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...
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"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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I am such a nerd. There is no reasonable answer to my question, except for the obvious “he’s an alien, that’s why” or “shut up and stop being such a nerd!” (Why Superman should look like a human at all is another question I won’t ask for now, as is why doesn’t anyone see through […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>WARNING: HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Spoilers A friend of mine picked up the new Harry Potter movie on DVD and I plan to watch it this week. I was thinking back to how much I enjoyed the book, but remembered something that nagged the hell out of me when the identity of the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments »>New Scientist has an interesting article about novel methods for interstellar travel, which includes links to recent scientific articles: In August, physicist Jia Liu at New York University outlined his design for a spacecraft powered by dark matter (arxiv.org/abs/0908.1429v1). Soon afterward, mathematicians Louis Crane and Shawn Westmoreland at Kansas State University in Manhattan proposed plans […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>I am thankful for the Man-Kzin wars. I am thankful for psychohistory. I am thankful for the World of Tiers. I am thankful for robots. I am thankful for artificial gravity. I am thankful for ray guns, blasters, lasers, phasers, and photon torpedoes. I am thankful for space elevators, bean stalks, skyhooks, and the Fountains […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>My friend and fellow astronomer/science fiction writer Valentin Ivanov pointed me at these abstracts saying they reminded him of Star Dragon (which has creatures living in an accretion disk): Title: Accretion disk civilization 1: Habitable zone around accretion disks at galactic nuclei. Authors: Fukue, J. Publication: Astron. Her., Vol. 88, No. 5, p. 199 – 205 […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>This is just going to be a short post tonight on a topic I have discussed before and will likely continue to discuss. Politics in the United States has become so polarized that few politicians cross party lines. It is one team vs. the other, rather than real issues with real solutions that are not […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »>We’ll keep with the “S” theme as this post today is related to yesterday’s. Apparently a group is trying to start up a “Carl Sagan Day” on Saturday, November 7th, which would have been his 75th anniversary. Sagan was a good scientist and top-rate popularizer of science, through books and TV. In light of yesterday’s […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>Sometimes synchronicty strikes, and you see a bunch of things related to each other by chance. Well, usually not exactly by chance, but it seems that way. For today, let’s just say that I’m always interested in why smart people do dumb things, what it means to be smart, and how we decide to operate […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>Passing on some news about an educational project I contributed to: Science educators Stephanie Slater (University of Wyoming), Janelle Bailey (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), and Michael Gibbs (Capitol College) have compiled and edited a coherent set of IYA2009 educational materials that provide both content knowledge for classroom teachers and classroom-ready materials suitable for use, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I’m participating in another Mind-Meld over at sfsignal.com, this time on the best movie villains of sf/f/h. Many common choices (e.g., Heath Ledger’s Joker) yet still a lot of diversity. Here was my entry: Science Fiction Terminator Alien Predator Darth Vader (in the original 3 films, not the prequels) The Borg (Queen) Martians from War […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>So as is not unusual at any time, and especially not at a time when unemployment is up, I came across one of those articles about what are the best jobs out there today. Here is there list: 1. Systems Engineer 2. Physician Assistant 3. College Professor 4. Nurse Practitioner 5. Information Technology Project Manager […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>I used to think I didn’t have heroes. Not in the sense that most people mean, and not being allowed to count superheroes. But I realized I did, and had had a lot of them growing up through college. Mine are biased toward physics and astronomy. Here they are, in no particular order. Einstein. Sort […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>