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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
Star Dragon Plot Synopsis
March 18th, 2008
As part of the Plot Synopsis Project, I’ve decided to post the synopsis of Star Dragon rather than Spider Star. I’ve done this for several reasons. For the aspiring writer, Star Dragon is available for free download, enabling the easy comparison of the synopsis and the actual novel. Spider Star is brand spanking new, with sample chapters available, but a synopsis reveals the entire plot and is chock-full of spoilers. Also, a first novel is much harder to sell than a second novel. Finally, the synopsis of Star Dragon actually reflects the book I actually wrote, whereas Spider Star, which was under contract, underwent heavy revisions and differs in many ways from the originally submitted synopsis.
I also have some articles I’ve written about writing and selling Star Dragon that may be of interest.
Here’s the synopsis as a Microsoft Word doc file:
A few more words about synopses. I was taught how to write them at Clarion West by my future editor at Tor, Beth Meacham. Format is similar to a short story but can be tighter spacing (editing won’t be needed). Present tense is preferred. It’s effective to use short story techniques and move between dialog, exposition, description, and more as needed. The idea is to get across the feel of the book and show that there’s a strong plot skeleton. My synopsis above, albeit a little long, is a selling document. I hope you find it useful and of interest.
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March 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
[...] I found most of them dull, incomprehensible, or overly long. Probably the easiest one to read was Mike Brotherton’s synopsis of Star Dragon. That one suffered from the opposite problem: it was fast-paced and easy to follow, but the writing [...]
March 26th, 2008 at 7:56 am
[...] Bray Chaz Brenchley Mike Brotherton S.C. Butler David B. Coe Jennifer Dunne Diana Pharaoh Francis Gregory Frost Jim C. Hines Mindy [...]
March 26th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
[...] Recent Comments Mike Brotherton on The Hard SF Writer’s BookshelfMartin Wisse on The Hard SF Writer’s BookshelfJames Davis Nicoll on The Hard SF Writer’s BookshelfMeredith on This is how Imperial Walkers must have startedJackie Kessler - Insert Witty Title Here on Star Dragon Plot Synopsis [...]
December 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
[...] may remember Josh from running the online synopsis and query letter projects a few months [...]
June 8th, 2009 at 4:41 am
[...] wrote articles called Writing Star Dragon and Selling Star Dragon (http://www.mikebrotherton.com/?p=427) about this. In short, I pitched a synopsis of the book (also at the link) at Clarion West to a Tor [...]