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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OK, I know that probably sounds obscene, but I’m hard pressed to come up with a name for what I want to talk about. What I’m talking about probably exists, but I’m not familiar enough with fantasy these days to know for sure, so I hope someone can help me out. Urban fantasy has been […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>He wouldn’t have been the person I’d predicted to do this, but I am thrilled: THE actor Dustin Hoffman is to spearhead an initiative to put real science into Hollywood science-fiction blockbusters. Hoffman, whose fortunes in sci-fi have ranged from the critically praised realism of Outbreak to the mocked killer squids of Sphere, will host […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>The capstone of earning a doctorate is the PhD defense, a final oral exam that is the final hurdle to achieve the degree. What is a PhD defense really like? Well, I had my own and have talked with many other PhD holders about theirs over the years, but this past week was my first […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>In the movie Watchmen, there is a scene that takes place on Mars and two large, round moons are visible in the sky. Mars does have two moons, Phobos and Deimos, but they are not large, round moons. Phobos and Deimos are tiny, with an approximate diameters of 22km and 13km, respectively, and not exactly round. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>The Matrix is a pretty cool movie, a modern classic with an interesting premise and innovative special effects. I always had a problem with it, related to the premise. Some spoilers may follow. Here’s my problem scene: I’m not going to question the information about how much electricity or heat a human being can generate. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 33 Comments »>I’m working on my seminar about science in the movies, and one of the concepts discussed will be what happens when you chuck someone out an airlock without a space suit. We know what happens. There was a poor guy who had an accident in a high-altitude chamber in the 1960s and lived to tell […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments »>First, I’m not picking on Charlie Stross particularly. It’s just that I’d been meaning to read his work for many years now, and finally got the chance with the purchase of a Kindle. In addition to a couple of his novels, I downloaded his award-nominated story “Lobsters” that I recall hearing many great things about. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »>Not every scientist has an interest in science fiction or anything resembling the ability to think like a science fiction writer. I was reminded of this again today in regard to this story about how to focus SETI searches. Basically, the idea is that it is easier in principle to find and characterize Earth-like planets […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »>This is a favorite topic of mine. I love stories and I love science, and science fiction movies combine these. Unfortunately one or the other usually suffers from the combination. Still, for the purposes of education, getting the science wrong can be as instructive as getting it right, if not more so. I have been […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments »>In many important ways, science fiction rules the world, but is regularly dismissed by the public at large. I’m going to use an expansive definition of science fiction, as opposed to my usually more rigid definition that demands some adherence to science, and open this up to speculative fiction in general and nearly all novel, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>OK, not quite getting away from The Watchmen quite yet. A friend pointed me at a video about the science of The Watchmen: University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios discusses how he was tapped to add a physics perspective to the upcoming Warner Brothers movie, Watchmen. Kakalios discusses how quantum mechanics can explain Dr. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I’m a month late commenting on this list of the 15 greatest science fiction writers of all time, but I will comment and offer my own. 15. Larry Niven“ 14. Philip Jose’ Farmer“ 13. Robert Silverberg“ 12. Ursula K. Le Guin“ 11. Harry Harrison“ 10. Frederick Pohl 9. Frank Herbert“ 8. Harlan Ellison“ 7. Jack […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments »>