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
First, I am providing my own personal list in response to yesterday’s American Film Institute list. I’m going to overlook some questionable science in a few movies, and not overweight the science. I am going to leave out fantasy, including superhero movies and Star Wars — mitochlorians or whatever they were called does not make […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »>There’s a TV special on tonight with AFI’s 10 Top 10 films, covering ten genres. I’ll skip ahead to give and discuss just the science fiction: Science Fiction Rank Film Year 1. 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope 1977 3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 4. A Clockwork Orange […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>As reported here. Not science mistakes, which is my usual area, but apparently gross errors confusing Mexico and Peru, Mayans and Incas, and related issues of culture, language, and geography. I understand the average movie-goer won’t care, but I also think that consistently underestimating the public helps reinforce negative attitudes toward education. I mean, if […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>I wanted to talk about what the experience feels like while it’s fresh. There were nine of us sitting for 2.5 days in a board room at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), with a panel chair, plus two support staff from the institute to help with technical issues/questions. We also had various observers come […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>I have a little time before I have to catch a taxi to the airport, and I will get some things down while they are fresh. First, my primary reason to do this review this year was that the proposals were for a post-repair mission refurbished and repaired Hubble Space Telescope. This involves repairing not […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »>My first novel, Star Dragon, got a starred review from Booklist, which a lot of librarians use in purchasing decisions. I hadn’t seen their review for Spider Star until now. It’s also a very positive starred review: The author of Star Dragon (2003) returns with another compelling work of hard sf, this time involving a […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I generally only censor spam or super obnoxious posts from my blog, and luckily haven’t had any in the second category (knock on plastic). I’m in turns bemused and annoyed with comments on some entries, like this one, about the antiscience propoganda piece that is Expelled. I know I’m going to be preaching to the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>I’m the founder of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers, which I run annually each summer in Laramie, Wyoming. This year the workshop will run from July 30 to August 5th, the week immediately prior to Denver Worldcon. Denver is only a two-hour drive from Laramie, and this will allow interested participants to attend […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I blogged about an article a few weeks ago I considered somewhat bogus, misrepresenting a tenuous connection to real science. Interestingly, a publicist for the movie, involved in setting up a promotional event for the movie at MIT with some physicists, did a drive by post that was pretty funny. He assumed I wasn’t a […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>So there’s a new movie coming out next month, Jumper, based on an sf novel by Steven Gould, whose writing I’ve admired over the years (“Peaches for Mad Molly” is a truly original story). I just came across this story about the director Doug Liman and lead actor Hayden Christensen of Star Wars infamy visiting […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments »>