Banished unfolds during a recession in a newly formed country after the fall of the United States. Desperate for revenue, civic leaders try to tap past due fines to solve the problem of financial insolvency by collecting fees from dubiously convicted drunk drivers. To intimidate the offenders, those in power establish a work camp in one of the most inhospitable “Lands” for those who do not pay. The camp also becomes the perfect place to hide prisoners and staff who have information or skills that might be damaging to the elite, removing these individuals as threats to those in power.
The law in the “Lands” has evolved from laws of the United States and California, but not for the better. In reality, this type of legal erosion has actually been going on for some time in America, and the current interpretations of law appear to be headed in the same direction as the laws in the new world described in Banished.
F. David Stevenson was born in 1941 in Oak Park, IL—home to Frank Lloyd Wright, Ernest Hemingway, Frank L. Baum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Bob Newhart. He graduated from Stanford University in 1963. After serving in Vietnam as a Naval Officer aboard the U.S.S. General J.C. Brekenridge and Assault Craft Division 12, Mr. Stevenson attended the University of San Diego School of Law, and graduated Cum Laude in 1969. He joined the law firm of Marriott, Stevenson & Songer, and in 1975 he became a sole practitioner. His practice is in the area of criminal and real estate law. Mr. Stevenson served as Deputy Legislative Counsel for the State of California 1969/70 session.
He has been married to Kathy Stevenson since 1963, and they have five children and two grandchildren. In 1995, he and his family retired to Albany, Oregon, where he writes, fishes, and enjoys life.
Hard cover; 6 x 9, ISBN 1-885003-80-3; $21.95 plus $3.50 S&H.
