Spider Star
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...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"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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Defending Science and Science Fiction
June 29th, 2011
I wanted to point out two great articles standing up for things I think are wonderful and positive.
First, John DeNardo of sfsignal.com writes a thoughtful and balanced positive plea to literary types to read science fiction, in particular knocking down a number of misconceptions that might make some pass. This is the kind of article where you reach out to those with another perspective and try to bring them over to the dark side (we have cookies!) rather than rallying the base against those snobby types. I’m a week late linking to this, but better late than never.
I’m also a big fan of science, and think most of our scientific instituions do a pretty good job overall, although there are some reasons for concern (very valid criticisms with some obvious fixes that I hope are applied). However, some conservative Republicans don’t even know enough science to make reasonable criticisms, to wit, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma’s complaints about the National Science Foundation (why is science literacy so very very low among politicians from OK?). I could write my own rebuttal, but an excellent and thoughtful one has been written already and is very much worth a read. I was going to snip out a paragraph or two here, but the whole thing is worth quoting, so go read it. Disclaimer: I am and have previously been funded by the NSF, and have participated in several peer review panels — I think I know the strengths and weaknesses of the system pretty well and that knowledge is the basis of my opinion rather than a bias in favor of those who have funded my research and educational outreach.
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Thanks for the shout-out, Mike. Must now hunt for cookies!
One of the things that interests me about politicians criticizing scientific foundations is how it seems to lead to a backlash in the scientific community. It may not be as prevalent in physics, but in my biology experience, there seems to be a demand for “purely intellectual” endeavors, as if translational research is somewhat less prestigious than “science for science’s sake.” It never sat well with me, but I understand where it comes from.
Scientists are not a large fraction of voters, and tend to be liberal, so they’re an easy target for a conservative like Coburn to go after to look good to his constituency. He’s just another pandering political asshole wasting resources to make the world a worse place.
John, good luck on the cookie hunt!