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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
Launch Pad Summary
July 27th, 2009
OK, one more Launch Pad post upon my return to Brazil. The workshop seems to be a little better every year and it was a blast for me again this time. I wanted to compile some relevant posts from me and others about Launch Pad so that there’s one-stop shopping for anyone (including myself!) who wants to go back and check things out again.
The participants:
That’s, along the back, Julie V. Jones, Gord Sellar, Christine Stebbins, Rob Sawyer, Pat Cadigan, Andy Duncan, Carolyn Clink, Tara Fredette, Marc Laidlaw, Ed Lerner, Stacey Cochran, Owl Goingback, Joe & Gay Haldeman. In front: N. K. Jemisin, Mike Brotherton, Jim Verley, and Brian Malow. Missing: Scott Sigler and Phil Plait. Photo by Jeremiah Tolbert (our web designer, who also finally attended this year).
Stacey recorded a number of videos for us this year. We knew we couldn’t cover everything, and many of the talks are incomplete, but we hope that the parts we did record will give people a flavor for the event and let them learn a few new things, or at least be entertained for a little while:
Jim Verley from Launch Pad day one.
Joe Haldeman speaking at Launch Pad.
Mike Brotherton lecturing about light and related topics.
Mike Brotherton speaking about how stars form.
Mike Brotherton about the deaths of stars.
Ruben Gamboa on computers in astronomy.
Danny Dale lectures on infrared astronomy.
Phil Plait tells us seven ways a black hole can kill us.
Observatory Trip to the Wyoming Infra-Red Observatory (WIRO).
Note: my lectures are based on the excellent textbook, Horizons by Michael Seeds (credit to Markus Bottcher for many of the slides). This is the text that we buy for all participants, a nice big 500-page intro text with up to date information and photos. Some math in the book, but not calculus. Highly recommended.
People were twittering during the workshop, for better or worse. Here’s how to find the tweets.
Many of the links I recommend and use during the workshop are compiled at this blog post about online astronomy resources for writers. Also I find wiki has really gotten pretty good at the science stuff, although sometimes so much so it may be a little tough without a good science background.
Many participants wrote about Launch Pad either during or after the experience. Here are some links to those writings:
Launch Pad is probably THE most amazing workshop I’ve ever been to. It’s sponsored by NASA–i.e., they put up a little money for it and Mike Brotherton does all the work…I cannot say enough good things about Launch Pad. Mike Brotherton put every penny of NASA’s money into resources for the workshop and in return gets…well, friends for life, as far as all of us are concerned. I have seldom seen the kind of dedication that Mike shows for astronomy and science fiction.
God, I just had to quote that. Teaching often a thankless job, but not in this case. Thanks, Pat!
Finally, a few more words about Launch Pad (what else?). I’m not trying to turn the world into Hard SF Writers. Astronomy can and does come up in writing of all kinds, and I’m dying to see a werewolf story that can teach the phases of the moon to readers effortlessly. Also, as time has passed, applications have increased dramatically and it can be hard to get accepted. I now know how college entrance committees must feel, as I am compelled to try and balance the group and have the ability to reach diverse audiences. I have failed to admit many talented and successful writers, who I hope will reapply and can come in the future. I’ve had queries about folks starting up other versions of Launch Pad in Pittsburgh and London, and also queries for people who want to ask me about proposals and funding for similar workshops on different topics.
We should be doing a minor redesign of the Launch Pad website soon and adding some of this information there. As usual, we should open up for applications in February and have the workshop in the summer, dates to be determined.
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July 28th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Scott and I weren’t missing. We were drinking.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Heineken Uncertainty Principle? You can’t know exactly where you are and exactly how much you’ve had to drink at the same time.
February 1st, 2010 at 7:41 am
[...] launch pad summary [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
[...] Mike Brotherton points out that he’s put together an online astronomy resource list for writers. “If you want to get the same kinds of things I would get, when I’m doing research, they’re online, you just have to know how to find and access them.” He also points out that many of the slides he uses in his lectures are available as powerpoints on his site. He’s also posted a summary of last year’s launchpad, along with some youtube videos of l…. [...]
July 21st, 2010 at 10:10 am
[...] Last year I posted a summary that included youtube videos of many of the Launch Pad talks. [...]