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’ve been thinking more about some practical problems we’ve been developing in science. Now, they aren’t as bad in my field of astronomy, since we’re relatively small, don’t involve huge sums of money, and rarely have results that are politically problematic. But we still have the same problem: null results don’t get published very often. […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>Recently I highlighted an astronomical blunder by literary giant Ernest Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea. He is far from unique. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens, James Thurber, Edgar Allen Poe, and others of similar literary greatness, have all similarly blundered. A lot of the mistakes involve the moon: “Till clomb above the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>There’s a fun, literary homework problem in the textbook I’m using this semester (Foundations of Astrophysics by Ryden and Peterson). It’s a pretty good textbook overall, although it’s a bit calculus heavy for when some of our students take my course and it’s short on example problems. One thing I do like is that the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>Academia and writing are two systems where mentors are still common, something like the old system of Apprentice/Journeyman/Master. I think in nearly every field of individual excellence that requires serious expertise, you’ll find mentors. Tiger Wood’s had his dad teaching him golf. The Polgar sisters had rigorous chess coaching. Every scientist these days has or […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>One of my more popular posts is Five Qualities Required to be a Scientist. In response, I get a lot of comments and email from kids / teenagers who want advice about how to become a scientist. Now, as a practical matter, being a scientist is like being a writer. No one makes you into […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 32 Comments »>As I look over my list of topics I want to write about soon, it’s clear that I’m thinking a lot about science at the moment. I’m a scientist and do science on a daily basis, or struggle to anyway, but I’ve had a lot of triggers to write about several aspects of science. I’ve […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>Launch Pad is sucking up all my time, but I wanted to point out an article I wrote that’s just been released. Check it out: Neptune has just completed its first full orbit since being discovered in 1846. Steve H Silver marks the anniversary in his latest issue — Argentus: Neptune [PDF file] — with articles […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>In astronomy, and most academic fields, research is published in so-called “peer reviewed” journals. These are the publications that count. At least one other scientist, and sometimes several depending on the field, has reviewed all the papers. That review process means an expert in the field has decided that the research is worth publishing and […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>Over on his blog, Jay Lake posted a link to this flowchart showing the scientific process. LOVE IT! It’s funny because it’s true… Every astronomer I’ve shared it with has loved it (one I overheard laughing out loud two offices away). And I just finished working on a NASA proposal to study the hot dust […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>While I guess I always feel busy and sometimes overwhelmed, I’m usually getting more done than I think and it’s often worthwhile. I spent a lot of time running on Sunday (18 miles), and much of my time Friday and Saturday was spent with prospective graduate students. Most PhD programs make acceptances of graduate students […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>A friend sent me a link to an article at Physics Today about The Big Bang Theory. The premise of the article was to ask if the comedy could do more than make people laugh, and to propose it could educate them at the same time. Here is the lead: Could scientists help the cause […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>I wrote this entry as a guest post for the SFWA blog, and it is now available there. I’ll include it here as well below. For long-time and regular readers, you’ll see elements of previous posts. I’ve culled together ten things that I think are helpful resources (a few of these “things” actually include multiple […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>