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The Collective
A Symbol of Time follows a dying alien civilization as it flees its poisoned homeworld and undertakes a perilous generational voyage to Earth, where survival may demand remaking an entire planet. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve always been uneasy with neat explanations for events that occurred before recorded human history. The idea that dinosaurs vanished because of a single catastrophic event is a tidy answer to a question that can only ever be fully answered in the deep past. It is a narrative we impose on incomplete evidence. Pairing that unease with my fascination with the possibility of an intelligent past on Mars became the foundation for A Symbol of Time.
The book follows an entire society as it wrestles with extinction. What interested you about telling a collective story rather than focusing on one protagonist?
Extinction is never experienced by a single person. I wanted to show how responsibility gets diluted when it’s shared, and how even well-intentioned individuals can participate in outcomes but the their contributions die with them. It’s the collective that has the greatest impact.
The novel raises difficult questions about survival at any cost. Was there a moment where you personally struggled with the choices your characters made?
Yes, especially when the choices stopped feeling dramatic and started feeling practical. The hardest moments might, on one hand, have seemed like acts of cruelty and indefensible, but on the other, were decisions that seemed reasonable in the circumstances. Those are the ones that bothered me, because they’re the kinds of choices people actually make under pressure.
What question from the book still lingers with you personally?
Whether a civilisation has the right to preserve itself if doing so fundamentally alters or harms another world. Whilst this is probably a question the human race will never get to answer, it was interesting to ponder. Who gets to decide what “necessary” means, and who lives with the consequences decades later. I don’t think the novel answers that question, and I don’t think it should.
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Their home is cold and dying, choked by the toxins of their own progress. Now, an advanced alien species looks toward the Third Planet—Earth—with hope and fear. They see a fertile paradise, but one that is hostile, hot, and dominated by massive, predatory reptiles.
The choice is stark: die in the heat, or remake this new world in their own image.
As they descend to alter the climate and purge the planet of its prehistoric masters, they set in motion a chain of events that will echo through geological time. A Symbol of Time weaves palaeontology and astronomy into a chilling tale of survival. As the new masters of Earth terraform the planet, the question remains: does high intelligence inevitably carry the seeds of its own destruction?
A Symbol of Time
A Symbol of Time is a sweeping work of science fiction that follows a dying species as it flees its collapsing Homeworld and sets course for the “Third World,” a dangerous and vibrant planet filled with prehistoric monsters, hostile climates, and uncertain hope. The story opens with the political struggle of leaders like Elthyris, who pushes her people toward escape, and then expands into a tense generational mission through deep space where fear, mutiny, and loss threaten the survival of everyone aboard. By the time the colonists finally approach their new world, the book has painted an entire civilisation wrestling with extinction, guilt, and the fragile possibility of beginning again.
The story moves with a clarity and earnestness that makes the stakes feel heavy without bogging the story down. Author John Turnbull spends time on sensory details: the grit in the air of the dying planet, the hum of the ship’s systems, the sharp dread in a crowded briefing room as monstrous creatures appear on a screen. These moments gave me the sense of being there, not as a distant observer but as someone tucked into those cramped ship corridors, overhearing worries and watching loyalties shift. Sometimes I wanted certain conversations to go deeper, especially when characters brushed up against big ethical questions. But the writing carries a steady confidence, and it kept me curious about what each character would choose next.
The story blends large-scale worldbuilding with interpersonal tension, letting us watch society shrink down and then stretch again under pressure. I liked the way the book raises questions about responsibility and survival without forcing neat answers. The mission logs, political debates, and emotional undercurrents between characters all layer together until you feel how messy a desperate exodus would really be. Some plot beats arrive suddenly, especially the catastrophic loss of Ark Hope, but that abruptness made sense to me. Space is indifferent. Disaster doesn’t wait for pacing. That raw edge worked.
I felt the book speaking to anyone who enjoys science fiction that leans into survival, moral tension, and the rebuilding of society. It will especially appeal to readers who like their sci-fi grounded more in people than in technology, even when dinosaurs and starships share the page. If you’re drawn to stories about second chances and the uncomfortable truths that come with them, A Symbol of Time is one you’ll want to pick up.
Pages: 234 | ASIN : B0G2CP49WX
