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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There’s a really interesting article over at space.com about prospects for life on planets in the habitable zone of red dwarf stars. Most stars in the galaxy are red dwarf (type M) stars, and will live forever, more or less (hundred billion+ years, much older than the universe’s 14 billion years so far). I want […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I was reading some internet forum recently where someone suggested that since parsecs were based on local geometry (how stars appear to move in the sky because of the Earth’s own motion around the sun), no one would use the unit more generally. Except that astronomers, do, all the time. Sometimes movie directors do, too […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>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 »>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 »>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 »>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 »>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 »>I think I may have touched on this topic in the past, but reading Redshift Rendezvous the other day reminded me of a common misconception with regard to astronomy. Again, I recommend John Stith’s novel of mystery and action involving a hyperspace ship on which the speed of light is quite slow and relativistic effects […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No 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 »>