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Generational: A starship adventure
'...this is what a good speculative fiction story should do.' 'Excellent book - vivid imagination.' Earth is desperately troubled by ecological disasters and political unrest. Five years ago, the generational star-ship, Eos--an arc in space--was constructed. But when Leyton arrives to complete his college study of its inhabitants, he finds himself hopelessly confused. A priest with a harem of breeders? The conspiracy theories of the head technician? Can he discover the truth, the real purpose of the ship and the plans of the powerful Victorians? A starship mystery adventure from best selling British author, Norman Turrell.
- GenresScience Fiction
150 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 7, 2017
38 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Norman Turrell
12 books12 followersNorman Turrell is a commercial writer/editor and best-selling Amazon author of science-fiction, fantasy, horror and just strange stories. He blogs on Huffington Post, produces printed local publications, run live writers critique groups and is a member of many online communities - in particular Now! Writer, which he leads.
He studied Mathematics at college, obtaining a 2.1 Hons and later a MSc (Merit) in Artificial Intelligence.
In his spare time he runs a ukulele group and reads as much as he can. He also has a full time job as a Software Department Manager, which includes programming systems in C++.
Full information on all his activities, including some dabbling in photography and art, can be found at www.normanturrell.com - with a free gift as thanks to all who register.
He studied Mathematics at college, obtaining a 2.1 Hons and later a MSc (Merit) in Artificial Intelligence.
In his spare time he runs a ukulele group and reads as much as he can. He also has a full time job as a Software Department Manager, which includes programming systems in C++.
Full information on all his activities, including some dabbling in photography and art, can be found at www.normanturrell.com - with a free gift as thanks to all who register.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 24, 2017
A Disturbing World for the Future
“Adventure” may be a slight misnomer in the case of Norman Turrell’s ‘Generational – A Starship Adventure’. The book certainly contains adventurous material, but overall it is more of a miniature odyssey—a wandering, eventful journey—although it takes place in one setting, on the edge of space, and over only three days. It is an unusually thoughtful storyline, exploring the theme of power and class separation.
The understanding and personal growth of the protagonist appears through the unfolding of events. And when the protagonist is a naïve young man, engaged in demographic research, the author has cleverly set the stage for the unexpected and strange. In no way does the book achieve the bizarre tone of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, but there is a slight and very attractive structural similarity.
Completely unaware of the social and political depths he has stepped into, the young scholar from Earth tries to make sense of the people he meets. But the author does not make it easy for the reader. He only hints that all may not be well among the waiting colonists.
He develops the storyline through suggestion and inference. He cleverly controls the full revelation of the purpose of the starship so that when the climax arrives, it has all the highly satisfactory force of a classic dénouement.
Turrell writes accomplished prose, and he delivers fully-rounded and authentic characters, each carrying some single point of reference to human behaviour. Because of the smaller scale of the novella, motives are largely unexplored, but events are fascinating and the author’s fast, smooth style engages the reader’s attention throughout. Perhaps there is a slight incidence of over-writing, although it does not seriously reduce the impact of the text.
Despite its comparatively small scale, this is a book of substance. Within a strong, futuristic setting, Turrell has created a disturbing possible world. The narrative holds a clear message, and if in the end the main character raises questions for the reader, this is what a good speculative fiction story should do.
“Adventure” may be a slight misnomer in the case of Norman Turrell’s ‘Generational – A Starship Adventure’. The book certainly contains adventurous material, but overall it is more of a miniature odyssey—a wandering, eventful journey—although it takes place in one setting, on the edge of space, and over only three days. It is an unusually thoughtful storyline, exploring the theme of power and class separation.
The understanding and personal growth of the protagonist appears through the unfolding of events. And when the protagonist is a naïve young man, engaged in demographic research, the author has cleverly set the stage for the unexpected and strange. In no way does the book achieve the bizarre tone of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, but there is a slight and very attractive structural similarity.
Completely unaware of the social and political depths he has stepped into, the young scholar from Earth tries to make sense of the people he meets. But the author does not make it easy for the reader. He only hints that all may not be well among the waiting colonists.
He develops the storyline through suggestion and inference. He cleverly controls the full revelation of the purpose of the starship so that when the climax arrives, it has all the highly satisfactory force of a classic dénouement.
