Science Fiction
Turner's science fiction narratives are remarkable for their detailed extrapolation and their invariably earnest approach to moral and social issues. In such novels as Drowning Towers and Genetic Soldier he displayed a gloomy vision of global warming's future ramifications. The former novel won an Arthur C. Clarke Award. Much of his work has a strongly "Australian" feel, and it sometimes incorporates references to the Aboriginal peoples of his country. Despite his late start, at death he was arguably one of the elder statesmen of Australian science fiction.
Turner's first science fiction novel, Beloved Son (1978), was followed by two related works, Vaneglory (1981) and Yesterday's Men (1983), comprising the Ethical Culture series. While they did not form a coherent trilogy, they were set in the same future, plagued by the problems of both a nuclear holocaust and the ravages of ill-advised experimentation with genetic food crops and epidemics caused by mutated viruses. Vaneglory introduced perhaps his most memorable creation, the Children of Time, a secret society of mutant human beings who are virtually immortal and have certain advanced mental skills. Unlike similar fictional creations however they do not control human destiny- their cynical and self-absorbed personalities make it difficult for them to care much about humanity or co-operate in planning its future.
His next published novel The Sea and the Summer (1987) (published in the United States as Drowning Towers (1988)), was his most successful, being shortlisted for the Nebula Award and winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1988. It was based on a short story "The Fittest" published in 1985 in Urban Fantasies edited by Russell Blackford and David King. A work of science fiction realism, It concerned a future historian, writing a historical novel about a near future Melbourne, beset by the problems of climate change, unemployment caused by excessive automation, the collapse of the monetary system and the division of society into elite communities segregated from impoverished masses. Turner concluded the novel with a personal reflection on the urgency of giving serious consideration to social and environmental issues highlighted by the narrative .
His next two novels were both political thrillers set in the near future. Brainchild (1991) and The Destiny Makers (1993). Brainchild focused on journalist commissioned to investigate a genetic experiment that had led to varieties of humans beings with superior intelligence. Part of the novel was formed from the short story "On the Nursery Floor" (1985).
Genetic Soldier (1994) shared the timeline of The Destiny Makers. Subsequent to the events of that novel, the crew of a starship sent to explore for habitable planets, return to find themselves at odds with the inhabitants of the Earth, who have evolved in a more ecologically harmonious direction in their absence, and ostracise them for their incompatibility with a society determined by rigid genetic specialisation. The novel drew some inspiration from Turner's short story "Shut The Door When You Go Out" which dealt with a similar scenario .
George Turner was named as a Guest of Honor for Aussiecon Three, the 1999 World Science Fiction Convention held in Melbourne, but died before the event.
Read more about this topic: George Turner (writer)
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