The ''Three Californias Trilogy'' (also known as the ''Wild Shore Triptych'' and the ''Orange County Trilogy'') consists of three books by
Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...
, which depict three different possible futures of
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
. The three books that make up the trilogy are ''The Wild Shore'', ''The Gold Coast'' and ''Pacific Edge''. Each of these books describes the life of young people in the three very different near-futures. All three novels begin with an excavation which tells the reader about the world they are entering.
Summaries
''The Wild Shore''
''The Wild Shore'' was Robinson's first published novel.
''The Wild Shore'' (1984) is the story of survivors of a
nuclear war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...
. The nuclear strike was 2,000 to 3,000
neutron bomb
A neutron bomb, officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the b ...
s that were detonated in 2,000 of North America's biggest cities in 1987. Survivors have started over, forming little villages and living from agriculture and the sea. The theme of the first chapters is that of a quite normal
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
pastoral
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
, which is deconstructed in the latter chapters, especially when it becomes clear that the post-nuclear war rural life is hindered from developing further by international treaties imposed by the victorious Soviets, with an unwilling
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
charged with patrolling the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
.
The story is presented as a memoir by Henry "Hank" Fletcher, a teenager living in a town in San Onofre. He accompanies town elder Tom Barnard to visit
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, where a larger population is attempting to build a resistance movement against the Japanese. The mayor of San Diego requests the collaboration of San Onofre, but the town assembly votes against it. Hank's best friend, Steve Nicolin, in a rebellious gesture against his overbearing father, pressures Hank and other youngsters to help San Diego. Their only attempt to do this, by ambushing a group of Japanese illegally landing on
Dana Point
Dana Point () is a city located in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 33,107 at the 2020 census. It has one of the few harbors along the Orange County coast, and with ready access via State Route 1, it is a po ...
ends in disaster, when they are out-gunned and the San Diego people desert them, which ends with one of Hank's friends dead and Steve running away from San Onofre. Hank falls into a depression, and Tom Barnard suggests he writes down his experiences to try to make sense of them, but he only succeeds partially, and the novel closes with Hank unsure of what his past means to him and what his future will be.
''The Wild Shore'' was nominated for both the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards in 1984.
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...
described it as "a frontier novel, with rich threads of Steinbeckian populism woven into its cast of characters." Although faulting the novel's "failure to sustain the weight of its undertakings," he concluded that ''Wild Shore'' was "a remarkably powerful piece of work, still a good book, almost without doubt a harbinger of great books to come from Robinson."
''The Gold Coast''
In ''The Gold Coast'' (1988) we learn about
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
in 2027, a
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n extension of the 1980s'
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and car oriented culture and life-style: "an endless sprawl of condos, freeways and malls." The book follows two groups of characters, connected by 27 year-old Jim McPherson and his father Dennis. Dennis works as an engineer for Laguna Space Research (LSR), an aerospace company caught in the power struggles of the armed forces, where he's put in charge of fixing a defense system project after the prior engineer falsified results to make it seem viable. Meanwhile, Jim becomes caught up in literary and
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
interests,
drugs
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
,
parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
and
casual sex
Casual sex is sexual activity that takes place outside a romantic relationship and implies an absence of commitment, emotional attachment, or familiarity between sexual partners. Examples are sexual activity while casually dating, one-night ...
. Attempting to find meaning in his life, he gets involved with an anti-
weapons-industry terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
group. The narratives collide when this group plans a hit on LSR. Unbeknownst to them, LSR is aware of their activities and open themselves up for attack, with the goal of using it to hide their program's failures and recover their investment via insurance. At the last moment, Jim baulks on the attack, with the unintended effect of causing his father to lose his job. At the end of the novel, both Dennis and Jim rediscover the outdoor life, as both try to piece their lives back together.
''The Gold Coast'' was nominated for the
Campbell Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
,
Locus
Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to:
Entertainment
* Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front
* ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine
** ''Locus Award' ...
, and
British Science Fiction
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
award in 1989.
''Pacific Edge''
''Pacific Edge'' (1990) can be compared to
Ernest Callenbach
Ernest Callenbach (April 3, 1929 – April 16, 2012) was an American author, film critic, editor, and simple living adherent. He became famous due to his internationally successful semi-utopian novel '' Ecotopia'' (1975).
Life and work
Born ...
's ''
Ecotopia
''Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston'' is a utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture and the gr ...
'', and also to
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
's ''
The Dispossessed
''The Dispossessed'' (in later printings titled ''The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia'') is a 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, one of her seven Hainish Cycle novels. It is one of a small number o ...
''. This book's Californian future is set in the
El Modena
El Modena is an unincorporated area and neighborhood surrounding El Modena High School and within the city of Orange, California. It is located near and east of the intersection of Hewes Street and Chapman Avenue. Much of the area was annexed ...
neighborhood of
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
in 2065. It depicts a realistic
utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
as it describes a possible transformation process from our present status, to a more ecologically-focused future. The book does not assume a blank slate from which ecological utopia can be erected, but assumes the buildings, cities and infrastructures of our past and present. An important aspect of the book is the way these are changed to become "green". ''Pacific Edge'' is also realistic insofar as conflicts about diverging interests play a big role. In 2065, these are mainly conflicts between
Greens and New Federals as the main political parties that are the A.A.M.T. using small companies to buy the last piece of wilderness in the area and develop it; but also conflicts on the personal scale, for example, Kevin, the main character builds a romantic relationship with the mayor's former lover. From a literary critique point of view the broad descriptions of
nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
and
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
are of interest, as well as the self-references in regard to writing about utopian futures versus actual political work. ''Pacific Edge'' was the winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1991.
''Pacific Edge'' narrates a summer in the life of Kevin Clayborne, a young house renovator recently elected for the town council of
El Modena
El Modena is an unincorporated area and neighborhood surrounding El Modena High School and within the city of Orange, California. It is located near and east of the intersection of Hewes Street and Chapman Avenue. Much of the area was annexed ...
. Kevin finds himself at odds with the town mayor, Alfredo Blair, both personally and professionally. On the personal side, Alfredo's former long-term girlfriend Ramona Alvarez who just broke up with him, and both Kevin and Alfredo are vying for her affection. On the professional side, Alfredo has been influenced by corporate money and attempts to rezone the last virgin hill inside the town for a commercial development. Kevin loses in all accounts: After attempting a relationship with Kevin, Ramona comes back to Alfredo, and the rezoning of the hill is passed by the council and by a town vote. In a last attempt to save the hill, Kevin turns it into a memorial for his recently deceased grandfather, who was a pillar of the community, and this makes the commercial development on the hill an unpalatable project for the town. At the end of the novel, Kevin attends Ramona and Alfredo's wedding, and mourns what he's lost and reflects on what he's achieved.
These books, especially ''Pacific Edge'', can be seen as forerunners to Robinson's
Mars trilogy
The ''Mars'' trilogy is a series of science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost tw ...
.
Development history
In an interview with UCSD, Robinson said that "this was one of my few original ideas." And he came up with the idea for the novels while still at UCSD on a drive from UCSD to Orange County, California to visit his parents.
References
External links
The Orange County trilogya
KimStanleyRobinson.info
{{Locus Award Best First Novel
1984 American novels
1988 American novels
1990 American novels
Fiction set in 1987
Fiction set in 2027
Fiction set in 2065
Debut speculative fiction novels
Novel series
Environmental fiction books
Novels by Kim Stanley Robinson
Novels set in the 2020s
Novels set in the 2060s
Novels set in Orange County, California
Dystopian novels
1990 debut novels
American post-apocalyptic novels
El Modena, Orange, California