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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We’ll keep with the “S” theme as this post today is related to yesterday’s. Apparently a group is trying to start up a “Carl Sagan Day” on Saturday, November 7th, which would have been his 75th anniversary. Sagan was a good scientist and top-rate popularizer of science, through books and TV. In light of yesterday’s […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>Sometimes synchronicty strikes, and you see a bunch of things related to each other by chance. Well, usually not exactly by chance, but it seems that way. For today, let’s just say that I’m always interested in why smart people do dumb things, what it means to be smart, and how we decide to operate […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>Passing on some news about an educational project I contributed to: Science educators Stephanie Slater (University of Wyoming), Janelle Bailey (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), and Michael Gibbs (Capitol College) have compiled and edited a coherent set of IYA2009 educational materials that provide both content knowledge for classroom teachers and classroom-ready materials suitable for use, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>So as is not unusual at any time, and especially not at a time when unemployment is up, I came across one of those articles about what are the best jobs out there today. Here is there list: 1. Systems Engineer 2. Physician Assistant 3. College Professor 4. Nurse Practitioner 5. Information Technology Project Manager […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »>I used to think I didn’t have heroes. Not in the sense that most people mean, and not being allowed to count superheroes. But I realized I did, and had had a lot of them growing up through college. Mine are biased toward physics and astronomy. Here they are, in no particular order. Einstein. Sort […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>OK, I’m not crazy about this topic because I’m a realist and deal with reality, and calling Pluto a planet or not is semantics. The astronomical and cultural classification is not important to reality and doesn’t have any physical effect on Pluto whatsoever. In general, I’m happy with the IAU’s definition of a planet and […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »>I’ve never been a big fan of being graded or grading others. Ideally we should all learn for the sake of learning, but I have to admit that grading, from a number to a letter to a gold star can be a stupid but effect motivator. Moreover, the grades are used by admissions committees for […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »>The other day someone emailed me with a question about a passage in my novel Star Dragon that bothered them. They were right to be bothered and I’m going to just say that we all goof from time to time, even over things we know pretty well, and in the spirit of Obama I’m going […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>The Bing Bang Theory Theme Song – Bare Naked Ladies Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait… The Earth began to cool, The autotrophs began to drool, Neanderthals developed tools, We built a wall (we built the pyramids), Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>The issue of the TV comedy, The Big Bang Theory, came up in comments earlier this week. Pros: the show is funny and gets its science and geek culture very correct. Here’s a scene about the problem with teleportation: Cons: for the most part, the characters are stereotypical nerds who lack social skills, dress oddly, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments »>Above and beyond the basic skills these areas require, some of which like writing and editing are in common, there is a key creative difference. When you’re learning to be a scientist, you get trained to say “no” to ideas. Most ideas are probably not original and wrong, and even the popular ideas are usually […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »>I went looking online for lists of science movies. I found one from a chemist at about.com: 1. Weird Science 2. Dr. Strangelove 3. Real Genius 4. The Atomic Cafe 5. The Absent-Minded Professor 6. The Andromeda Strain 7. Love Potion #9 8. Prince of Darkness 9. Project X 10. Manhattan Project Now, a few of these are good choices and I will keep them, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>