from Washington University in St. Louis and began graduate school but became the editor at Arkham House in 1973 before he received his degree.
As well as overseeing editorial operations at Arkham House generally, Turner himself edited an anthology of Lovecraftian horror for them - Cthulhu 2000: A Lovecraftian Anthology (1995; reprinted by Del Rey Books).
He immediately started his own company, Golden Gryphon Press, and continued to publish similar books as he had at Arkham House.
Here he edited a second Lovecraftian anthology, Eternal Lovecraft: the Persistence of HPL in Popular Culture (Golden Gryphon Press, 1998).
Turner won the 1999 World Fantasy Award for his work with Golden Gryphon Press.