As part of our July Sci-Fi series, Barbara’s Bookstore will host a virtual discussion with author Cadwell Turnbull about modern Science Fiction and Family dynamics within the genre. He’ll talk about his new book, The Lesson.

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, witnesses and victims to events that will touch everyone and teach a terrible lesson.

“Hi, I’m Cadwell Turnbull, author of the science fiction novel The Lesson.

I received my MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in Linguistics at North Carolina State University. I also attended Clarion West 2016.

My short fiction can be found in the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Nightmare to name a few. My Nightmare story “Loneliness is in Your Blood” was selected for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018. My Asimov’s novelette “Other Worlds and This One” was also selected as a notable story for the anthology. My short story “Jump” was selected for the Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 and featured on LeVar Burton Reads.

My debut novel The Lesson is set in my native U.S. Virgin Islands after an alien colonization. The novel has received some great press, including making best of 2019 lists for Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews. The Lesson was also nominated for a SOVAS Award in Fiction and has also been optioned by AMC for a television series.

If you’ve read The Lesson please rate and review online and talk about it with your friends so that it may reach a wider audience.”

Sci-Fi Summer with Cadwell Turnbull