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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
“I’m Not Dead Yet!” and “Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts”
July 29th, 2010
I’m not dead yet! It’s just been busy week after busy week. Two weeks ago was Launch Pad. Last week was a Herschel Space Observatory proposal. Then this week it was trying to finish an old project with a visiting collaborator (she leaves tomorrow) — almost done with a draft of the paper but I will need a couple more days. We finished all the technical parts, I think, but were also trying to finish a second paper that she has the lead on, and that will also take a few more days. Then there’s my other visiting collaborator and the project I’m working on with him, which is even bigger…
Oh, I’m on a student’s PhD committee, too, and her defense is tomorrow morning post airport run. More work for her, but no free ride for me…
Some people think professors have summers off. Ha! Not hardly for most of us who take research seriously, and with my job description I have to.
I’m taking a vacation next week before the fall semester starts up, and should be blogging more regularly while doing that (I hope!).
Oh, and to wrap up again with Launch Pad news that’s important to me if no one else, this year’s participants got the instructors Think Geek gift certificates. It was sweet, thoughtful, and touching. No class ever did something like that and I really appreciate it. It’s not needed or expected, which makes it the best kind of gift.
Except…Think Geek has too many cool things!!! I’ve been looking at break time, but it has threatened to delay finish the project. Any suggestions? Otherwise, I suggest you beware geeks bearing gifts! It’ll suck up your time and allow them to sneak up on you and burn you to the ground while you’re distracted by Star Trek lamps, Yoda backpacks, and t-shirts you can play like guitars!
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July 31st, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Where are you going on vacation?
August 5th, 2010 at 12:00 am
hey Mark, you would like to be in Porto Alegre today with that puny heater and no insulation
southern Brazil saw its largest snowfall in a decade.
of course, nothing near to what happened in 1879 (two meters of snow accumulation in Vacaria) or 1957 (1.3 meter in São Joaquim), but it snowed in over 30 cities and it accumulated up to 30cm in some areas.
August 5th, 2010 at 11:25 am
btw, guess what? I already found some anti-global warming websites/blogs giving attention to this week snowfall… since they never heard of snowfall in Brazil, they are supposing that brazilian snow is proof global warming is fake.
I wrote some comments on such blogs explaining that this is the biggest snowfall in Brazil since the internet became popular (last such big snowfall was in 1994), and THATs why they are hearing about snow in Brazil for the first time.
I also explained that in the past (like the examples I gave above) there was even more snow.
Lets see if they will allow my posts (most of them are moderated).
August 5th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Yeah, people are still being stupid about the difference between weather and climate. I remember back in the 1990s every local heat wave brought stories like “is this global warming?” Big snowstorms in DC brought conservative idiots saying there was no global warming — look out side the window! — while in Brazil there was a record heat wave. Recently stories of the first half of this year setting a new heat record (despite those DC snowstorms) were touted as global warming is back, or still here…and criticized by some conservatives for over emphasizing short-term trends. You can’t win. Can’t even break even…
But I remember being cold in POA last year!
And hot…