Where's the science in fiction?

I've been a big fan of science fiction most of my life. I like the hard stuff (Brin, Hamilton, Baxter, etc). I like the softer science fiction as well. I'll even indulge in a bit of Fantasy every now and then.

But it seems that science fiction of all types has started to shift away from what made it so wonderful. It's relevancy to our every-day lives. The stories should be real stories; with real characters. But the science should be relevant. Much of what we read about is so far-fetched as to be indistinguishable from magic.

One of my favorite authors is Peter Hamilton ( Pandora's Star ). But the level of science has risen to the point where there is little difference between fantasy authors using magic to create a whirlpool to swallow the attacking navy, and a naval space ship deploying a Hawking M-sink torpedo to consume the enemy ships in an instantaneous black holes. How'd they get a black hole into a torpedo again?

I'm going to try to use this blog to talk about science, and to share a bit of science fiction. They say if you want to get better you need to practice, and I suppose I could toil away, unpublished, unread like most of my unknown peers. But I like the idea of sharing -- even if only a few ever read this.

Mike