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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 2010 Information: Application Window Opening Soon, Guest Instructor Announced
February 23rd, 2010
Please be very encouraged to forward this to anyone who might be interested.
Launch Pad is an essentially free, NASA-funded workshop for established writers held in beautiful high-altitude Laramie, Wyoming. Launch Pad aims to provide a “crash course” for 10-12 attendees in modern astronomy through lecture, hands-on activities, discussion, and observation through the University of Wyoming’s telescopes.
Launch Pad 2010 will be held July 11-18. Our special guest instructor is Kevin R. Grazier:
Dr. Kevin Grazier is currently the Science Advisor for the Sci Fi Channel series Eureka, the NBC animated series The Zula Patrol, previously Battlestar Galactica, as well as several movies in development. He is also the co-author of “The Science of Battlestar Galactica” with Patrick Di Justo. He was the editor and contributing author for “The Science of Dune” and “The Science of Michael Crichton”.
Dr. Grazier works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, and holds the dual titles of Investigation Scientist and Science Planning Engineer for the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. At JPL he has written mission planning and analysis software that won both JPL- and NASA-wide awards. Previously he worked at the RAND Corporation, processing Viking Mars imagery in support of the Mars Observer mission.
Dr Grazier did his undergrad and MS degrees at Purdue University. His doctoral research at UCLA was in planetary physics: long-term large-scale computer simulations of Solar System dynamics, evolution, and chaos. He continues this research with collaborators at UCLA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the University of Auckland.
Dr. Grazier is also very active in bringing the wonders of science and space to the public. Through various outreach programs, he speaks to thousands of K-12 students every year, and has served on several NASA educational product review panels. He teaches classes in basic astronomy, planetary science, cosmology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and the science of science fiction at UCLA and Santa Monica College.
Applications for 2010 will open March 1st and be accepted until March 31. Attendees will be notified as soon as possible and no later than April 15th. (I’m a couple of weeks late compared to last year. I’m making some updates to the Launch Pad website and it’s not been urgent, until now, so I’m late.)
We’re interested in not just training science fiction writers who publish in Analog (although we happily accept a few every year and expect to do so again in 2010). We’re looking to reach large, diverse audiences who our attendees reach, so anyone who can help put more and better astronomy in front of the public is our target participant. This includes screenwriters, editors, and writers of both fiction and non-fiction for any venue. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. We also try to take a few writers closer to the start of their career than the end. Some past participants have included Robert Sawyer, Jay Lake, Nancy Kress, Pat Cadigan, Vonda McIntyre, Stephen Gould, and many others. (Again, we’re very open to people other than just science fiction writers.)
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February 24th, 2010 at 7:54 am
[...] Launch Pad 2010 Information: Application Window Opening Soon, Guest Instructor Announced — I did this two years ago. It was an awesome experience. Go check it out. [...]