Cadwell Turnbull

Cadwell Turnbull is an American science fiction and fantasy writer from the U.S. Virgin Islands. He is the author of award-winning short stories and novels, including The Lesson and No Gods, No Monsters (2021). Turnbull also co-writes under the pen name "Darkly Lem" with Josh Eure, Craig Lincoln, Ben Murphy, and M. Darusha Wehm.

Biography Turnbull was born on August 12, 1987 in Maryland, but moved with his parents when he was a month old and was raised in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. He moved to Pittsburgh to attend La Roche University, where he received a BA in Professional Writing. He attended North Carolina State University for graduate school, where he studied under John Kessel and Wilton Barnhardt. He is a graduate of the 2016 Clarion West Writers Workshop.

Works Turnbull's short stories have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Lightspeed Magazine, and Nightmare Magazine. Two of his short stories have been read by LeVar Burton on the LeVar Burton Reads podcast. His short story "Loneliness Is in Your Blood" was selected for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 anthology, and his short story "Jump" was selected for The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 anthology.

His debut novel, The Lesson, was nominated for multiple awards and won the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for speculative fiction in the "debut" category. His second novel, No Gods, No Monsters, was listed as one of the best books of 2021 by The New York Times, NPR, Audible, the New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and Tor.com. His third novel, We Are the Crisis, was listed as one of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2023 and one of the Best Fiction Books of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews.

Many of his stories take place (at least partially) in his native U.S. Virgin Islands. His writing often addresses sociopolitical topics like colonialism and post-colonialism, marginalized communities, climate change, police violence, and collective ownership. along with Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, N. K. Jemisin, Alice Munro, and George Orwell.