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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...
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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
Sunday Starlinks
June 28th, 2009
The way I do starlinks is that I open browser tabs with links, and don’t close the interesting ones until after I do a starlinks post. When I get too many tabs open, I do a post. Sometimes the links are very fresh, sometimes a little old. Haven’t done one in a while, so it’s longer than normal. Enjoy.
Booking the future, on the future of books and publishing.
Why writing hard science fiction is more dangerous than other kinds of fiction: David J. Williams in a cage match with Jerry Pournelle. Follow up being an open letter to Jerry Pournelle.
A guide to author websites. Do I need to put up a permanent page for pictures of me with my cat? I will. I love my kitty.
I’m just like Alastair Reynolds. An astronomer who writes science fiction novels. Except I don’t have a million pound, ten year contract for ten books. I’m envious, although that’s a workload and he had to give up astronomy years ago.
A long discussion between Sam Harris and Nature editor Phillip Ball on the compatibility of science and religion. Nuanced, repetitive, but still interesting if this topic obsesses you. I confess I fall on the Harris side, and although I am a writer of some ability and significant vocabulary, I must applaud his use of the term “stultifying shibboleth.” Also “fellatio” very appropriately.
Nice video about science fiction and science fact (nicked from Mish):
Life imitates (comic book) art, ironically, with more TSA goons being simple minded and dull. Unthinkable? I think not.
Informative article about the Extremely Large Telescope. Astronomers are not as creative with their naming conventions as I would like.
Rolling Stone tears Michael Bay and Transformers 2 a new one. Good for them.
Summer Science Movies, an mp3 to listen to, from Ira Flatow on NPR. (Thanks, Dad!)
Cool Halloween Costume for the technically inclined. Tempting but probably not optimal for party conditions.
If I can’t quite be Alastair Reynolds, can I at least hook up with Salman Rushdie’s formerly better half? Not quite what you think, but close.
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June 29th, 2009 at 2:26 am
The problem with David Williams is that he repeatedly says “buy my book” but refuses to let me buy it. At least your books are available to me (albeit you don’t want my money either, but I can live with that).
I’d like to see authors taking ebooks more seriously rather than relying on deadwood.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:25 am
A million pound contract would be nice!
Cheers
http://www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/ScienceFictionandAlternateHistory.html
June 29th, 2009 at 6:37 am
in the little ESA movie: “you need to escape Earth´s gravity. For this, you need spaceships. For this, you need POWERFUL ROCKETS”.
Yeah right. There are other ways to escape Earth´s gravity. Rockets are as inneficient as possible. The fact ESA doesnt research or dont care abotu skyhooks, space elevators, etc, doesnt mean they should say it as if rockets were the only way to escape gravity. They mentioned Arthur C Clarke… maybe they should have mentioned The Fountains of Paradise too.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
@ Moz: I’d certainly never stand in the way of anyone trying to buy my books. But keep in mind that my publisher (Bantam Spectra) has complete control over distribution and publishing formats.
My books *are* available on Kindle, but I gather you’re looking for a different e-format. Sorry to disappoint, but you overestimate my power to inflect the situation.
@Rogerio: weirdly enough, I’ve actually got a LEO elevator in my first book. Which (naturally) gets blown to smithereens.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
David, why are you keeping Moz from buying your books. Drive over to his place and take his money! You’re just as mean as Pournelle…
June 30th, 2009 at 5:18 am
David, the kindle doesn’t work very well in Australia - the wireless part of it is useless and even buying books with a non-US credit card can apparently be problematic.
It’s possible for me to buy the secure mobipocket version and remove the DRM, but at that point the legal difference between buying and pirating the book has been deliberately annihilated by the US copyright empire. It’s definitely less hassle to download the pirated version than to evade the geographic restrictions, buy the book, download it to Australia, crack the DRM and convert it to a format I can read.
I dunno, it seems to me that as an author you should have some say in what happens to your work - the propaganda from the copyreich lobby claims as much. I don’t know how much you make from the limited electronic release you have, but unless it’s significant I suggest keeping the electronic rights would be advantageous. Or just sell them to Tor or someone else sensible on day one so they’re in the hands of a publisher-who-publishes rather than a bunch of Luddites (in the factual sense rather than the mythical sense of Luddite - they’re people who resist new technology because it threatens to substantially change or reduce their particular niche).
Do Bantam have a rationale for only making your book electronically available to US residents and only as a rental? I can’t see an explanation on their website, but surely they have some reason?
June 30th, 2009 at 11:41 am
moz, I don’t think very many publishers have figured how to sell ebooks effectively yet, as you point out. A lot of the bigger publishers also insist on taking electronic rights now, and not parting with them can sink a deal. I share your frustration, especially as I’ve been reading books on my kindle outside of the U.S. this year, a lot, and as you point out, that isn’t so great.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Definitely something I can raise with my agent on the next contract.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Thanks, I appreciate that you are thinking about it.
FWIW, musicians are further down this track but often not doing a lot better. One friend has a label that says “iTunes is how we e-publish” and won’t let him release high-quality versions at all. He’s annoyed but needs the label for visibility…