Destiny Makers

by George Turner

Overview

In the era of "the big squeeze" - when an environmentally ravaged Earth groans beneath the weight of twelve billion people - two men control the destiny of humankind. One was recently senile...the other is going insane.

In the year 2069, with the Earth's population dangerously out of control, procreation and the medical treatment of terminal illness are the two most heinous crimes against society. But behind the doors of the top secret Biophysical Institute, an old man has been illegally cured of the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and made artificially younger - to serve the unspecified purposes of Premier Jeremy Beltane, one of the world's most powerful leaders.

A member of the underprivileged "Wardie" class, Detective Sergeant Harry Ostrov has been assigned to serve as a guardian to the mysteriously rejuvenated nonagenarian - and entrusted with a devastating secret that could topple the unstable "Minder" government. But once within the confines of the Beltane family enclave, the dedicated police officer is dragged deeper and deeper into a lethal mire of scandal, corruption, political outrage, and moral dilemma - sworn to silence even as he observes his nation's ruler, a man ultimately responsible for the future of civilization, descend steadily into depression, uncertainty . . . and madness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473225091
Publisher:	Orion
Publication date:	12/18/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	830 KB

About the Author

George Turner (1916-1997)
George Reginald Turner was an Australian writer and critic, best known for the science fiction novels written in the later part of his career. His mainstream novel, The Cupboard Under the Stairs won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's highest literary honour. His best-known SF novel, The Drowning Towers, was published in the UK under the title The Sea and Summer, and won the second Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1988. George Turner was named as a Guest of Honour for the 1999 World Science Fiction Convention held in his home town of Melbourne, but died before the event.

George Turner (1916-1997) George Reginald Turner was an Australian writer and critic, best known for the science fiction novels written in the later part of his career. His mainstream novel, The Cupboard Under the Stairs won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's highest literary honour. His best-known SF novel, The Drowning Towers, was published in the UK under the title The Sea and Summer, and won the second Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1988. George Turner was named as a Guest of Honour for the 1999 World Science Fiction Convention held in his home town of Melbourne, but died before the event.

Editorial Reviews

This slick, uninvolving novel from the author of Brain Child is set in Australia in 2069, when the world is strained almost to breaking by overpopulation, food shortages and economic collapse. Detective Harry Ostov of the Victoria Police force is selected for two special undercover assignments: guarding the Premier's father, who has been illegally rejuvenated, and tracking down the Premier's daughter, who, having inconveniently become pregnant by a lower-class boy, is on the run. Unfortunately, these characters are little more than stereotypes inhabiting an unoriginal, poorly constructed setting. Though smooth and stylish, the novel is riddled with inconsistencies, and therefore thoroughly unconvincing. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A dark tale set in an Australia of the late twenty-first century by the author of "Brain Child". The narrator is Harry Ostrov, a disgruntled cop but a good one, ever conscious that cops are seen by the working class Wardies as "bloody lackeys of the bloody Minders," the ruling class. Ostrov's world nearly gagged on greenhouse gases but at last brought the problem under control, only to be confronted with a new crisis: nine billion people, most of whom are starving. The story has to do with the wayward (and runaway) daughter of Prime Minister Beltane, a Minder, naturally, who is pregnant by the gardener and insists on having the child. To give birth is nearly a criminal act, but in this case it could topple a government. There's a host of ambitious characters who would like to do that, and an intriguing, sad experiment to rejuvenate a political strategist who has drifted into the fog of Alzheimer's. The experiment turns out to be successful but meaningless, since the last thing the world needs is eternal life. Talky, sour, somewhat overwrought, but often brilliantly satirical, even Aldous Huxley-like, this portrait of a world where human life has no value whatever is distressingly clear.

John Mort