I picked this book up on Sunday. It is the first published work of Tim Pratt, who has a journal here at journalscape. I think Tim works for "Locus", an important science fiction trade magazine. Tim has written a number of short stories and has been nominated for the Nebula award, which is an award that science fiction writers give out to other science fiction writers. The other big award in the field is the "Hugo" which chosen by science fiction fans instead of writers.

Tim's wife Heather also has a journal here. I think Heather works in the mail order pornography industry or something like that, and the journal she had before journalscape had some interesting links on it that I have been known to peruse every now and then. Like Tim, Heather writes in her spare time.

From what I can gather, Tim and Heather are a nice young couple who live in San Franscisco. They got married just this year, and have a few cats, some of whom have been very ill in recent years. I really don't spend a lot of time reading either Tim's or Heather's journals. They are just there, and sometimes it is something to do.

So anyway, on to "The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl". It is set in Santa Cruz, which I guess is a coastal city in California. Marzipan McCarty is the main character. She writes comic books when she is not busy with her job as the night manager of a coffee shop. Marzipan (or Marzi for short) used to be a art student at a local college until she had some sort of mental breakdown that involved a mysterious, now permanently locked room in the back of the coffee shop.

Most of Marzi's friends are art students of one sort or another who hang out at the coffee shop. They are all bright and quirky, but for two of them the quirkiness has been transformed into something else. They have become convinced that they are in contact with a god or goddess trapped in the locked room in the coffee shop. Marzi, they are convinced, is the warden of the god/dess' prison. Marzi and her more normal friends now have to figure out what is happening. It turns out to be tied into Marzi's comics, which are about a quasi-magic Wild West threatened by a mysterious "Outlaw".

The book's greatest strength is its dialogue. Marzi's best friend Lindsey has some very good lines. Everyone seems to have a very casual, open attitude about their sexuality that is fun. The characters were also nicely rounded and believable. I liked these people. Descriptions of scenery were also well done.

The problem I had was that, although the characters were believable, I had trouble accepting these particular individuals as becoming heroes and villains in the book. These are quirky college students. They aren't great achievers. There is the suggestion that Marzi has become the guardian of the prison for this "Outlaw" character because she has great artistic ability. On the other hand, we learn that there are no horses in her comic, because when she draws them they come out looking like cows. Yes, I believed in her, and I liked her, but she and her friends behave like people headed for middle/upper class obscurity.

As a result, I never was really drawn into the plot. It was sort of disconnected, and I never felt any real tension. Even the villain had a sense of humor about the whole thing. Maybe this disconnectedness was deliberate, and maybe there was supposed to be some underlying symbolism or commentary that was being made. If so, I didn't catch it. I have caught it with authors like Sean Stewart and Neil Gaiman, so I don't think the author of this book was aiming for it.

It wasn't a bad book. Just not real compelling.

*Disclaimer*
I can not write for shit, and anyone who manages to get anything published in the fantasy/science fiction field has to have an enormous amount of talent. Just like that 3rd string quarterback may not be as good as a lot of other professional quarterbacks, but he sure as hell could kick my ass.