"Orphans of Canland is an elegant, poetic, sprawling dreamscape. Vitale has artfully constructed a whole other world, and the inner worlds of his characters are equally vast. Touching, frightening, painfully human."
-Elvia Wilk, author of Oval
"A richly imagined and deeply felt novel that steers unafraid into the Big Questions."
-Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying


"Orphans of Canland is a rich and engaging tale of ecological disaster."
-Metastellar
"A deftly crafted work of dystopian literary fiction . . . An original and compelling novel."
-Midwest Book Review
Twelve-year-old eternal optimist, Tristan Weekes, born unable to feel physical pain comes of age in the aftermath of an ecological collapse. He lives in Canland, an environmental restoration community in the California desert. As Tristan seeks the approval of his brother, Dylan—a drug-addicted satellite hacker—and his mother, Helena—a powerful population control-extremist—he comes to understand the dichotomies and horrors of this seemingly idyllic new world.
Equal parts environmental warning, philosophical quest, and family saga, Orphans of Canland is a stunning debut by LA author Daniel Vitale, exploring some of the biggest questions in fiction today.
News & Other Writing
March 5, 2023 Los Angeles Times op-ed: One Surprising Hope for Climate Change? Fiction
November 15, 2022 Orphans of Canland is out now!
August 8, 1992 Daniel is born
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or use dvitale15[at]gmail[dot]com