George Turner (writer)

Infobox Writer
name = George Reginald Turner


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birthdate = 1916
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deathdate = 1997
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occupation = Writer and critic
nationality = Australian
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genre = Science Fiction
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George Reginald Turner (16 October 1916 - 8 June 1997) was an Australian writer and critic, best known for the science fiction novels written in the later part of his career. He was notable for being a "late bloomer" in science fiction (by the field's standards). His first SF story and novel appeared in 1978, when he was in his early sixties. By this point, however, he had already achieved considerable success as a mainstream novelist, including a Miles Franklin Award, and as a literary critic. In the 1960s, he established a reputation as a high-profile, forthright, even curmudgeonly, SF critic.

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.

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.

Novels and collections

*"Young Man of Talent" [vt Scobie: A Novel] (1959)
*"A Stranger and Afraid" (1961)
*"The Cupboard Under the Stairs" (1962)
*"A Waste of Shame" (1965)
*"The Lame Dog Man" (1967)
*"Beloved Son" (1978)
*"Transit of Cassidy" (1978)
*"Vaneglory" (1981)
*"Yesterday's Men" (1983)
*"Drowning Towers" [vt The Sea and the Summer] (1987)
*"The Sea and Summer" (1987)
*"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.

Awards