Subject: Review: "A Pursuit of Miracles" by George Turner

From: [email-masked] (p-m agapow)
Date: 23 Jun 1997 21:47:28 GMT

"A Pursuit of Miracles" by George Turner
		A Postview, copyright 1997 p-m agapow

A collection of short stories, including: "Not In Front of the Children,"
an exploration of the generation gap between the the long-lived and their
ancestors; "In a Petri Dish Upstairs," a deviant orbital culture hatches a
plot against their earth-bound masters which neither side is prepared for;
"On the Nursery Floor," an experiment to breed super-intelligent children
is disastrously successful.

Given Turner's recent death, it's a good occasion to review one of his
less-known, although not lesser, works.  Primarily known for his bleak,
morally dense novels (such as "Genetic Soldier", "Beloved Son", "The Sea
and Summer"), this volume is to my knowledge his only short story
collection.  Certainly some of it doesn't live up to the heights of his
best novels.  But ignoring this backwards praise, these short stories are
of a piece with with the books: black, powerful and accomplished.

At times Turner's age shows in the words he used, or the way he drew young
characters, a slightly old-fashioned (not conservative) style.  At worst
this will be only disconcerting to the reader.  It is also true that he
was not one for exploring technology itself.  A medical treatment for
extending life is just that, a genetic manipulation just a bit of science.
Turner did not gloss over the details like (say) Harlan Ellison might, but
he was clearly not interested in them but their consequences.  The kernel
of the stories is the idea, not the technical or scientific idea (a la
Forward, Egan, Bear) but the social idea: e.g.  what use is a group of
supergeniuses, show me a world with 90% unemployment.  "We badly need a
literature of considered ideas," said Turner in an epilogue, chafing at
the over-abundance of wish-fulfilment escapist SF. And this need he
pursued with vigour and skill.

Given that many of the stories read like short novels (no two-page wonders
here) it's not surprising that many of his novels are can be directly seen
here: "Brainchild" shows up as "On the Nursery Floor," an offshoot of
"Yesterday's Men" as "In a Petri Dish Upstairs;" "Genetic Soldier" in
"Shut the Door When You Go Out;" "The Sea and Summer" gestating in "The
Fittest."  Although not the strongest short story collection ever and
maybe not up to level of some of Turner's novels, "A Pursuit of Miracles"
is still very good.  It holds extra interest for those who have read his
novels and wish to see their roots.  [***] and Sean Connery as James Bond
on the Sid and Nancy scale.

%A George Turner
%B A Pursuit of Miracles
%I Aphelion Publications
%C Adelaide
%D 1990
%G ISBN 1-875346-00-7
%P 209pp
%O paperback, Aus$12.95

paul-michael agapow ([email-masked]), La Trobe Uni, Infocalypse
"There is no adventure, there is no romance, there is only trouble and desire."
[archived at http://www.cs.latrobe.edu.au/~agapow/Postviews/]