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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Overblown title for something much more subtle, but profound and cool. Scientists have discovered evidence of several supernovas in Antarctic ice cores. The evidence is a spike in the concentration of nitrogen oxide, an expected effect from a flood of gamma rays hitting our atmosphere. Two of the three spikes found match known supernovas observed […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>OK, I don’t want to repeat myself exactly from yesterday’s sf band thing, but I was inspired by Phil Plait’s post about this utterly fantastic video: As you may or may not know, Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’ was used extensively in the movie Excalibur. Other parts of the soundtrack had this great theremin-sounding stuff and wailing […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments »>Last week I linked to an article about how U2 was the greatest science ficiton band. I like U2, but think that the claim is ridiculous. Am I alone? I suggested some bands like Queen, Iron Maiden, the Orbital, and Blue Oyster Cult were much better choices. U2 just doesn’t do that much stuff I […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments »>First, what does it mean to be original? Well, I guess it means to be first with something. But what does that mean? Well, maybe nothing, really. Over at Techdirt there’s an article suggesting that nothing is original. It’s the old idea that nothing is created in a vacuum, and specifically applied to our current […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>From the American Astronomical Society (AAS). It is specifically calling astronomers to action, but anyone, in the sciences or not, should be encouraged now to call their members of Congress and ask the to support science in the stimulus bill. It’s a little trickier for me bring in Brazil at the moment, but modern internet […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>Leaping off from a thread started by James Nicoll on his LJ blog where he blames Larry Niven for entrenching the idea in science fiction that a supernova close to another star can cause the second star to also go supernova, based on his 1966 story “At the Core” which underlies his entire Known Space […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments »>I wrote a short post about homeschooling last year that criticized one specific opinion held by one particular homeschooler, and while it was a good criticism, it got in the way of the positive potential homeschooling has. I said then, and I will say again, that I have no love for homeschooling done for wrong […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »>Warning: this post is practical advice for the individual and risks breeding cynicism toward science. I am a tenured professor of astronomy at the University of Wyoming, a category I research university where I enjoy a relatively low teaching load and decent pay, and where I lead a research group that has brought in close […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>So, over in science blogger/skeptic land, there’s been a discussion about how to talk to the believers. This comes up for well-educated, rational people all the time. Most of my friends have advanced degrees, talk about things they know well, and don’t have totally wacky beliefs. The ones that do have wacky beliefs wear them […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>So there’s an inflammatory post on the physics preprint server blog with the headline Massive Miscalculation Makes LHC Safety Assurances Invalid. It’s based on a paper by Toby Ord and others titled “Probing the Improbable: Methodological Challenges for Risks with Low Probabilities and High Stakes.” Here is the abstract: Some risks have extremely high stakes. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »>In addition to being a great writer, Eric Nylund is an old friend of mine. I first met him and became a fan of his at the Clarion West Writing Workshop back in the 1990s. Eric has written original science fiction and fantasy for well over a decade now, and more recently has hit the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>I’m not exactly talking about ebooks or transitions of technology. I’m talking about Larry McMurtry’s contention that we may be living in the twilight of the novel. (Note that he happens to be giving his talk on this topic, ironically perhaps, at Rice University where I literally read hundreds of novels as an undergraduate in […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »>