Book shop boss turned author, Nick Croydon, says he’s bewildered that people are upset about him giving gay icon Alan Turing a fictional love child.
Nick Croydon, co-owner and CEO of QBN Books has become an author himself and his first novel The Turing Protocol has just hit stores, but it’s been widely criticised for giving gay icon Alan Turing a fictional secret love child.
In the fictional work Turing is revealed to have fathered a secret love child with his colleague Joan Clarke, and also created a machine that can send messages back in time, the descendants of the adopted child are entrusted with the secret of the time machine.
Turing is remembered for his ground breaking work in breaking the Enigma code during World War II, a move that helped the allies end the long running conflict. He’s also considered the father of theoretical computer science.
After the war though Turing’s life took a tragic turn. In 1952 his house was burgled, and during the investigation police became aware that Turing was in a homosexual relationship. He was charged with gross indecency, and rather than be sent to prison he opted to be chemically castrated.
At the time anyone who was homosexual was considered a security risk, so Turing lost his security clearances and was forced to stop working for the British government. Two years later he was found dead, his passing ruled a suicide.
Alongside his groundbreaking work, Turing also became a figurehead for generations of LGBTIQA+ people who suffered under laws that criminalised homosexuality. In 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Turing had been treated unfairly and offered an apology.
After years of campaigning, in 2014 Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon. It was only the forth time since World War II the monarch had made such a declaration. In 2016 the British government introduced Alan Turing’s law, a pathway for a generation of men to have their convictions removed. Similar legislation has spread around the world, including here in Australia.
OUTinPerth approached Croydon for comment when people expressed their dismay that he’s made Alan Turning a father in his book.
His publisher Simon & Schuster did not respond to our request, but Croydon has spoken to The Australian outlining his dismay that people are offended.
The author said Turing ““has always been a hero to me, somebody I’ve admired my whole life. I wrote this novel as a tribute to him. I wanted to highlight the genius that he was, but also the injustice that he suffered.”
He also rejected the criticism that he was altering Turing’s sexuality because in the novel he is still homosexual, but he needed to give him a child as a plot device.
“At no time did I say Turing wasn’t gay. The book makes it very plain that he is gay,” Croydon said. “It talks about how he had to hide the fact that he was gay, and in the historical note page at the back of the book I again acknowledge the travesty of the treatment he received.”
Croydon’s suggestion that Turing had a romantic relationship with his colleague is not far-fetched though. Turing and Clarke were briefly engaged, and he told her he had homosexual tendencies, and while she seemed unphased by this news, he decided he could not go through with the marriage.
The book has been getting high praise from other authors, Dervla McTiernan, Chris Hammer, Trent Dalton, Megan rogers, Fiona McIntosh, Christian White, TJ Newman, Candcie Fox and Don Winslow all provide positive quotes for the book’s dust jacket.
Dan Ruffino, the Managing Director of Simon and Schuster has also given the book high praise.
“Obviously, when we signed up Nick, I made sure I read the book, and we decided to buy two Nick Croydon novels because I loved it so much,” he told The Australian.
Ruffino said that as a gay man himself he was thankful that Croydon had written a book with a gay man at its centre.
“It’s a great story but I was also pleasantly surprised to see a very straight white man, as Nick Croydon is, putting a gay character front and centre. I thought, you know, haven’t we come a long way?”
The book has also been picked by QBN Books as one of their features of the month, and copies are stacked up on the counters at their stores. Croydon has denied that staff are being encouraged to push his book, saying that his team were really excited to get behind his debut novel.
Online the book has been getting trashed on review sites, with people describing it as a terribly badly written offering. Croydon said he’s dismayed that people are voting down the book on Good Reads, and said he suspected most people had not actually read his work.
The book currently has a score of 2.17 out of 5 from 115 ratings and 49 reviews have been submitted. 74 readers have given it just one star in the rating system.
“Honestly one of the worst things I’ve ever read, do not waste your time or money on it.” said one commentor; “this feels like a complete cash grab, no real heart or talent within the story-writing” said another; “Some books would be better off unpublished, this one is a perfect example.” another reader offered.
While we can’t guarantee that the online reviews describing this as a terrible book are justified, we can promise you that our review of the book definitely comes after we purchased a copy and read it.
It’s not great.
If we were to give out an end-of-year award for most badly written book we’ve read in 2025 – it’s currently the front runner.
