Brain Child

by George Turner

Overview

David Chance has been raised in an orphanage and, now an adult, finds that he is the child of a man genetically modified before birth by a group of scientists experimenting in increasing human intelligence and creativity. But his father is dead.

He pursues the search for the true nature of his father and, through it, the true nature of the experiments and the survivors of the final disaster that ended them. Chance exposes his roots and finds them entangled in horror, deceit, vengeance and perverse scientific illumination. Peace and self knowledge are achieved only at great risk and terrible cost.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473225053
Publisher:	Orion
Publication date:	12/04/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	733 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

Australian writer Turner provides a chilling tale of genetic manipulation. Raised in a state orphanage, David Chance is working as a journalist in rural Australia when experimental scientist Arthur Hazard reveals himself to be David's father and commands David to undertake a strange mission. Hazard explains that he is one of 12 people conceived without parents, the result of gene experimentation conducted by the government in an attempt to create geniuses. A success was scored with four of the so-called vitro kids, but they all committed suicide in 2023, shortly before David was born, possibly leaving a hidden legacy of knowledge. David is now enjoined to track down this legacy. He travels through the political and physical environments of Australia in 2047, looking for evidence and being either helped or hampered by people driven by secrets or expectations of their own. Turner, whose Drowning Towers won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, uses the test-tube geniuses to spotlight the deficiencies and the triumphs of being ``merely'' human. His future world is believable, the imagined scientific breakthroughs he postulates are intriguing and his characters are real enough to make us care about the issues he raises. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Raised in a state orphanage and trained as a journalist, David Chance settles into a comfortable niche in society until a letter from his natural father plunges him into a world of treachery and violence. As he uncovers the truth behind a generation of failed experiments in breeding genetically superior humans, Chance discovers his own carefully manipulated heritage. The Australian-born author of Drowning Towers ( LJ 9/15/88) explores the darker side of human concerns in a complexly layered sf/mystery set in an all-too-possible 21st century. Most collections should have this.

Library Journal

Another fascinatingly plausible exploration of a near-future scenario (Drowning Towers, 1988), this time involving genetic manipulation to bring about enhanced intelligence. Young journalist David Chance, who had thought himself an orphan, receives a message from his real father, Arthur Hazard, urging David to join him in exploring the unpublicized and unplumbed aspects of the intelligence-enhancing project that produced Arthur and others but eventually ended in disaster. Three groups of children were created; the first (Arthur's group) became technological whizzes; the second, gifted artists; the third developed intelligence so exceptional as to be incomprehensible, even to the other two groups, and eventually killed themselves. The third group's leader, Conrad, left a mysterious "legacy" that previous investigations have failed to discover. Where, and what, might this legacy be? First, Arthur sends David to tackle Armstrong, the still powerful and dangerous politician who originated the project. Soon, government security agents take note of David's activities. The legacy, it emerges, is a technique for achieving immortality. But who could be trusted with such a secret? Realistic, disturbing, thoughtful, and provocative: Layer upon layer of revelation unpeeled with patient, limpid skill.

Kirkus Reviews