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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In response to my post about science fiction as a science blogger, which I wrote in response to the upcoming discussion about using science fiction to promote and teach science at ScienceOnline09, I got an interesting response From a Sci-Fi Standpoint as part of a post titled “It’s science fiction, not science class.” Yeah, but […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »>The inspiration for this post constitutes our first two entries: ‘Alien vs. Predator’ was ‘a pity,’ says Ridley Scott A pity, yes. What a pithy way of putting it. Alien (1) was a tour-de-force of science fiction horror. Predator (2), although not as ground-breaking, was also an entertaining film with some originality and nice monster-building. Later […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>I’m going to hammer some popular books, books that I love, but for a number of reasons these stories just won’t translate well to the big screen. Maybe some brilliant director could do it, or the stories could be rewritten, or made into mini-series, or something, but I don’t see any winners here in the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments »>A friend of mine emailed me to ask about something he remembered Timothy Leary saying in a speech 30 years ago: “Our enemy is gravity. That’s why we die. We are all fighting the earth’s gravitational pull. We will live forever, once we escape the pull from Mother Earth.” Leary had some kooky ideas for […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »>The other day I linked to this story from the Economist called “Publish and Be Wrong.” They were making the criticism that scientists may be overselling their results to get into the most prestigious journals, and hence the top journals were more likely to be publishing “wrong” results. Well, I have been thinking more about […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>I am pleased to offer an interview with Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, on the release of his latest book, Death from the Skies. 1) What was your inspiration for writing this book? I have always been fascinated by the biggest and bangiest of things in the Universe: exploding stars. They have everything: titanic explosions, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>I was talking to Mike Resnick at a convention and he remarked about the print run of his first book, which was close to six figures. Now, he’s a good, big name writer, but new writers in SF today as opposed to decades past rarely have print runs at that level and the average is much […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »>I double majored in college in electrical engineering and space physics, before going on to get advanced degrees in astronomy. I made a conscious choice to pursue science rather than the more lucrative engineering. Why does this matter? Why should you care? I am interested in the issue of politics and science, and the more […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>Over at sfsignal.com, there’s a new Mind-Meld topic I’m participating in: Q: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin said fantastic space science fiction shows and movies are partly responsible for the lack of interest in real-life space exploration among young people. Do you agree with this assessment? Why? In addition to myself, participants include Larry Niven, David Brin, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>The poll the other day on the Mars stuff was so overwhelmingly one-sided, even for science fiction readers and fans of science, that I wonder about my audience here. Let’s take a poll and please leave comments, too. Personally, I read science fiction for a glimpse into a different world that is based in reality. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>Buzz Aldrin is at it again. He’s making the case that we should send people to Mars, but not bring them home. He thinks we should go into space for good, for real, for the duration. Well, maybe they could return at retirement age if it’s feasible by then. I am sympathetic to this idea. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>According to this article: NASA has commissioned a specialist to recreate the smell of outer space – which has been described as being similar to fried steak and hot metal. Too bad there’s not another presidential debate, or we could hear about the money John McCain will save us by stopping such foolishness. (Sorry for […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>