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
I watched the premiere of the new Neil de Grasse Tyson-hosted version of Cosmos tonight on Fox. The goal was to update the science of Carl Sagan’s show — we have learned a lot in the last 30+years — and present it in as entertaining way as possible. Tyson says: “The goal is to convey […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments »>There are a number of tropes that I see popping up over and over in science fiction, even though they are not very scientifically plausible and border on the impossible given our current understanding. They are used and will continue to be used, especially in movies and tv, because they’re very convenient. I find it […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »>A friend sent me a link to an article at Physics Today about The Big Bang Theory. The premise of the article was to ask if the comedy could do more than make people laugh, and to propose it could educate them at the same time. Here is the lead: Could scientists help the cause […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>I was relaxing last night after my talk, after a dinner party at the University President’s house, and was catching 30 Rock, one of the more clever sitcoms out there in an age of the declining sitcom. One of the characters (Liz Lemon played by Tina Fey) had a problem with her father, and her […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>A few days ago I blogged about mainstream stories that I thought could be categorized as light versions of fantasy or science fiction. To qualify, the stories had to fail to reflect reality in some fundamental way without being obviously science fiction or fantasy. When that failure was over-the-top and great liberties are taken with […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>There are a bunch of good lists concerning science fiction tv over on wiki. I tend to post a lot about movies, but this time I want to post about space-based science fiction series on tv. It always seems like there’s at least one decent one, and sometimes more than one. I’m going to take […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 44 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 »>This new Mind Meld post is over at sfsignal.com, of course. Be encouraged to go read all the responses over there and leave comments. Here was my response: I haven’t watched a lot of recent TV shows, or seen every movie that’s come out. I’ll focus on some of the serious movies and TV shows […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »>I’ve been a big fan of comic books since I was a kid, and most make little sense when viewed from a scientific perspective. That’s fine. I let that axe rest years ago. They’re a particular type of modern, urban fantasy and I can happily enjoy them as such, as long as they enjoy some […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »>