Menlo Park novelist writes about the rush toward riches

The legendary Gold Rush dramatically transformed California when it was set in motion in January 1848, leading to explosive growth and environmental degradation as an estimated 300,000 people from around the world migrated here in pursuit of riches.

But about a century later, another “rush” had transformational consequences to the economy, environment and culture of the Golden State. It was an era Menlo Park author Stan G. Scott refers to as the “missile rush” that resulted from the Cold War.

Mr. Scott, a retired defense industry engineer, has pondered the effects of and parallels between those two eras for decades — a result of the Sacramento native’s familiarity in his youth with the nearby Gold Country and of his early experiences in the 1950s inside the secret missile industry.

Those consequences and parallels were the fodder for Mr. Scott’s first novel, “The Winged and Garlanded Nike,” published earlier this year by Regent Press. The novel, Mr. Scott says, links the two “exploitative eras” through the fictional town of Fernville — founded in the Sierra foothills during the Gold Rush, and reborn during the 1950s when a giant defense industry company moved in.

The story is set during two critical Cold War years: 1955, when atomic weapons were being tested in Nevada and Department of Defense contracts were pumping money into small, soon-to-be sprawling California towns; and 1986, when President Reagan was pushing the Strategic Defense Initiative — also known as Star Wars.

But how does such heavy subject matter translate into a novel? This was a question Mr. Scott struggled with for years before he came up with his strategy: “I tried to [buffer] the seriousness with romance, interesting characters and a murder mystery.”

He did that by beginning the book with a section set in 1955 that is intentionally whimsical, fleshing out quirky, hot-blooded characters and threading into the narrative an unsolved murder that occurred in the 1920s.

The second section, set in Fernville in 1986, brings many of the same characters together after a 30-year separation. They re-examine their mutual past and the strong emotional ties developed back then, as well as ponder how the present had been shaped by the pervasive influence of the “shadow cast by uranium” on the town — and on the country in general — beginning some three decades before.

He wanted to create that narrative of colorful relationships and a murder mystery to allow “the novel’s intent to sneak up on you,” Mr. Scott says.

A cautionary tale

Although readers are likely to be entertained by the more playful first section, they should have no problem figuring out Mr. Scott’s intent in writing the book.

The second section, set in 1986, “is totally realistic,” he says. It is a cautionary tale that addresses the real and possible consequences of a country and culture intent on developing and stockpiling “weaponry of annihilation,” he explains.

Returning to the parallels between the Gold Rush and the Cold War, Mr. Scott writes about the book: “One premise of the novel is that gold and uranium have much in common — both fomented great and radical activity and change, and surprisingly both metals weigh almost exactly the same.

“And both tended to bring out the worst traits in human nature — greed and a blindness to those looming, unintended consequences. And their environmental devastations, real or potential, seem well out of proportion to their practicality.”

Engineer turned novelist

The idea of writing a novel focusing on the Cold War years germinated in the 1950s, when Mr. Scott first embarked on his career in the defense industry, he says. He actually wrote a draft back then, but it was “too sterile and too technical,” he readily admits.

So, he put down the pen for several decades, taking it up again in 1985. During that time, he was working at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, involved in design and engineering support of atmospheric science experiments.

The trigger for his renewed efforts in writing the book, he says, was his association with some of the atmospheric physicists involved in the so-called “TTAPS” report, which first warned the world of a possible “nuclear winter” resulting from a large-scale nuclear war. The scientists included the late Carl Sagan.

“I was influenced by them,” Mr. Scott explains.

Over the following 20-some years, Mr. Scott worked on “Nike” off and on, driven by a conviction that far more scrutiny must be given to the Department of Defense and what he calls the out-of-control proliferation of weapons of annihilation.

“Oversight needs to be stronger,” he insists. “The nuclear situation today is potentially catastrophic for the world,” and the problem is exacerbated by the veil of secrecy that hangs over the DOD and the defense industry, he says.

In trying to crystalize his deep concern over nuclear weaponry, he quotes General Lee Butler, head of the U.S. Strategic Command from 1992 to 1994: “The institutions that make and plan to use nuclear weapons are mammoth bureaucracies with gargantuan appetites and global agendas … beset with tidal forces, towering egos, maddening contradictions, alien constructs and insane risks.”

So why did he choose to write a novel to trumpet his message instead of a nonfiction book? “I always read a lot of fiction” and understand its impact, he says. “I thought a novel would be more effective.”

Plus, he adds, “I had more fun writing it that way.”

He laughs when repeating a friend’s comment. “He told me, ‘It’s really a great novel … and it scared the hell out of me.’ “

What’s ahead?

Mr. Scott has to be one of the few people who can boast of being first-time authors at the age of 80. (He reached that milestone in April, about a month after the book was published.)

He says if he writes another book, he’ll choose another theme. “I’ve exhausted this subject,” he says, adding that an environmental theme would be most likely.

For now, he’s busy promoting the book, which can be found at Kepler’s bookstore in Menlo Park and Barnes & Noble, or purchased online.

He dedicated the book to his wife, Willis Marie Scott, “for years of cheerful patience.”

The Scotts have lived in Menlo Park for about 51 years, and have four adult sons.