Turrell writes accomplished prose, and he delivers fully-rounded and authentic characters, each carrying some single point of reference to human behaviour. Because of the smaller scale of the novella, motives are largely unexplored, but events are fascinating and the author’s fast, smooth style engages the reader’s attention throughout. Perhaps there is a slight incidence of over-writing, although it does not seriously reduce the impact of the text.
Despite its comparatively small scale, this is a book of substance. Within a strong, futuristic setting, Turrell has created a disturbing possible world. The narrative holds a clear message, and if in the end the main character raises questions for the reader, this is what a good speculative fiction story should do.
October 17, 2017
Am I the only one who thinks the brightest star in the sky is the International Space Station? The only human project involving total cooperation for purely peaceful purposes that actually WORKS. Eos is a project that was presumably launched with the best of motives, but the book's young hero, Leyton, is soon to discover that nothing is as it seems. Human corruption and androids are not a good combination and Leyton finds himself not just confused, but in danger.
February 12, 2021
Generational is speculative fiction that projects us into a world where Earth is suffering from ecological disasters and political unrest. The Starship EOS was built 5 years before and has been inhabited as a survival tactic. The main character, Leyton, is a college student who comes to EOS to complete his study project of the starship and its social structure. His interviews give an inconsistent and confusing picture of the EOS culture and raise disturbing questions. He's not sure what's real. Will Leyton figure it out and learn the truth about EOS and its real purpose.
I don't read much speculative fiction but I really enjoyed this fast-paced and easy-to-read story. The story themes of abuse of power, corruption, class divisions and conspiracies are universal and relevant and make the story intriguing and disturbing. Especially when you look at how they can relate to the world of today. The writing is direct and the characters, with their quirks and traits, held my interest. I enjoyed how the characters dealt with their circumstances in different ways and were three-dimensional. Turrell builds the world bit by bit, giving insight without overloading the reader with detail.
I finished it in 2 days and became absorbed in the story. This is a very interesting and enjoyable read.
I don't read much speculative fiction but I really enjoyed this fast-paced and easy-to-read story. The story themes of abuse of power, corruption, class divisions and conspiracies are universal and relevant and make the story intriguing and disturbing. Especially when you look at how they can relate to the world of today. The writing is direct and the characters, with their quirks and traits, held my interest. I enjoyed how the characters dealt with their circumstances in different ways and were three-dimensional. Turrell builds the world bit by bit, giving insight without overloading the reader with detail.
I finished it in 2 days and became absorbed in the story. This is a very interesting and enjoyable read.
December 11, 2018
Leyton is an Oxford student who gets the opportunity to tour the generational starship Ios as part of his research. Antonia is a feisty redhead resident who volunteers to give an interview and take Leyton under her wing. His interviews leave Leyton with some disturbing questions about the ship’s true mission.
I was impressed with the vivid world building and pace for the length of this quick read! Turrell did a fair amount of world building to pull this off. I’m especially intrigued by the religious and political interplay at work in the story.
I love scifi that involves an artificial ecosystem in space travel. As a grade school kid I had the pleasure of touring the Biosphere 2 lab in Tucson, Arizona, shortly after it’s main experiment. There were still a great deal of experiments being conducted and to this day, seeing a whale swim over me as I stood in the tunnel that ran under the ocean is a vivid memory. I think such a system would be the only way people would thrive in a generational adventure to other star systems.
The cool thing about the plot is that you aren’t really aware of the mystery until it is coming apart in Leyton’s hands.
I was impressed with the vivid world building and pace for the length of this quick read! Turrell did a fair amount of world building to pull this off. I’m especially intrigued by the religious and political interplay at work in the story.
I love scifi that involves an artificial ecosystem in space travel. As a grade school kid I had the pleasure of touring the Biosphere 2 lab in Tucson, Arizona, shortly after it’s main experiment. There were still a great deal of experiments being conducted and to this day, seeing a whale swim over me as I stood in the tunnel that ran under the ocean is a vivid memory. I think such a system would be the only way people would thrive in a generational adventure to other star systems.
The cool thing about the plot is that you aren’t really aware of the mystery until it is coming apart in Leyton’s hands.
September 11, 2018
Generational: A starship adventure is not a typical sci-fi spaceship story. The book is not about the ship, called Eos, or its upcoming journey. Instead, it is about a student from Earth who comes to Eos to interview its occupants for a university social science study.
