For a vision of an unpolluted, pristine Orange County, science-fiction fans will enjoy Kim Stanley Robinson's utopian novel, Pacific Edge (Tor/St. Martin's: $18.95; 326 pp.). Late in the 21st Century, a peaceful revolution has replaced strong central government and harmful technology with local autonomy and simple, preindustrial life styles in restored natural environments. Science marches on, with solar power satellites, manned expeditions to Mars and room-temperature superconductors, but its ugly byproducts have been all but eliminated in Robinson's El Modena, a town where bicycles are the primary means of transportation.

Since Robinson redefines utopia as a society moving towards perfection--not a perfect society--he can make "Pacific Edge" a real story, not a symposium. El Modena residents enjoy idyllic days of soul-satisfying manual labor, softball and nature hikes, but they also have genuine problems to confront. Local politicians have been corrupted by an evil consortium planning to build an industrial park on an unspoiled mountain, and Robinson's hero is caught in a wrenching romantic triangle.

While Robinson's characters are well drawn, they also are a bit unbelievable in the way they combine their advanced knowledge with their simple existence. Residents have access to a global telecommunications network, for instance, but they remain obsessively concerned with local issues. In essence, Robinson says that we can eat from the Tree of Knowledge and still live in the Garden of Eden--but can we?

Having received numerous awards and widespread acclaim, Orson Scott Card should be considered a major science-fiction writer, and he is an appropriate subject for a large, retrospective anthology like Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card (Tor: $22.95; 675 pp.). Several of these stories confirm Card's reputation as a masterful storyteller. Told with skill and conviction, "Holly" follows an anthropologist, studying primitive aliens, who must participate in their religious ritual by carrying part of a tribesman's body to the top of a sacred mountain.

In "The Originist," Card contributes a chapter to Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series. He recounts how scholars in the capital of the galactic empire secretly establish a "Second Foundation" to investigate human problems and prepare for the rebirth of civilization. In the story, Card displays an economy of style, sense of excitement and eye for detail that compare favorably with Asimov himself.