George Reginald Turner (8 October 1916 – 8 June 1997) was an Australian writer and critic, best known for the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novels written in the later part of his career. His first science fiction story and novel appeared in 1978, when he was in his early sixties. By this point, however, he had already achieved success as a mainstream novelist, including a

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

, and as a literary critic.

Biography

Turner was born in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, and educated in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He served in the Australian Imperial Forces during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Subsequently, he worked in a variety of fields, including as an employment officer, as a technician in the textile industry, and was a reviewer of science fiction for the Melbourne Newspaper ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''.Collins, Paulsen & McMullen 1998, p. 173. Prior to writing science fiction, he had a well-established reputation as a mainstream literary fiction writer, his most productive period being from 1959 to 1967, during which he published five novels. Two of these were award-winning, ''The Cupboard Under the Stairs'' (1962), being awarded the

, Australia's highest literary honour, and ''The Lame Dog Man'' (1967) being awarded a

Commonwealth Literary Fund The Commonwealth Literary Fund (CLF) was an Australian Government initiative founded in 1908 to assist needy Australian writers and their families. It was Federal Australia's first systematic support for the arts. Its scope was later broadened to e ...

fellowship.Blackford, Ikin & McMullen 1999, p. 145. During the 1970s, he gained considerable reputation for his reviews and criticism of science fiction, among his first critical publications in the field being in ''Australian Science Fiction Review'', edited by John Bangsund, who at that time worked for Turner's publisher, Cassell Australia, and in SF fan magazine ''SF Commentary'', edited by

Bruce Gillespie Bruce Gillespie (born 1947) is a prominent Australian science fiction fan best known for his long-running sf fanzine ''SF Commentary''. Along with Carey Handfield and Rob Gerrand, he was a founding editor of Norstrilia Press, which published G ...

. In 1977 he edited ''The View from the Edge'', an anthology of tales produced by participants in a Melbourne writers' workshop, which he ran with science fiction authors

Vonda McIntyre Vonda Neel McIntyre () was an American science fiction writer and biologist. Early life and education Vonda N. McIntyre was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of H. Neel and Vonda B. Keith McIntyre, who were born in Poland, Ohio. She ...

and Christopher Priest. Over a decade after his previous publication of a full-length work of fiction, he published ''Beloved Son'' (1978), his first science fiction novel. An extract from the novel had previously been published as "The Lindley Mentascripts" in ''Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Literature 1'' in June 1977. Before his death, he published six more science fiction novels.Blackford, Ikin & McMullen 1999, pp. 145–146.

Science fiction

Turner's science fiction narratives contain detailed

extrapolation In mathematics, extrapolation is a type of estimation, beyond the original observation range, of the value of a variable on the basis of its relationship with another variable. It is similar to interpolation, which produces estimates between know ...

and their invariably earnest approach to moral and social issues. In such novels as ''The sea and Summer''/''Drowning Towers'' and ''Genetic Soldier'' he displayed a gloomy vision of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

's future ramifications. The former novel won an

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

. Much of his work has a strongly "Australian" feel, and it sometimes incorporates references to the Aboriginal peoples of his country. 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 A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...

and the ravages of ill-advised experimentation with genetic food crops and epidemics caused by mutated viruses.Blackford, Ikin & McMullen 1999, p. 146. ''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- although they intermittently dabble in human politics, their cynical and self-absorbed personalities make it difficult for them to care much about humanity or to cooperate in planning its future. His next published novel ''The Sea and Summer'' (1987; published in the United States as ''Drowning Towers'' in 1988), was his most successful, being shortlisted for the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

and winning the

in 1988. It was based on a short story "The Fittest" published in 1985 in ''Urban Fantasies'' edited by

Russell Blackford Russell Blackford (born 1954) is an Australian writer, philosopher, and literary critic. Early life and education Blackford was born in Sydney, and grew up in the city of Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle, New South Wales. After graduating with ...

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.Blackford, Ikin & McMullen 1999, p. 147. Turner concluded the novel with a personal reflection on the urgency of giving serious consideration to social and environmental issues highlighted by the narrative .Blackford, Ikin & McMullen 1999, p. 148. His next two novels were both political thrillers set in the near future. ''Brainchild'' (1991) and ''The Destiny Makers'' (1993). ''Brainchild'' focused on a 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).Collins, Paulsen & McMullen 1998, p. 174. ''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 .Blackford, Ikin & McMullen 1999, p. 149. George Turner was named as a Guest of Honor for Aussiecon Three, the 1999

World Science Fiction Convention Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...

held in Melbourne, but died before the event. In 2013 his ''The Sea and Summer'' became the first Australian novel to be included in Gollancz's

SF Masterworks ''S.F. Masterworks'' is a series of science fiction novel reprints published by UK-based company Orion Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Hachette (publisher), Hachette UK. The series is intended for the United Kingdom and Australian markets, but ...

list.

Bibliography

Novels and collections

*''Young Man of Talent'' t Scobie: A Novel(1959) *''A Stranger and Afraid'' (1961) *''

The Cupboard Under the Stairs ''The Cupboard Under the Stairs'' is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author George Turner. This novel shared the award with ''The Well Dressed Explorer'' by Thea Astley Thea Beatrice May Astley (25 August 1925 – 17 ...

'' (1962) *''A Waste of Shame'' (1965) *'' The Lame Dog Man'' (1967) *''Beloved Son'' (1978) *''Transit of Cassidy'' (1978) *''Vaneglory'' (1981) *''Yesterday's Men'' (1983) *''The Sea and Summer'' (1987) (published in the USA as ''Drowning Towers'' in 1988) *''A Pursuit of Miracles'' (short story collection) (1990) *''Brain Child'' (1991) *''The Destiny Makers'' (1993) *''Genetic Soldier'' (1994) *''Down There in Darkness'' (1999)

Anthology

*''The View from the Edge'', as editor, (1977)

Autobiography

*''In the Heart or in the Head: An Essay in Time Travel'', (1984) Biography "George Turner: A Life" by Judith Raphael Buckrich, Melbourne University Press, 1999.

Short fiction

*"And Now Doth Time Waste Me" (1998) in ''

Dreaming Down-Under ''Dreaming Down-Under'' is a 1998 speculative fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb. Background ''Dreaming Down-Under'' was first published in Australia in November 1998 by Voyager Books in trade paperback format. In 1999 and ...

'' (ed.

Jack Dann Jack Dann (born February 15, 1945) is an American writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-edit ...

Janeen Webb Janeen Webb (''née'' Pemberton) is an Australian writer, critic and editor, working mainly in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Biography The daughter of a Second World War Australian Army commando and salesman, Webb was brought up in ...

)

Awards

for ''The Cupboard Under the Stairs'', 1962 (joint winner) * Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award for ''Beloved Son'', 1979 *

Arthur C Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

for ''The Sea and Summer'', 1988 *

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

South-East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book Award, for ''The Sea and Summer'', 1988

References

Sources

* * * Milner, Andrew (2014). 'The Sea and Eternal Summer: An Australian Apocalypse'. In Canavan, Gerry and Kim Stanley Robinson (eds) ''Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction''. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, pp. 115–126.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, George 1916 births 1997 deaths Australian science fiction writers Australian speculative fiction critics Australian speculative fiction editors Miles Franklin Award winners Science fiction critics 20th-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists People from Kalgoorlie Australian military personnel of World War II