A Double Shadow

(English publication) ISBN: 399-12150-1

(Putnam's/Berkley, 1978: a science fiction novel)

(Japanese publication) 0197-81502-2831

(Sanrio Company, Ltd., 1978)

Fred's only published novel (as of 1997; there also exists an unpublished novel, The Sunstone, a thriller set in Africa). A Double Shadow is set on Mars 1,300 years in the future, and describes a future human society of immortals, of three sexes and endowed with godlike physical and mental powers. Their values do not include moral or ethical ones, but are based on strict aesthetic rules that are constantly being refined through competition. The ethos of the novel strongly recalls the Heian Japan of Lady Murasaki's novel Genji and the aesthetic, performative values of the Balinese as described by Clifford Geertz. In this book Turner discovered the absolute necessity for morality by noting the deficiencies of a purely aesthetic culture that lacked an ethical and moral awareness.