again (archeology looks appealing…).
I haven’t got any answers, however. The only time in my life that I’ve been unambiguously happy was the half-decade or so when I was in a solid romantic relationship, and that ended back around the turn of the millenium. Unfortunately, creating such relationships appear to be a facet of my life that I have bugger-all control over.
I was going to write about ADHD and adderall, about frustration and boredom, and about the wall that comes down in the brain when you try and shove stability into a space it doesn’t fit. But then I got bored and went back to my feeds.
just wanted to say i enjoyed reading this post. i read them all, felt compelled today to let you know people read but don’t always write.
Mike,
The act of writing this post shows that you have sufficient self-awareness to avoid letting the novelty bug get you into serious trouble. The unserious trouble you can deal with.
Dan, I am reading your comment from Brazil where my last girlfriend here was beautiful, fun, and very deeply into anything and everything serial killer. She must have watched ED GEIN, PSYCHO, and FRIDAY THE 13TH a million times. I’m out of the relationship now, but sometimes worried that this interest posed “serious trouble” for me.
Graig, Steve, Stephen, thanks for the comments. From the website statistics I know a lot more people read than comment. Sometimes it’s scary to post something personal and hear back nothing. Sometimes that nothing is simply quiet interest, but sometimes it’s indifference, shock, or all sorts of things. So again, thanks.
the web is, i’m afraid, FULL of indifference. most that hit your site are not, i’ll bet. “Spider Star” rocked, by the way. i visit locus, torque control, mike flynn’s blog and sf signal daily in addition to your site….just so you know…but you probably won’t see me comment unless something crazy occurs. so, thanks in advance mike, and write another novel while the spirit moves…..as the spirit often just as soon moves on….
Aah, I just think that those of us who are determined to age well have discovered that reinventing yourself regularly helps keep you young both mentally and physically. There is an art to growing older gracefully, and it doesn’t come about by sitting on your butt and lodging yourself in a rut.
Steve, thanks for the compliment about Spider Star. I’ll have to check out Mike Flynn’s blog. I enjoy his fiction.
Joyce, I agree with you generally speaking, but I also know that most big things worth doing take daily dedication and effort. Writing needs butt in chair. Astronomy, does, too, too often. There’s always room for self-improvement and no one is perfect. Just what is really worth the investment?
Self-improvement is mental masturbation. (not that there is anything wrong with mental massturbation.)
I’ve recently been struggling with many of the same issues you mention here. The environment I currently reside in (as a young molecular biology graduate student) is intensely specialized and it often seems that I am mediocre due to my lack of “depth of knowledge.” I do often get distracted by journal articles in divergent subjects and am chided for reading them. Part of me understands that hyperspecialization is the name of the game, but the other part of me believes that, given the chance, this breadth could become something new and exciting. It’s a quandry: play ball and try to recall my intellectual hyperactivity a decade down the road, or stay true to myself and be limited by perceived mediocrity.
But thank you. It’s good to know that someone who’s been successful enough to be tenured faculty and a traveling writer deals with the same issue I do.
Zach, while from many perspectives it’s best for the career to be recognized as “the expert” in some hyperspecialization, some projects require breadth. These are often winners when you apply for grants because fewer people can do them. Still, usually more difficult to achieve a lot of peer recognition this way, but you can have success.
You have to love what you do, and getting bored does risk failure.
RE: Zach – Your “intellectual hyperactivity” is a gift, inspiration often comes from seeing the big picture.. IMO. I haven seen this occasionally as my work takes me in and out of microbiology / entomology and other labs which require imaging equipment. It is rare that you can meet someone in the lab that can talk to you about anything other than their specialty.
I also see it in the IT field as various “product rockstars” appear with tons of in depth knowledge of just a certain product. The problem is that their solution to every issue is THAT product, which is great for THAT company. But sometimes you have to evaluate and have at least a surface knowledge of everything that’s out there to make a good decision.
Sorry for the long rant. Essentially saying treasure curiosity it is likely what got where you are now.
Zach, I wanted to add that it is very educational to go deep on your PhD. You should be the world expert on something and know how deep a subject can go, which helps when you branch out. You have more of a clue how much you don’t know and how necessary collaboration is in some areas you don’t know as well.
I think your qualities are valuable (I’d better as I share them and want to think well of myself, too, even when questioning my choices), but suck it up a little at this stage. There will be time later, and it’s a valuable lesson to explore to the bottom of a hole as long as you can still climb out later.
I really enjoyed reading this blog, it’s always the ones dripping with honesty that I like the best. Most of the really creative people I know get bored very easily and that’s exactly why they seem to be into so many different things. I must admit up front that I’m not familiar with your writing or work, but based on what I just read, I will pick something up and familiarize myself with it. I’m a big fantasy sci-fi fan and just stumbled across this from a SF Signal link.
Thanks, Glenda.
Star Dragon can be downloaded from here for free. Spider Star is for sale in hardback at the moment. Some other short stories floating around here or there.