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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
Ten Great Geek Things for your Home
August 21st, 2009
I’m back in my house in Laramie, Wyoming once again after spending a year abroad in Brazil and China working with colleagues on astronomy projects. I’m ready to stay close to home and nest. I also want to redecorate and make the place reflect me and my interests more. For starters, I’m going to get the cover to Spider Star blown up and framed, and I’ll make a triptych out of my Hubble Space Telescope images. I’m getting some normal things like a new TV and a new bed, too, but am hunting for some more interesting and unique things to add. I don’t want to build a shrine to Star Wars or turn my home into a museum, but I do want to add some cool stuff. Here are ten that I’ve found so far and am considering, at least a little.
1. Everyone needs a comfortable chair for reading, napping, and saving the universe. How about Captain Kirk’s Chair? So far I’ve found it for $2200, and it may be available cheaper. I suspect the difficult economy and the wives of Star Trek fans may have forced a few people to sell theirs used.
2. I have one empty room that I wanted, at one point, to make into a 1980s arcade. My ex-wife vetoed the idea, telling me she needed the place to do her tai chi in the winter. Plenty of other space in the house, but no, no arcade. Well, I don’t think I want a full blown arcade or game room any more. Realistically, it would collect too much dust as I’m too busy to play often. Still I’d like one of upright game systems that has a pile of vintage arcade games on it: Arcade Legends 2. A bit expensive at over $2500, but a lot of games and it will only take up one corner.
3. What if HR Giger designed not only aliens, but furniture? Well, he did! HR Giger furniture looks way cool, but seems to be largely unavailable now and way too expensive. A Giger bathroom would be unique, but I don’t know if I’d have the guts to use it. Found another European seller with more options, prices high, too, but not outrageous.
4. A Straight Up Chess Set. Hang it on the wall and play a game, or leave puzzles for friends to solve. This Monster Set would probably be my preference, over the Wizard Set.
5. Wall sculpture/trophy heads. When I first saw the basement of my current house, there was a big room with big hunter wallpaper and several animal trophy heads. There are a lot of hunters here in Wyoming. My novel Star Dragon also featured a hallway of trophy heads, but there were all alive. I like the trophy room at the end of Predator 2 where you seen a Alien head in the background. Well, found one artist doing an alien head trophy. Artist Jim Humble has some nice dragons. More dragons here. You can also make your own dragon trophy:
6. I’d love to have a nice orrery, one of those mechanical devices that shows how the planets in the solar system move. There is a guy who builds and sells orreries, and if I can figure out where to display it, I may well order one. They’re handmade though, and not cheap I suspect…still, a cool thing to have around the house.
7. Coffin furniture, art, etc., especially bookcases and display cases. I’d love one of these in my library to hold my horror books. This coffin couch looks great, but too pricey at $3500.
8. A robot. And I’m not talking a vacuum cleaner here. A humanoid robot that does cool stuff, or a giant Cylon. OK, the second one isn’t a real robot, just a statue, and is too expensive for me. Or an animatronic gargoyle or dragon. But maybe a robot chimp head…
robot chimp head from sizeofguam on Vimeo.
9. Lawn sculpture. I don’t have grass. I have rocks and trees. Maybe a dragon like this one, or several of them. I like this dragon skull. Or a bigfoot (although he’s too little).
10. Unique lighting. I already have these little supernova night lights that are cool that I love. Something like this Star Laser seems like the ticket, although I suspect there’s better and more interesting high-end stuff out there. I have a big room with big vaulted ceilings and I do host parties. Anyway, the Star Laser seems to look like this:
11. Yeah, my list goes to 11 now. A smart and sexy geeky/gothy/nerdy girl to share the place with. I’m thinking about settling down again after spending so much time abroad.
Honorable mention: aquarium. These can be fixed up with all sorts of strange creatures and exotic decorations. Need to do some serious research about this first before trying it.
Finally, let me provide a list of links to some pages I thought were pretty cool that I found while working on this list:
Weburbanist on Furniture Designs
Frightcatalog, which has some high-end Halloween props you would not believe
Cracked.com’s Ten Geekiest Pieces of Furniture
So, any other ideas or suggestions? Anything you have that is just too cool and you want to share? And while I do need to remodel my kitchen, that’s boring. I may just keep the geek stuff confined to a room or two (one for high-tech sf things, the other for fantasy/horror) — not all the people I invite to parties are that geeky. We’ll see.
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August 21st, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Mike,
Keeping this to a room or two is a good idea. The alien furniture is cool - I can see you with a table or something. Actual art instead of a cliche. Less is more. (It would be cool if YOU had Captain Kirk’s chair. Not my husband. I would let him visit yours.)
Jessica
August 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
The sad thing is, I do have a few totally empty rooms in the house. I’m still considering moving into a smaller place, but moving is a pain and it is a good house in a good neighborhood.
And yeah, the alien table would totally rule. Shipping costs from England might be ridiculous, however.
I’ll have to do a geek check (as opposed to a gut check) if I’m enough of a Trekkie for Kirk’s chair. And then I’d only let your husband sit on it while I was down on a planet as part of a landing party.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Great list! Some really cool and fun ideas there… though I note there’s little mention of bookshelves, those all-important (wall-consuming) items.
And how many 5th items can there be in one list?
August 21st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Ah geez, two number fives? Really? I have to start teaching again next week, and I’ll have to be more careful than this!
And I did mention coffin bookcases. To tell the truth though, I think I’ll have a much higher fraction of e-books in the future.
August 21st, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Awesome list! Lots of *fancy* items. The arcade room seems like an awesome idea. Giger furniture, oh man! But it would look pretty scary.
August 22nd, 2009 at 4:53 am
Remodeling your kitchen is a big project. You’ll want to make sure you are hiring the right kitchen design specialist or kitchen remodeler for your project. As is the case with any relationship, communication with your contractor is the key to success. The kitchen remodeling contractors will be working closely with you in your house for a good part of time.
August 24th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
fantastic list! I like the coffin bookcases and computer desk. Perfect size for a macbook. =)
As for Kirk Captain’s chair.. I think it’d be great if your universal remote was programmed in somehow!
Remodeling your kitchen actually sounds fun.
best,
Pamela