When the student-researcher, Leyton, arrives on Eos, he discovers a ship full of contradictions. A religious leader with a harem full of girls. A chief technician full of wild conspiracy theories. Swarms of banned intelligent mechanical security guards. An upper stratus of society on the ship who copy a hodgepodge of dress and mannerisms from Earth’s history. And no one willing to answer a single question for his research.
Generational is one of those rare novels that follows an intentionally unlikable protagonist. Leyton is selfish and self-centered. He feels superior to those around him and when he is not ditching calls from his girlfriend on Earth, his chief pleasure seems to be making his university cohorts jealous of his project. He demonstrates a remarkable lack of empathy, especially for a student in the social sciences, and is ready to throw anyone under the bus to save his own skin.
Because of the unlikable protagonist, I’m not sure that I enjoyed reading Leyton’s story in Generational, but I was impressed at how well Mr. Turrell was able to balance writing Leyton as unlikable but not making me want to stop reading. That is not an easy needle to thread and Mr. Turrell did it very well.
I am giving Generational 4-stars because there were a lot of loose ends in this book. There were many opportunities to tell more of the story. For instance, the Japanese section of Eos is mentioned several times, but we never go there and though conspiracies involving that section are hinted at, nothing is ever resolved. I hope that Mr. Turrell might pick up some of those loose threads and return us to Eos another time to see more of what is hints and shadows in this book.
I will be very interested to see what Norman Turrell has in store next.
When the student-researcher, Leyton, arrives on Eos, he discovers a ship full of contradictions. A religious leader with a harem full of girls. A chief technician full of wild conspiracy theories. Swarms of banned intelligent mechanical security guards. An upper stratus of society on the ship who copy a hodgepodge of dress and mannerisms from Earth’s history. And no one willing to answer a single question for his research.
Generational is one of those rare novels that follows an intentionally unlikable protagonist. Leyton is selfish and self-centered. He feels superior to those around him and when he is not ditching calls from his girlfriend on Earth, his chief pleasure seems to be making his university cohorts jealous of his project. He demonstrates a remarkable lack of empathy, especially for a student in the social sciences, and is ready to throw anyone under the bus to save his own skin.
Because of the unlikable protagonist, I’m not sure that I enjoyed reading Leyton’s story in Generational, but I was impressed at how well Mr. Turrell was able to balance writing Leyton as unlikable but not making me want to stop reading. That is not an easy needle to thread and Mr. Turrell did it very well.
I am giving Generational 4-stars because there were a lot of loose ends in this book. There were many opportunities to tell more of the story. For instance, the Japanese section of Eos is mentioned several times, but we never go there and though conspiracies involving that section are hinted at, nothing is ever resolved. I hope that Mr. Turrell might pick up some of those loose threads and return us to Eos another time to see more of what is hints and shadows in this book.
I will be very interested to see what Norman Turrell has in store next.
October 19, 2018
The good: This story was technically well written. It is a beautiful travelogue through the main character's eyes as he boards a massive generational ship.
The bad. The stereotypes in the story are presented as caricatures. The reader can infer why the bombastic politician is a puppet, but not really who the puppet master is or why. The power behind the scenes is mysterious and ruthless, but again not explained and the end shows that wealth could not be the motivation. The totally repressed, introverted main character who only lets go under the influence of drugs is hard to relate to because he doesn't seem to grow, just starts taking mood enhancers.
In the full scope of the story, nothing really happens until the end and when that happens there is little to no reason to it.
I personally think this book could be very good if it was expanded: to bring in more of what is happening with the Japanese side of the ship, to explore more of the workers' story, to have more background that leads up to the end of the story, and to have more reason explained to the reader for why the characters do what they do.
The bad. The stereotypes in the story are presented as caricatures. The reader can infer why the bombastic politician is a puppet, but not really who the puppet master is or why. The power behind the scenes is mysterious and ruthless, but again not explained and the end shows that wealth could not be the motivation. The totally repressed, introverted main character who only lets go under the influence of drugs is hard to relate to because he doesn't seem to grow, just starts taking mood enhancers.
In the full scope of the story, nothing really happens until the end and when that happens there is little to no reason to it.
I personally think this book could be very good if it was expanded: to bring in more of what is happening with the Japanese side of the ship, to explore more of the workers' story, to have more background that leads up to the end of the story, and to have more reason explained to the reader for why the characters do what they do.
November 24, 2018
Norman Turrell is a thoughtful writer - and Generational is a tale that asks questions of our future.
