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
There was a time in the 1980s in comic books where superheroes had to be retooled to make them cooler, often by adding “dark” in front of their name. For example, Frank Miller’s graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns helped revive Batman as a leading character. In the 1990s, that trend hit cosmology with “dark […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I really liked this article: SPACE.com — SETI: Is It Worth It? This article mirrors my thoughts on basic research and a lot of the points made apply not to just SETI, but to astronomy in general. It behooves us as a curious and thoughtful people to take some time and effort to look around […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>Here’s one site about becoming a scientist: Cool Careers in Science What does it take to become a professional scientist? To get into graduate school, persevere, collect a PhD and land a job in the field? A lot of things, but not all obvious to the uninitiated. I used to like to tell people that […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 188 Comments »>So I got another one of those emails today asking me to do some community service. Astronomical community service. It happens all the time and every professional astronomer is expected to contribute semi-regularly. Often the contribution is relatively minor, like reviewing a paper for one of the journals like Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>This originally ran at www.sfnovelists.com on September 14. Putting it here for my own personal archive. Enjoy! I’m a scientist, a professional astronomer, who writes hard science fiction. I wish it weren’t called “hard†because that makes it sound difficult, when it’s more fun and understandable than most people think. The “hard†really refers to […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>Chandra :: Photo Album :: 1E 0657-56 :: 21 Aug 06 The issue of the reality of dark matter has kept coming up recently in my life, both in the writing and educational spheres. I recently finished copy edits on the new book (SPIDER STAR will hit stores in March 2008 and I’ll blog about […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>Actually, no we don’t. I sometimes hear people say, or see them write in an online forum, that university professors have it easy. They say that we get a job for life and only have to teach a class or two at a time and, gee, isn’t that easy? Hardly. I haven’t posted here in […]
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