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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15 Most Memorable Stories
October 1st, 2010
So I just succumbed to one of those facebook memes:
Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen short stories (or novelettes or novellas) you’ve read that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I’m interested in seeing what stories my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note.)
(in no particular order)
1. Sandkings by George R. R. Martin
2. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
3. The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
4. The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
5. Neutron Star by Larry Niven
6. Unaccompanied Sonata by Orson Scott Card
7. Feedback by Joe Haldeman
8. Dinosaur by Walter Jon Williams
9. Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly
10. Guts by Chuck Palaniuk
11. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
12. Peaches for Mad Molly by Steven Gould
13. Persistence of Vision by John Varley
14. Thor Meets Captain America by David Brin
15. Day Million by Frederick Pohl
Honorable mentions: Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson, Into the Miranda Rift by G. David Nordley, Dying in Bangkok by Dan Simmons, All Summer in Day and A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, The Hole Man by Larry Niven, Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw, Of Mist, Grass, and Sand by Vonda McIntyre, The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Home is the Hangman by Roger Zelazy, Flowers of Aulit Prison by Nancy Kress, Marrow by Robert Reed, Dogfight by William Gibson and Michael Swanwick, Nightfall by Issac Asimov…Hmm, now that I’ve given it more than 15 minutes I might revise the list!
I don’t read short stories as often as novels. Most of my short story reading has been restricted to classic anthologies, Dozois’s Year’s Best Anthologies, Hartwell and Cramer’s hard science fiction anthologies, a few years in the 1990s when I did read Analog and Asimov’s regularly (and reviewed for Tangent sometimes). I focused primarily on science fiction, but let slip in a few stories like “Guts” I read in Playboy a few years back that disturbed me quite a bit at the time. Not too many stories by women writers on my list or honorable mentions, I see…hmmm….I like short stories by Octavia Butler, Connie Willis, Nancy Kress, and Vonda McIntyre, among others, but it seems they didn’t strike me as “most memorable,” and a lot of the newer women writers I like seem to write really high quality prose, stylish stuff, when frankly it’s idea that sticks with me best. I can’t second-guess my list — the stories on my list have really hung around in my brain, when hundreds of others have vanished.
What sticks with you best? What are some of your most memorable stories?
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I Sing the Body Electric – Ray Bradbury
And He Built a Crooked House – Robert A Heinlein
The Sentinel – Arthur C Clarke
The Man Who Sold the Moon – Robert A Heinlein
And He Built a Crooked House – Robert A Heinlein
The Billiard Ball – Isaac Asimov
Asimov: The Last Question
its a favorite of many Asimov fans.
Yes, those are some more classics. Another couple of Heinleins: By His Bootstraps and “All You Zombies.”
And how about Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith?
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is my favorite short story. I’ve read a few others from anthologies but they didn’t really stick as much as this one did.
I really want to track down the graphic adventure game that was based on it. It looks pretty interesting.