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 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 »>I tried for ten physical science-based science fiction movies a few months back. Five is less ambitious and easier, letting them pick better movies on average, although I have quibbles. This is the list from New Scientist: 2001: A Space Odyssey. I agree. Tops my list, too. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s a […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »>I want to talk a little bit about the dark side of academic sociology, a dark side that does have a silver lining. This situation I will describe may be obvious to some of you reading, and a complete surprise to others. For those to whom it’s obvious, perhaps I’ll still have some subtle insights […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>At the risk of making some overly general statements based on my own personal experiences, I wanted to put down some thoughts about how the approach toward science — at least astronomy — seems to differ between the U.S. and Europe. I’m hip deep, or maybe neck deep, in Hubble Space Telescope proposals in preparation […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>Space.com reports on AbSciCon2008, with a story by Edna DeVore claiming that “Astrobiology Alive and Well.” She describes a quality meeting of the astrobiology community, with a lot of young faces, turnabouts in funding cuts, and a promising, growing future. At the same time this is going on, with the astrobiologists all excited about the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>There have been a number of books/movies/tv shows presenting conflicts between rationial vs. scientific world views on the science vs. fantasy spectrum. I submit that they’ve all been unfair. I recall watching Northern Exposure on TV some 15 years ago, more or less. It was an interesting show about a doctor with a fellowship compelled […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>One of the questions I’ve gotten as an astronomer with science fiction sensibilities more than a few times is about how nebulas would appear if we were in one. Phil Plait, the “Bad Astronomer,” has considered this issue and made a video about how to think about the issue: So, nebulas look cool through a […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I was giving an astronomy talk at a Worldcon a few years back and was showing some pictures of some spiral galaxies like this Hubble image of M81: Someone in the audience asked if the spiral shape of hurricanes and galaxies were for the same reason. Here’s a picture of Hurricane Floyd from NASA (who […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>I like stories of all types, not just hard science fiction. I can get excited about a good fantasy, or a good story of any kind. What I can’t stand, however, is the pretending. Crap pretending to be science, making it harder to find the real thing, and making it harder for the public to […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>That’s the topic for my class this week, and I just wanted to share a brief introduction with some links to some interesting videos and history regarding nanotech. Let’s start with NASA Kid’s introduction to nanotechnology. Then there’s a nice, more adult introduction with a summary of current nano state of the art. Historically, the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 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 »>