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The Schrödinger's Cat trilogy is a trilogy of novels by Robert Anton Wilson, chronicling events and characters in several parallel universes. The trilogy consists of The Universe Next Door, The Trick Top Hat, and The Homing Pigeons, each taking place in a separate and slightly distinct universe. Wilson is also co-author of The Illuminatus! Trilogy and Schrödinger's Cat carries on many of the themes from his earlier work.
Taking place in Unistat, which is the novel's parallel to the United States, the novels have intertwining plots involving a wide array of characters, including:
- Epicene Wildeblood, a.k.a. Mary Margaret Wildeblood, a transvestite who throws great parties
- Frank Dashwood, president of Orgasm Research
- Markoff Chaney, a midget prankster
- Hugh Crane, a.k.a. Cagliostro the Great, a mystic and magician
- Furbish Lousewart V, author and President of Unistat
- Marvin Gardens, author and cocaine addict
In The Universe Next Door, the President of Unistat is Furbish Lousewart V; in that universe, a terrorist organization known as Purity of Essence, named after General Ripper's obsession in the film Dr. Strangelove, threatens to detonate nuclear devices in major cities all over Unistat. Mirroring Dr. Strangelove, Unistat has an automated device that will send nuclear missiles to Russia in the event of such an attack. Russia has a similar device to bomb China, and so on.
In The Trick Top Hat, President Hubbard, a woman, promotes a scientific approach to the improvement of life, offering rewards to anyone who can design a robot to do their job or develop methods to prolong life. Eventually Unistat becomes a Utopia. She makes the whole law system into three different laws: victimless crimes, which have no punishment; monetary crimes or some such thing, which involve debt and payment; and serious crimes, such as murder, which result in being sent to Hell, a place like jail but not quite. It's encased in laser shielding and is like a primitive world all its own.
The third has President Kennedy, and is titled The Homing Pigeons. It has very litle to do with the President, though at the end keeps switching universes, some of which contain President Kennedy, others which contain President Lousewort, and still others in which Hubbard is the president.
The main plots throughout these books are many. One follows Markoff Chaney, a midget, and his pranks played on the world that continuously screws him over. Most of his pranks are played on Dr. Dashwood, of Orgasm research. However, the most important plot line follows the path of one Hugh Crane which may or may not be this Universe's Hagbard Celine; a character that is an obvious representation of Wilson himself.
Another follows an "Ithyphalic Eidolon", removed from a male-to-female transsexual named Epicene (or Mary) Wildebloode. She puts it on display on her mantlepiece, and it gets stolen. It passes through the vicinity of almost every character in the series at least once.
There are dozens of conspiracy theories, Strange Loops, and paranoia included within those pages.