pH: A Novel. Nancy Lord

ection>

      

      “Sometimes it takes fiction, more than facts, to hear the hard truth. In Nancy Lord’s pH, a cli-fi (climate fiction) novel about climate change and its evil cousin, ocean acidification, we meet likeable and quirky characters dedicated to science and art while trapped in a system seduced by money. I learned a lot from this daring novel. And I laughed. Not a bad way to spend one’s time: buried in creativity, learning and laughing.”

      —KIM HEACOX, author of Jimmy Bluefeather and John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire

      “Nancy Lord is an entrancing naturalist writer and a captivating storyteller whose factual knowledge of her beloved Alaska is impeccable. So fascinating to see how she weaves a fictional tale to remind us of the ecological and cultural issues we face on this planet.”

      —JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU, Founder and President, Ocean Futures Society

      “Very few novelists remember that we live on an ocean planet, and none, as far as I know, have tracked the emerging science of ocean acidification, a threat of almost unparalleled dimension. That Nancy Lord does all that and still provides a superb story is testament to her great powers as a writer!”

      —BILL McKIBBEN, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

      “Widely respected and beloved Alaskan essayist Nancy Lord has written a dazzling novel, filled with wry, sly humor, wondrous science, and intriguing characters—all driven by some of the most significant questions of our time. How can scientists defend the truth in a university corrupted by petrochemical profiteers? How can the lovely, life-sustaining creatures of the seas survive the corporate plunder of the planet? And this—how can a book this important be such a joy to read?”

      —KATHLEEN DEAN MOORE, author of Great Tide Rising and Piano Tide

      pH

      A NOVEL

      NANCY LORD

      This is a work of fiction. The characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

      Text © 2017 by Nancy Lord

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Lord, Nancy, author.

      Title: pH : a novel / by Nancy Lord.

      Description: Portland, Oregon : Alaska Northwest Books, [2017]

      Identifiers: LCCN 2016054873| ISBN 9781513260686 (paperback) | ISBN 9781513260693 (ebook) | ISBN 9781513260693 (hardbound)

      Classification: LCC PS3562.O727 P42 2017 | DDC 813/.54—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016054873

      Edited by Tina Morgan

      Designed by Vicki Knapton

      Published by WestWinds Press®

      An imprint of

       www.graphicartsbooks.com

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

       Part 1

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Part 2

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Part 3

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Acknowledgments

       Author Q&A

       Book Group Questions

      PART 1

      CHAPTER ONE

      It was cold, standing at the ship’s rail that early on a September morning, without a hat. Ray’s annoyance at having left his wool cap in his cabin only added to his general peevishness about all things Jackson Oakley.

      “Puker,” he said to no one in particular, as the smaller boat approached their ship.

      “Huh?” Colin, as usual, stood attentively close—too close—as though mother-of-pearl wisdom would fall from Ray’s hard mouth and he would be there to catch it.

      “Puker boat. You know, what they call those sport boats that take tourists out fishing, and everyone spends the whole trip puking over the side.” He gave the gangly young man with watery eyes a sort-of grin, as if to say: Not like us, serious seagoers doing serious work, nothing so trivial as slapping around for sport.

      He was trying as much as he could to make the best of a bad situation.

      He and the others who had roused for the transfer watched as the boat, its white cabin roof bristling with an array of fishing rods, slowed. The opening into the Gulf of Alaska was righteously calm, with just the rise and fall of its oceanic swell. The mainland behind them formed a dark line like a charcoal smudge between the blue-green sea and paler sky. A couple of gulls, trailing the puker