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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Some Thoughts on Haldeman’s Accidental Time Machine
June 29th, 2009
I recently finished reading Joe Haldeman’s short novel The Accidental Time Machine and wanted to share some thoughts about it while my memory is fresh.
First, there is a quality to this book I adored that makes me want to recommend it here. The main character, Matt, is a physics graduate student struggling a bit with life, love, and a career, as many of us do. But the thing is, he’s really a physics graduate student when he approaches problems. So few books feel like real science or real scientists inhabit them, but aside from a few quirks of character, this part felt real. Matt is a young scientist, not a bad caricature of a young scientist, which is more often seen in books and movies.
Going back to Haldeman’s classic The Forever War, he’s always done a great job creating interesting futures, and this book is no different. Always surprising and thought provoking. One of the more interesting futures involves Boston after Jesus’s second coming, and how exactly an atheist Jewish grad student might respond to that (and be responded to).
Haldeman’s style is clean and easy, making the pages almost turn themselves. In my opinion, a little bit too easy and fast at times, and some events flew by too quickly and needed more verbiage and description than given.
This story also suffers the problem of a lot of time travel stories that the ending is bit deus ex machina, although Haldeman is more subtle and less formulaic on this issue than most. I don’t think some readers will be satisfied, however. If you loved The Hemingway Hoax, you won’t have a problem with this book, but if you did you might want to skip it.
Again, a strong recommendation if only for an engaging story about a young scientist that actually gets the feel of being a scientist right. There aren’t enough of these out there (Timescape comes to mind), and I’d like there to be a lot more.
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[…] Mike Brotherton on Joe Haldeman’s “The Accidental Time Machine” […]
i know it’s not really related, but have you seen the big bang theory? it’s an abc (i think) show about 4 physicist and engineer friends (i think 3 and 1 respectively). it’s really well written (with the exception of certain sitcom quirks and cliches that effect almost all sitcoms), and from what i understand has really solid physics(when physics does come up). it also really embraces nerd culture. really embraces.
anyways, you saying that there weren’t a lot of books with real scientists inhabiting them, i thought of this show.
cuyler, I watch the show sometimes and enjoy it. At the same time, part of it annoys me because it reinforces stereotypes that many people hold and regard in a negative light. I know lots of physicists and engineers. Many are good-looking athletic people who played drinking games in college and are fully engaged in the mainstream world and have good social skills. I’m not saying they all do — there is some truth in sterotypes — but this is why I’m ambivalent about the show.
I kind of wish they had a super smart character who showed up semi-regularly, but who also knew to “interface” with normal people. He could even be funny.
that thought strikes me. my friend’s wife works for ball, and in addition to being a super nerd, she’s athletic and stylish and whatnot.
mostly, i was impressed by the conversation in season 2 when 2 characters engaged in a lengthy and detailed discussion about why dick grayson could or could not be the replacement batman. it’s not often that you see nerd culture so readily embraced in a positive (if somewhat cliche) light.
And I watched it tonight, actually, here in Brazil on local TV (English with Portuguese subtitles). There was an argument over which was the worst Trek movie (5 or 1) and an argument over the best (4 or 2), that was pretty dead on. 5 and 2, for the record.