The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl
Encyclopedia
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl is a 2005 novel by Tim Pratt
. This is Pratt's first full length novel. 'Rangergirl' takes place in present day but with science fiction and western themes found throughout the story.
, she works on a comic book under the same name as the title of the book. In her comic book, Rangergirl takes on a more surreal western environment where there is a rattlesnake sphinx
, a scorpion oracle
, menacing natives, and the eternally evil Outlaw.
Recently, a college student from the east coast, named Jonathan, had rented the upstairs room located in Genius Loci
because he is interested in the murals depicted within the coffee shop. The murals were painted by Garamond Ray, who was an interesting artist but went missing the day of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
; Jonathan is looking into doing his graduate thesis on the works of Garamond and these murals were his last pieces.
Lindsey, Marzi's best friend, is a regular at the coffee shop and made her goal to get Marzi and Jonathan together; Lindsey is not interested since she claims she is "done with boys." She has her interests with Alice, a motorcycle riding lesbian. The three become an outgoing group.
Amongst all of this, strange things begin to unravel. An art student named Beej, who was a coffee shop regular, becomes more dirty and homeless-like, claiming he is to unleash a god. A graduate teacher's assistant named Jane, becomes ambushed by a mudslide and is then transformed into mud being who can morph her body at her will into different shapes; she declares that her mission is to resurrect the earth goddess. Also, Alice, Lindsey's lover, has developed her urge to set things on fire increasingly. However, all of this connects to Genius Loci. Both Beej and Jane make various visits to the coffee shop to unleash a god that, according to them, is held prisoner in there; Alice wants to burn the place to the ground but does not know why. Even Marzi is subject to some strange encounters like her surreal dreams where she is floating over Santa Cruz county and sees all of it destroyed. Plus, her own personal problems becomes apparent again when she is to confront her own fears such as opening any closed door.
Once everything is put into perspective, Marzi realizes there is some kind of presence in the Genius Loci coffee shop; an earthquake god is in the kitchen storage room, which Marzi made a distinctive point for everyone not to open. Since Jonathan was curious about the Garamond Ray murals and he knew there was one more mural located in the storage room, he fulfilled his own curiosity and opened the door to the storage room (with the help of the power of the earthquake god). The earthquake god pulled Jonathan into the unknown realm and the god came into the present reality. Since Marzi became the guardian of the door, the unknown realm took on the appearance of the western world she had created in her comic, and the god became the villainous Outlaw. Once freed, the Outlaw recruited his assistants, Beej, Jane, and Jane's supposed lover, Denis, a graduate student who is to be blamed for her mudslide incident. The Outlaw gives Denis and Beej a project to work on: to create metal door that is reminiscent of the bat wing doors found in saloons in the Wild West. The two do their part and create the door. Meanwhile, Marzi and Lindsey realize that Jonathan is missing and that the Outlaw has been unleashed; they realize they need to go into the unknown realm and figure out how to save Jonathan and destroy the Outlaw.
Upon entering the storage room, the two find themselves in the western setting that Marzi had created. When learning this, Marzi finds out that she can control the surroundings, which means manipulating the weapons they have (like Lindsey firing a gangster-style tommy gun), being knowledgeable about the enemies they encounter (like savage Native Americans who ride car-sized bugs), and many other circumstances. They also encounter Garamond Ray, who managed to capture the Outlaw back in 1989 and put it in this realm, however, Garamond was pulled into it and was not able to get out. While the three talk, it is revealed that the Loma Prieta earthquake was due to Garamond and the god fighting over being imprisoned. Later, the three encounter an oracle, who explains that Marzi must go to its temple and ask one question. After a wild adventure through the world that Mazri created, they find themselves at the oracle's temple. Instead of asking about how to defeat the Outlaw, Marzi asks about how to save Jonathan (who was discovered by being unconscious). The oracle answers, although disappointed because it feels that Marzi should have asked about the Outlaw, and it explains that they must enter Jonathan's soul and revive him from there. Meanwhile, the Outlaw, Beej, Jane, and Denis have created nothing but chaos and havoc throughout Santa Cruz by firebombing parts of the downtown area and the coastal beach areas. Once Marzi and Lindsey free Jonathan, they meet up with Garamond and all of them know their part in terms of destroying the Outlaw. However, the door that the Outlaw demanded Denis and Beej to create was put to use. They went to Genius Loci and placed the door on the outside of the storage room, which then fused into the mural setting (hence the saloon like door). The door would then transport whoever walked through the door into another reality. Marzi, Lindsey, Jonathan, and Garamond walked through the door and found themselves enveloped in Genius Loci, which was dominated by the murals coming to life. Marzi realized that Beej is in control of the surroundings and manages to persuade him to stop the animated murals. They then enter the present reality and confront the Outlaw.
