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Beloved Son
Forty years after his starship escapes from an apocalyptic Earth, Commander Albert Raft and his crew return to a much younger and violent Earth society that wants to embrace Raft as a god because of his telepathic powers.
375 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
George Turner
212 books34 followersGeorge Turner was born and educated in Melbourne. He served in the Australian Imperial Forces during the Second World War.
Prior to writing science fiction, he had a well established reputation as mainstream literary fiction writer, his most productive period being from 1959 to 1967, during which he published five novels. Over a decade after his previous publication of a full length work of fiction, he published his first science fiction novel, 'Beloved Son' (1978).
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.
Prior to writing science fiction, he had a well established reputation as mainstream literary fiction writer, his most productive period being from 1959 to 1967, during which he published five novels. Over a decade after his previous publication of a full length work of fiction, he published his first science fiction novel, 'Beloved Son' (1978).
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in January 2002.
George Turner is still probably the best known Australian science fiction author, and this, his début science fiction novel, is one of the most original novels of the 1970s. It manages to combine several traditional elements from the genre in an unusual way to create a novel which is greater than the sum of its parts.
The novel begins as the first interstellar space mission returns from Barnard's Star, having been absent for a generation. The crew, released from suspended animation, discover a world greatly different from their own. The Catastrophe, an apocalypse of biological rather than nuclear origin, has devastated civilisation, but with the surviving knowledge a very different world order has arisen. The forgotten expedition promises a bounty of recoverable lost technology, and hints that biological weapons laboratories may survive hidden away on Earth, repositories of the research that came so close to destroying the human race. This potential disruption of the newly achieved status quo is the subject of Beloved Son.
The novel combines this interesting idea with an exciting plot and excellent characterisation; the description of the new world order is perhaps not as full as it might be, possibly because we largely see it through the eyes of the returning spacemen who find it hard to believe it can work and whose arrival instigates rapid change and the abandonment of the ethical framework which has made it possible for the culture to arise. Beloved Son should have been more widely recognised than it was; it and its sequels provide much food for thought.
George Turner is still probably the best known Australian science fiction author, and this, his début science fiction novel, is one of the most original novels of the 1970s. It manages to combine several traditional elements from the genre in an unusual way to create a novel which is greater than the sum of its parts.
The novel begins as the first interstellar space mission returns from Barnard's Star, having been absent for a generation. The crew, released from suspended animation, discover a world greatly different from their own. The Catastrophe, an apocalypse of biological rather than nuclear origin, has devastated civilisation, but with the surviving knowledge a very different world order has arisen. The forgotten expedition promises a bounty of recoverable lost technology, and hints that biological weapons laboratories may survive hidden away on Earth, repositories of the research that came so close to destroying the human race. This potential disruption of the newly achieved status quo is the subject of Beloved Son.
The novel combines this interesting idea with an exciting plot and excellent characterisation; the description of the new world order is perhaps not as full as it might be, possibly because we largely see it through the eyes of the returning spacemen who find it hard to believe it can work and whose arrival instigates rapid change and the abandonment of the ethical framework which has made it possible for the culture to arise. Beloved Son should have been more widely recognised than it was; it and its sequels provide much food for thought.
January 11, 2013
It was a decent enough story that I (partially) read for a class on Apocalyptic Literature. I wouldn't go back and complete/reread it on my own, but the class discussions we had surrounding it were interesting.
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews