## [RT] [HF] A Miracle of Science

* Author: u/MugaSofer *
* URL: http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos000.html
* Score: 13

* Created: 2015-11-30T11:34:33

### Post:

[Link to content](http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos000.html)

### Comments:

> **u/MugaSofer** [+10]  (a minute later)
> 
> "Mad Science" as a mental-illness that costs you your genre-savviness in return for the insight to build advanced technology is an old trope; but nobody's done it as well, or as rationally, as *A Miracle of Science*.

> **u/chorpler** [+3]  (13 hours later)
> 
> An excellent work, in my opinion. Though I may be biased. "A Miracle of Science" was one of the first webcomics I ever read. I think the only thing I read before that was Andy Weir's "Casey and Andy" strip. Sadly, after ending that, Mr. Weir had to make do with writing a best-selling novel that was made into a very popular movie. And hey, the novel and movie heavily feature Mars, as does "A Miracle of Science." You see how I came full circle?

>> **u/Kodix** [+1]  (23 hours later)
>> 
>> Wait, The Martian was written by the same person as Casey and Andy and this strip? 
>> 
>> Damn, didn't know that. That's really quite cool.

>>> **u/MugaSofer** [+1]  (a day later)
>>> 
>>> Sadly, no - Casey and Andy and *The Martian* were written by the same person, which I never knew before; he said as much in an AMA on Reddit. No connection to *Miracle of Science* other than similar themes, though.

>>>> **u/Kodix** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> Ah, I see I misread Chorpier's post.
>>>> 
>>>> Still pretty cool that the author of Casey and Andy had such success, though.

>>> **u/chorpler** [+1]  (a day later)
>>> 
>>> Yeah, sorry, I phrased that poorly. It was just that Andy Weir mentioned *A Miracle of Science* numerous times while he was still making "Casey and Andy," so I check it out and he was right, it was a great read. He also constantly mentioned the webcomic "Irregular Webcomic," which I also enjoyed. I also remember his author note where he mentioned that in high school he had a crush on a girl named Sandra, and he had recently found out that she was now Sandra Tayler, after she had married Howard Tayler, of the webcomic "Schlock Mercenary." Small world, and whatnot.
>>> 
>>> Anyway, I also really liked Andy Weir's *Cheshire Crossing*, about a school/research institute founded to study multiple universes and recruiting Alice (of Wonderland fame), Dorothy Gale, and Wendy Darling, since they all had the ability to go to different universes, with Mary Poppins supervising them and Ernst Rutherford as the director of the school. Alas, he only completed four issues, and he's probably not going to continue it now that he's famous and (presumably) rich.  :(
>>> 
>>> So yeah, I think all of his old-timey fans were thrilled when *The Martian* became a best-seller, and then became a hit movie. After he wrapped up Casey and Andy it seemed like he had dropped off the grid for a while, until I found his serialized online fiction and discovered that he was still around. Then some of the readers convinced him to create and publish a Kindle version of *The Martian*, and it became a runaway success. (I now have three Kindle versions of the book: his original with a generic picture of Mars as the cover, the later "professional" version that his publisher created, and the latest version that has the movie poster as the cover.) And since he'd been talking about how he'd been trying to become a published author for years (and gave us an older book he wrote, *Theft of Pride*, to enjoy), it was awesome to see it happen, and especially awesome to see HOW it happened.

> **u/Kodix** [+3]  (an hour later)
> 
> This has been posted a couple of times, but as far as I'm concerned it warrants reposting once in a while. Really enjoyable work, highly recommended. Pretty original, too, at least at the time it was released.

> **u/Nighzmarquls** [+2]  (13 hours later)
> 
> Never really mad to see this again.  Some good fiction

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