While migrating to the Outlaw, the group encountered Jane, who had become a more monstrous mud being. Before Jane was able to attack, suddenly Alice, Lindsey's lover, came roaring on her motorcycle and blazed Jane with an ultimate amount of fire, which disintegrated her instantly. Marzi was stunned by this, knowing that Alice had left town in order to avoid her pyro urges. Lindsey was an artist as well, and found a way to manipulate reality and therefore summoned the persona of Alice into the situation.
Marzi earlier was thinking of ways of destroying the Outlaw. She realized, at first, that since all of this reality was being maintained by her comic book setting, then she and the Outlaw would have to have some kind of showdown. Usually what happened in the stories, was that if there was no showdown, then local enforcement would imprison the outlaw, but his henchmen would be able to free him out of his cell, which is exactly what happened in this case. While getting closer to the Outlaw, Marzi realized that if she can manipulate this reality she would be able to destroy the Outlaw willingly. However, before she moved in on this action, it dawned on her that if she went outside from what the western reality was providing, that meant that the Outlaw would become something outside of the recent reality. This is something the Outlaw was anticipating. But due to the sudden realization, this altered the Outlaw's powers and Denis (who was already frustrated by the Outlaw) was able to stab him numerous in the torso and the back, killing him as if he was some kind of mortal.
Knowing that the Outlaw was destroyed, Marzi and everyone felt everything would slowly come back to normal. Denis did time in prison, Jane was no more, Beej was in his own world, Jonathan decided to stay in Santa Cruz, Lindsey was pleased to see the return of Alice, and Garamond became a legend to hero with his return to the world.
Points of Interest
and roots of mythology
in it as well. The idea of gods that are not currently being worshipped but still exist in modern day society is an idea that has almost become its own genre. Writers like Neil Gaiman
greatly explored this concept. The western setup is something of great use. The book was described as cowpunk
, which usually is referred to a style of music, but at the same time, gives the same kind of edge that this story holds. The character, Rangergirl, holds traits found with modern westerns
, that the protagonist is almost an anti-hero. Plus, the fantasy western structure is reminiscent of other stories such as Jonah Hex
, Brisco County, Jr.
, and Stephen King
's The Dark Tower
series.
Tim Pratt
Tim Pratt is a science fiction and fantasy writer and poet. He grew up in the vicinity of Dudley, North Carolina, and attended Appalachian State University, where he earned a Bachelor's in English. In 1999 he attended the Clarion East Writing Workshop...
. This is Pratt's first full length novel. 'Rangergirl' takes place in present day but with science fiction and western themes found throughout the story.
Plot summary
'Rangergirl' focuses on Marzipan "Marzi" McCarty, who is an art major dropout from UC Santa Cruz, who now runs the night shifts at the popular coffeeshop Genius Loci. While she is not serving coffee to the various people of Santa CruzSanta Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
, she works on a comic book under the same name as the title of the book. In her comic book, Rangergirl takes on a more surreal western environment where there is a rattlesnake sphinx
Sphinx
A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
, a scorpion oracle
Oracle
In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
, menacing natives, and the eternally evil Outlaw.
Recently, a college student from the east coast, named Jonathan, had rented the upstairs room located in Genius Loci
Genius loci
In classical Roman religion a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted in religious iconography as a figure holding a Cornucopia, patera and/or a snake. There are many Roman altars found in Western Europe dedicated in whole or in part to the particular Genius Loci...
because he is interested in the murals depicted within the coffee shop. The murals were painted by Garamond Ray, who was an interesting artist but went missing the day of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
; Jonathan is looking into doing his graduate thesis on the works of Garamond and these murals were his last pieces.
Lindsey, Marzi's best friend, is a regular at the coffee shop and made her goal to get Marzi and Jonathan together; Lindsey is not interested since she claims she is "done with boys." She has her interests with Alice, a motorcycle riding lesbian. The three become an outgoing group.
