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| photo: Anju Manandhar | |
Cadwell Turnbull is the author of The Lesson and the Convergence Saga. His short fiction has appeared in the Verge, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Asimov's Science Fiction and several anthologies. His novel The Lesson was the winner of the 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Award. No Gods, No Monsters was the winner of a Lambda, a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Manly Wade Wellman Award, and longlisted for the PEN Open Award. We Are the Crisis was a finalist for the Manly Wade Wellman Award and an Ignyte Award. Turnbull grew up on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. His latest novel, A Ruin, Great and Free (Blackstone Publishing, September 16, 2025), is the third and final book in the Convergence Saga, set in a world where creatures from myth and legend have come out from the shadows.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
My books are interpersonal drama meets sociopolitical exploration meets cosmic weirdness. My fantasy trilogy is a love child of Buffy and The Wire.
On your nightstand now:
I'm keeping my nightstand clear these days. But I have been rereading Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. Just started Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. And just finished Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Favorite book was 1984 by George Orwell. I know. Not really optimistic reading. But I'd still put that book pretty high on my list. It was a huge influence on me as a writer.
Your top five authors:
Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, Emily St. John Mandel, and Ted Chiang. Ray Nayler has become a new favorite and isn't on this list only because of who is already there.
Book you've faked reading:
Oh boy. I've been "slowly reading" Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace for years. More not reading at this point if I'm being honest. And I've been 200 pages from the ending of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami for several years now. Still convinced I will someday finish it.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Right now? It has to be Children of God. Utterly brilliant and deeply challenging book. Challenging in a good way. I've never seen faith (and fate) tackled in such a nuanced, unflinching, spiritually agnostic way before. A beautiful sequel to Russell's The Sparrow, just as worthy of everyone's time.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I had to run to the shelf: Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez. It is even more spectacular than the cover suggests.
Book you hid from your parents:
I didn't really have to hide. But I did "borrow" a copy of The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah from my big sister when she wasn't looking. Eye-opening to say the least. And taught me that fiction could contain a range of experiences. Urban fiction was the first time I read about people that I recognized--not exactly my life experience, but close enough that I could see myself in the characters. Yes, the book is spicy, but that also taught me something. Fiction can be raw, unflinching; it doesn't have to look away.
Book that changed your life:
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. If 1984 was my first awakening, this was my second. Still my favorite book.
Favorite line from a book:
"He was like the knife that wounds, and like the wound." --from "Paradises Lost" (in The Found and the Lost) by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Five books you'll never part with:
Well, more Le Guin, obviously: The Found and the Lost and The Dispossessed. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, for mostly sentimental reasons at this point. Another literary awakening. I have to cheat and add 1Q84. I can't get rid of it until I finish it, at least.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
There are far too many. I won't repeat any that I've already listed. My answer: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Just so I can experience the magic trick of that novel's ending with fresh eyes.
A short story worth reading immediately:
"Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. A brilliant refashioning of non-fictional techniques towards fictional ends. And a gut-punch of a story. Once you're done, I recommend watching the adaptation, Arrival. They're doing two very different things, but both are excellent.