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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"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 have some thoughts on Alien Parameter Space over at Amazing Stories. A nice, clear summary about arguments why you may never upload your mind into a computer. Some are not big obstacles in my opinion, although others might be. Where no search engine has gone before. Google aims for Star Trek. Phil Plait’s take [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »>Todd Vandemark turned me on to this really excellent mini-documentary about how seeing the Earth from space affects astronauts: OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo. Share/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>I only do these once a week, usually, because that helps me filter. Every day a dozen things seem really interesting, but after a few days, only a few from each day do. Of course, after a month, or a year, probably only a few of each week’s links still seem really interesting. Maybe I’ll [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>I’m looking for a link or a video, but not finding one. Let me paraphrase if I can what I saw Erin Burnett just do on CNN about NASA’s upcoming landing of Curiosity on Mars. She accused NASA of playing up the drama of the Mars landing in an attempt to gain support in opposition [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »>On the Earth, we call them “milestones.” In space, let us call the “milestars.” More than 60 years ago, in the movie Destination Moon, it was explained that only private industry could put us in space. Heinlein, who wrote the story, was wrong on that point, or at least confused about how long it would [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »>5 Awesome Geek fantasy vacations. I’ve blogged about a couple of them before, but was unaware of several of them. On the science as a methodology front, via slashdot links (thanks Jon!), concerns about positive bias and how many published results could be erroneous. The basic issue is one I’ve discussed before. Basically, if we [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »>In light of yesterday’s positive post about “I can” and shedding limitting beliefs, let me propose that we can go back to the moon, on to Mars, the asteroids, and any other destinations in space that we want to. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it’s expensive. But also yes, we can be the first species to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>Once upon a time, Mars had canals: Then it was a “face” and “pyramids.” Then bigfoot: And a now (and a couple of years ago but recently noticed again), a monolith: And the elephant (thanks Patty and Russ for reminding me…I remembered there was something else, but remembered “dragon.” Heh!): You know, I actually [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>Another excellent video from Brian Malow for Time.com, pro-science, science fiction, and space, that reflects a lot of my own feelings: Share/Bookmark
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>I wrote this entry as a guest post for the SFWA blog, and it is now available there. I’ll include it here as well below. For long-time and regular readers, you’ll see elements of previous posts. I’ve culled together ten things that I think are helpful resources (a few of these “things” actually include multiple [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »>I’ve had some unexpected political issues at work keeping me awake and affecting productivity (e.g., the all important blogging!). I’ve got a pile of starlinks and will share them tonight rather than saving for Sunday. Russian mission to Mars…sort of. On dark matter and dark energy. Adam Reiss once got me in trouble for not [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »>There are issues about private industry vs. government, moon vs. Mars, each country for itself or in collaboration, etc., but these, I feel, pale in comparison with the real issue. This week President Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, a 3 year plan for NASA’s spending that also clarifies NASA priorities for the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »>