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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
Saturday Starlinks
November 8th, 2008
If you want to know if you have the heart to be an observational astronomer, check out Phil Plait’s article about “Voyaging deep into the Universe” about a new image from the European Southern Observatory. If you just flash over, glance at the image, and move on, you don’t have the heart for it. It’s okay. We don’t all have it (including plenty of theoretical astrophysicists). But this is the kind of thing I can stare at for long minutes at a time in wonder. It’s a handy thing to look for in students. The ones who fall in love with the data, from images to spectra, are the ones who have a chance of making it as professional experimental scientists. You got to have that love for it.
Some self-important snobbery apparently not laughed out of existence in the 1960s, courtesy of Leeds Metropolitan University.
Physics-based game Assembler for your enjoyment.
Apparently the bullying urge gets positive feedback in some. Warning: brain science ahead. There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain, as the song goes.
Asteroid close calls. Want to write a serious sf story about an asteroid impact? Start here.
Star Trek tribble replicas. Christmas is coming up. Don’t you have a Klingon friend who would appreciate a warm fuzzy friend?
A true life story about a physicist who wanted to build a time machine. Interesting. And you can do it, too. Check out ten computer ads from the 1980s if you think you can handle the nostalgia.
The sun is showing signs of life. Let us all welcome back the sunspots.
An interesting article about large scale motions in the universe and the unfortunately named “dark flow.”
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November 9th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Wow, those tribbles are a super ripoff compared to the ones I used to get at the late, lamented Star Trek: The Experience here in Las Vegas.