Set aboard a colony ship orbiting Earth and preparing for its voyage, the story dwells less on the nuts and bolts of the science of the ship, and more on the social science of the humans aboard it.
An early, off-kilter encounter introduces lead character Leyton to a young woman whose role is, as she puts it, a breeder. Or more colourfully a "ghetto-ho" or "ship's bike". She seems unstable, and Leyton is whisked away from her - an early sign that not all is well aboard the ship.
Leyton becomes the explorer guiding the reader as the slightly twisted society on board is revealed - freed from the structures of society down below, the ship has developed its own paths, becoming possibly a powder keg ready to blow... or the only hope of Earth's survival.
It's an unusual story - and I think of that as a good thing. What shape will our future be, what route will our philosophies take us? These are the questions at the heart of Generational - a tale that asks the unexpected.
Set aboard a colony ship orbiting Earth and preparing for its voyage, the story dwells less on the nuts and bolts of the science of the ship, and more on the social science of the humans aboard it.
An early, off-kilter encounter introduces lead character Leyton to a young woman whose role is, as she puts it, a breeder. Or more colourfully a "ghetto-ho" or "ship's bike". She seems unstable, and Leyton is whisked away from her - an early sign that not all is well aboard the ship.
Leyton becomes the explorer guiding the reader as the slightly twisted society on board is revealed - freed from the structures of society down below, the ship has developed its own paths, becoming possibly a powder keg ready to blow... or the only hope of Earth's survival.
It's an unusual story - and I think of that as a good thing. What shape will our future be, what route will our philosophies take us? These are the questions at the heart of Generational - a tale that asks the unexpected.
August 6, 2018
Boring
This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. I got to just over halfway before I gave up on it. The first half is about a reporter who goes to a generational spaceship and asks questions of those on the ship. The people started boarding two years ago, so have developed their own culture which the reporter goes along with mostly. He goes around asking questions but not being very good at it, he (and the reader) don't learn very much. I finally had to stop reading it and find something more interesting to read.
This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. I got to just over halfway before I gave up on it. The first half is about a reporter who goes to a generational spaceship and asks questions of those on the ship. The people started boarding two years ago, so have developed their own culture which the reporter goes along with mostly. He goes around asking questions but not being very good at it, he (and the reader) don't learn very much. I finally had to stop reading it and find something more interesting to read.
August 20, 2018
The earth is in nasty shape all around, but Leyton (the mc) hasn't given up on it yet, but will he be able to go back. For a study, he heads to a generation star-ship to conduct interviews. He finds not everything is as he expected. There is a religious-cult side to the story, which I found interesting.
The first part is a bit slow, but it picked up about the 50% mark. It's a different style of writing with a lot of Q & A - That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It's an outside the box read.
The first part is a bit slow, but it picked up about the 50% mark. It's a different style of writing with a lot of Q & A - That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It's an outside the box read.
February 7, 2019
Fascinating read leaving you wanting more
Off world adventure about a naive privileged man writing a thesis on Eos a ark type ship orbiting a war filled Earth. I like the way the author used things happening today and took it down ts logical path to create the unrest on earth in his book. Leyton finds things are not what they seem on the ship and his weak character is tested.
Definitely written well. The story is intriguing and I wished for more. Hopefully we will have more books about Eos and the characters on board.
Off world adventure about a naive privileged man writing a thesis on Eos a ark type ship orbiting a war filled Earth. I like the way the author used things happening today and took it down ts logical path to create the unrest on earth in his book. Leyton finds things are not what they seem on the ship and his weak character is tested.
Definitely written well. The story is intriguing and I wished for more. Hopefully we will have more books about Eos and the characters on board.
April 11, 2018
Cardboard characters, a plot with holes you could fly a starship through, a science fiction story with no science and very little story. Totally disappointing.
July 2, 2018
No
This is not by any definition a book.
It has great promise as a weekly radio drama.
The characters are absolutely hollow in this first installment.
Read at your own risk.
This is not by any definition a book.
It has great promise as a weekly radio drama.
The characters are absolutely hollow in this first installment.
Read at your own risk.
March 24, 2019
Interesting and fun!
Loved the fast pace of this story. Well written without excessive words. Great character development too. I look forward to reading more of Norman Turrell
Loved the fast pace of this story. Well written without excessive words. Great character development too. I look forward to reading more of Norman Turrell
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews