Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English
Categories
Science fiction
Weblink
http://www.cadwellturnbull.com

THE LESSON

Cadwell Turnbull

An alien ship rests over Water Island. For five years the people of the US Virgin Islands have lived with the Ynaa, a race of superadvanced aliens on a research mission they will not fully disclose. They are benevolent in many ways but meet any act of aggression with disproportional wrath. This has led to a strained relationship between the Ynaa and the local Virgin Islanders and a peace that cannot last.

A year after the death of a young boy at the hands of an Ynaa, three families find themselves at the center of the inevitable conflict, witness and victim to events that will touch everyone and teach a terrible lesson.

Inspired by the works of Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler, THE LESSON is unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. The book is a wonderful addition to the significant genre of speculative literature.

Cadwell Turnbull is a graduate of North Carolina State University's Creative Writing MFA in Fiction and English MA in Linguistics. He was the winner of the 2014 NCSU Prize for Short Fiction for his story Ears and attended Clarion West 2016. His work has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Nightmare.

Available products
Book Published 2019-06-01 by Blackstone

Comments

The Lesson is an impressive first book that takes a classic science fiction archetype and makes it feel new.

Emotional prose and distinctive characters highlight an incredible story that will touch readers' hearts and minds. (starred review)

A persuasivelyalmost musicallyworded meditation on colonialism and whether it's really possible to return home again. (starred review)

The canon of science fiction brims with first contact stories, but rarely do those stories draw such strong and poignant parallels to humanity's history of colonialism as Cadwell Turnbull's extraordinary debut, The Lesson...[The Lesson]delves deep into the psychology of its characters to offer a clear-eyed look at just how flawed but compassionate humans can be. It's also a richly drawn portrait of the Virgin Islands, their landscape and people and sounds and colors jumping to life on every page...From beginning to end, The Lesson is thrilling, moving and thought-provoking. This may be Turnbull's debut, but it reads like the work of a seasoned writer. It's also proof that science fiction is more than entertaining--it's a vital genre that lays bare the perils of the age and the boundlessness of the human spirit.

Cadwell Turnbull's The Lesson brings an alien invasion to St. Thomas with a breadth that encompasses the past, present and future. As his well-drawn characters wrestle with interspecies challenges, Turnbull imparts lessons that both embrace and transcend culture and race to drive at the heart of what it means to be human. Tananarive Due, American Book Award winner, Executive Producer of Horror Noire

*Optioned as a TV-series by AMC *Three Starred reviews *Publishers Weekly, A Top Ten Pick for Spring 2019 *The Verge, All the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books We're Looking Forward to in 2019 *Barnes & Noble, Most Anticipated Science Fiction Debuts of 2019 *Kirkus Reviews, Highly Anticipated Summer Read *Amazon Best Book of the Month, Science Fiction & Fantasy, June 2019 *Tor.com Featured Sci-Fi Books Coming Out in June

The Best Books 2019 (SF/Fantasy/Horror): "In Turnbull's extraordinary debut, a richly drawn cast of black characters weather the consequences of the extraterrestrial occupation of the Virgin Islands as the secretive research mission of the Ynaa aliens takes a violent turn. Turnbull's powerful prose probes the trope of alien invasion as metaphor for colonialism with nuance, skill, and subtlety." Read more...

Cadwell Turnbull paints a stunningly intricate portrait of humanity, capturing hopes and dreams, flaws and failings with remarkable depth and texture. The Lesson is a blast to read and a meaningful exploration of the bearing of colonialism and the perils of human ambition. Sylvain Neuvel, author of The Test and the Themis Files trilogy

Turnbull's writing is affecting and intelligent, dropping wisdom like cherry bombs: The universe didn't care about strength. It didn't care about anything. Indifference looked like malice to creatures with something to lose.' Each character has a story, and each story has a winding path that leads him or her to a final, often brutal conclusion. The Lesson isn't symmetrical or geometric, but messy, driven by decisions and relationships. That makes it much more human...a daring and thoughtful book.

"The Lesson is a story of mystery, romance, tragedy, and redemption. Like Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin before him, Turnbull uses the tools of science fiction to illuminate the human heart. The Lesson stands at the beginning of what I expect to be a long and illustrious career." John Kessel, Nebula Award winning author of The Moon and the Other and Pride and Prometheus

"Several residents of St. Thomas weather the storms of life before and after the occupation of the alien species Ynaa in Turnbull's rich debut novel about family, love, and loyalty in turbulent times...Turnbull uses a beautifully drawn cast of black characters to convey the complexity of ordinary hardship in extraordinary times. This is an ideal story for fans of Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven and other literary science fiction novels." (starred review)