I'm looking for a book that I read in 1981 or 1982, and I think it was fairly recent at that time. Don't remember title, author, or protagonist's name. But a few strange and random details persist in memory.
The story was set in what used to be California, after some sort of collapse of civilization. Not war or invasion, I think, but just a bloated non-sustainable system caving in on itself.
Before the collapse, rich people had genetically engineered creatures like dinosaurs and vampires, which they kept as living toys. But after the collapse those things went wild, and now pose various dangers to the remaining humans. One vampire shows up as a character; he is named Bal, called Sire Bal for respect, and has an extended harem.
There is a valley in the landscape called Dundee's Terrarium, which used to be the Salton Sea, I think. Any human travelers there are subject to hallucinations. And of course the protagonist has to go there.
There are androids around -- called "numans" (for "new humans") -- but they try to keep their true nature hidden, since humans don't trust them. One who shows up as a character in the story goes by the name Sum-Thin Seaufein (although I may have that spelling slightly wrong) and has the appearance of Japanese geisha, though the human consciousness inhabiting it used to be a gay black man.
The numans are connected somehow to an underground lab in Los Angeles -- or maybe underwater just offshore of LA -- and some characters in the story express a fear that this lab may be found and the ANGELES project revived.
And that is about all I've been able to recall.
I've done numerous google searches on these details, but nothing has come up. I'm hoping maybe for some human memory help...?
The story was set in what used to be California, after some sort of collapse of civilization. Not war or invasion, I think, but just a bloated non-sustainable system caving in on itself.
Before the collapse, rich people had genetically engineered creatures like dinosaurs and vampires, which they kept as living toys. But after the collapse those things went wild, and now pose various dangers to the remaining humans. One vampire shows up as a character; he is named Bal, called Sire Bal for respect, and has an extended harem.
There is a valley in the landscape called Dundee's Terrarium, which used to be the Salton Sea, I think. Any human travelers there are subject to hallucinations. And of course the protagonist has to go there.
There are androids around -- called "numans" (for "new humans") -- but they try to keep their true nature hidden, since humans don't trust them. One who shows up as a character in the story goes by the name Sum-Thin Seaufein (although I may have that spelling slightly wrong) and has the appearance of Japanese geisha, though the human consciousness inhabiting it used to be a gay black man.
The numans are connected somehow to an underground lab in Los Angeles -- or maybe underwater just offshore of LA -- and some characters in the story express a fear that this lab may be found and the ANGELES project revived.
And that is about all I've been able to recall.
I've done numerous google searches on these details, but nothing has come up. I'm hoping maybe for some human memory help...?
