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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The Geek Test: What’s Your Score?
August 30th, 2013
To take the 50 question test below, give yourself two points when you answer “yes” to the questions below beginning, “Have you ever…”
1. Attended a small (< 2000 people) science fiction convention?
2. Attended a one of the major science fiction conventions (e.g, Worldcon, Dragon*con)?
3. Attended a Comic-Con or media-oriented Convention (e.g. Shoreleave)?
4. Voted for an award at a Con (e.g. Hugo award)?
5. Played Dungeons and Dragons?
6. Played any other paper/dice role-playing games (RPGs) like Tunnels and Trolls or Gamma World?
7. Played a Live-Action Role Playing Game (LARPed)?
8. Played an RPG using minatures?
9. Played an RPG using minatures you painted yourself?
8. Played an RPG video game?
9. Spent more than 8 hours in a single sitting playing a single video game?
10. Spent more than 50 hours in total playing a single video game?
11. Played Everquest, Asheron’s Call, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Halo, or Diablo?
12. Played Settlers of Catan?
13. Played Magic the Gathering?
14. Attended a filking event?
15. Sang at a fiking event?
16. Wore a costume in public as an adult?
17. Made a costume for yourself as an adult?
18. Wore a costume in public when it wasn’t Halloween?
19. Entered a masquerade contest?
20. Won a prize at a masquerade contest?
21. Read a story in Asimov’s, Analog, Amazing Stories, or Fantasy and Science Fiction?
22. Written a speculative fiction story?
23. Written fanfic?
24. Submitted speculative fiction for possible publication?
25. Gotten the autograph of a speculative fiction writer?
26. Read a speculative fiction novel?
27. Read a graphic novel?
28. Read a comic book as an adult?
29. Read manga?
30. Read Lord of the Rings?
31. Read Watchmen?
32. Read some Sandman?
33. Read Snowcrash?
34. Read Starship Troopers?
35. Read a Harry Potter book?
36. Read Dune?
37. Watched an episode of one of the Star Trek series?
38. Watched more than 50 episodes of Star Trek?
39. Discussed whether you preferred Kirk or Spock?
40. Discussed or read Kirk/Spock slash?
41. Watched all the Star Wars movies?
42. Complained about Jar-Jar Binks?
43. Watched an episode of old Doctor Who?
44. Watched an episode of new Doctor Who?
45. Watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
46. Learned which superheroes are Marvel, and which are DC?
47. Been disappointed by a superhero movie because of changes from the source material?
48. Watched anime?
49. Watched 2001: A Space Odyssey?
50. Had a discussion about the endings of Lost, Battlestar Galactica, or the Prisoner?
What’s your score?
Maybe I’ll revise this, if there’s much interest, and expand it to 100 questions. I could be a little more general, maybe, and I’m sure I’ve missed some categories (for instance, there’s little internet or technology specific here). What would you suggest to improve the test?
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I scored 52 – mostly because the RPG and cosplay questions let me down 😉
It’s hard to be an all-around SF geek! My score here is only 86 — I could be geekier!
Expansion ideas:
Kirk/Picard debate
Read an entire SF series (like all the original Dune books).
Read an entire series more than once.
Read everything any single SF author wrote.
Read HP Lovecraft *as a child*.
Play MtG/YuGiOh/etc regularly.
Played more than one Elder Scrolls game.
Read anything by Octavia Butler.
Game on a mobile device.
Use more than one console/gaming platform regularly.
(Just randoms, I’m sure there are better and definitely plenty more.)
The Geek Test: What’s Your Score? http://t.co/dnwUqGaigg
58. I think the speculative fiction questions helped a lot, given that I’m a sci-fi author.
Maybe there should be a bit more about computers and/or internet memes.
It seems extremely SF and video-game oriented.
Only 2 questions even mention boardgames?
http://boardgamegeek.com is one of my most regularly visited websites, and the largest boardgame site; perhaps “Have an account at BGG” should be included.
And generally boardgaming should count for more than 4% of geekiness.
PS: You lose geek points for misspelling “Catan” as “Cataan”. 😛
96
96! Which two didn’t you have?
@russ, you’re right. I should lose 2 points for the spelling error. Good suggestions for the expansion set of the test. Also, I bet that on a “Board Game Geek” version of the test, you’d be hard to beat.
I wasn’t expecting a huge score but I am a middle-aged geek. I was surprised to receive a 41 on this. I do think the 50 hours on one video game is a low benchmark. I have spent over 300 hours playing skyrim alone. And any past or present MMO player will scoff at 50 hours as a newbie. 50 hours a week is barely cutting it for being in a raiding guild.
There is also a whole world of tactical miniature games. I also didn’t see any SCA or similar activities. All in all a good list and since you came at it from the world of reading and writing SF it seems tailored to me.
It also made me remember my college years which was nice.
Danke.
I foolishly misread the directions. Change my score to 82.