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
Yesterday I watched the animated Batman movie, Gotham Knight: It’s a collection of interrelated short pieces by different creative teams, which isn’t bad, but the different styles is a little jarring. I mean, Bruce Wayne looks different in different sequences and it was a little hard to follow. I can recommend the movie, but [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I’m getting ready to get into the ebook thing for real. I mean, I’ve been in it a long time by internet standards, with the release of Star Dragon as a free ebook back in 2005 as a marketing experiment. I’ve gotten many tens of thousands of downloads…maybe more than a hundred thousand. I’d have [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments »>No one owns holidays. Once they’re big enough to spill into larger culture, they morph into whatever. The Christians appropriated pagan holidays and incorporated them into their own traditions. Now the secular/commercial world has done the same with theirs. Christmas is about Santa as much as Jesus, more so to many. The Easter Bunny is [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>OK, I have three newly released trailers for long anticipated films, and one cuckoo… Share/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>There aren’t very many scientists like me who also write science fiction novels. The few there are have become heroes to me, for instance Gregory Benford and Alastair Reynolds (although he finally did quit astronomy for writing full-time given a pretty nice contract). Being able to do science and write science fiction both at a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>Here’s the links for this past week (and a bit beyond, probably). Let’s start with the most important thing: Star Trek vs. Star Wars. You’ve probably heard about the hints of the Higgs. Wish it wasn’t called the “God particle” because that’s meaningless. Debunking Santa is practice for debunking God. Oops. Maybe particle physicists need [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>This is going to be a list of stuff I have and like already, or want, from several categories…I’m at least semi-representative. In addition to geeks, it should work to inspire gift ideas for nerds, dorks, Fans, and other smart, fun people. Books My top recommendation is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, at least [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>My new buddy Christian Ready has started doing astronomy videos, and I’m impressed and want to learn from him. In the meantime, I’ll share him. He’ll also be presenting at Launch Pad next July here in Laramie, and I look forward to it. Check it out: Share/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>I thought things were slowing down and I was catching up, then I caught a small cold. Slowed down here, not stopped. First, you’ve probably seen this before, but I like the comments in the article. Yes, we’re finding terrestrial sized planets in habitable zones now with Kepler. Still a long way to go before [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I think about communicating science to a wide variety of audiences, both as a professor who does research and teaches, but also as a science fiction author. Knowing your audience is key, and knowing how to reach them better helps tremendously. A lot of what I say will apply to both non-fiction and fiction, speaking [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »>I’ll probably have a supplemental list of links later this week, too, splitting up a long list. It continued to be super busy this week. I should have realized the headaches associated with doing the paperwork for an international marriage wouldn’t have been any easier than the visa paperwork, but I didn’t anticipate wasted time [...]
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