Amongst all of this, strange things begin to unravel. An art student named Beej, who was a coffee shop regular, becomes more dirty and homeless-like, claiming he is to unleash a god. A graduate teacher's assistant named Jane, becomes ambushed by a mudslide and is then transformed into mud being who can morph her body at her will into different shapes; she declares that her mission is to resurrect the earth goddess. Also, Alice, Lindsey's lover, has developed her urge to set things on fire increasingly. However, all of this connects to Genius Loci. Both Beej and Jane make various visits to the coffee shop to unleash a god that, according to them, is held prisoner in there; Alice wants to burn the place to the ground but does not know why. Even Marzi is subject to some strange encounters like her surreal dreams where she is floating over Santa Cruz county and sees all of it destroyed. Plus, her own personal problems becomes apparent again when she is to confront her own fears such as opening any closed door.
Once everything is put into perspective, Marzi realizes there is some kind of presence in the Genius Loci coffee shop; an earthquake god is in the kitchen storage room, which Marzi made a distinctive point for everyone not to open. Since Jonathan was curious about the Garamond Ray murals and he knew there was one more mural located in the storage room, he fulfilled his own curiosity and opened the door to the storage room (with the help of the power of the earthquake god). The earthquake god pulled Jonathan into the unknown realm and the god came into the present reality. Since Marzi became the guardian of the door, the unknown realm took on the appearance of the western world she had created in her comic, and the god became the villainous Outlaw. Once freed, the Outlaw recruited his assistants, Beej, Jane, and Jane's supposed lover, Denis, a graduate student who is to be blamed for her mudslide incident. The Outlaw gives Denis and Beej a project to work on: to create metal door that is reminiscent of the bat wing doors found in saloons in the Wild West. The two do their part and create the door. Meanwhile, Marzi and Lindsey realize that Jonathan is missing and that the Outlaw has been unleashed; they realize they need to go into the unknown realm and figure out how to save Jonathan and destroy the Outlaw.
Upon entering the storage room, the two find themselves in the western setting that Marzi had created. When learning this, Marzi finds out that she can control the surroundings, which means manipulating the weapons they have (like Lindsey firing a gangster-style tommy gun), being knowledgeable about the enemies they encounter (like savage Native Americans who ride car-sized bugs), and many other circumstances. They also encounter Garamond Ray, who managed to capture the Outlaw back in 1989 and put it in this realm, however, Garamond was pulled into it and was not able to get out. While the three talk, it is revealed that the Loma Prieta earthquake was due to Garamond and the god fighting over being imprisoned. Later, the three encounter an oracle, who explains that Marzi must go to its temple and ask one question. After a wild adventure through the world that Mazri created, they find themselves at the oracle's temple. Instead of asking about how to defeat the Outlaw, Marzi asks about how to save Jonathan (who was discovered by being unconscious). The oracle answers, although disappointed because it feels that Marzi should have asked about the Outlaw, and it explains that they must enter Jonathan's soul and revive him from there. Meanwhile, the Outlaw, Beej, Jane, and Denis have created nothing but chaos and havoc throughout Santa Cruz by firebombing parts of the downtown area and the coastal beach areas. Once Marzi and Lindsey free Jonathan, they meet up with Garamond and all of them know their part in terms of destroying the Outlaw. However, the door that the Outlaw demanded Denis and Beej to create was put to use. They went to Genius Loci and placed the door on the outside of the storage room, which then fused into the mural setting (hence the saloon like door). The door would then transport whoever walked through the door into another reality. Marzi, Lindsey, Jonathan, and Garamond walked through the door and found themselves enveloped in Genius Loci, which was dominated by the murals coming to life. Marzi realized that Beej is in control of the surroundings and manages to persuade him to stop the animated murals. They then enter the present reality and confront the Outlaw.
While migrating to the Outlaw, the group encountered Jane, who had become a more monstrous mud being. Before Jane was able to attack, suddenly Alice, Lindsey's lover, came roaring on her motorcycle and blazed Jane with an ultimate amount of fire, which disintegrated her instantly. Marzi was stunned by this, knowing that Alice had left town in order to avoid her pyro urges. Lindsey was an artist as well, and found a way to manipulate reality and therefore summoned the persona of Alice into the situation.
Marzi earlier was thinking of ways of destroying the Outlaw. She realized, at first, that since all of this reality was being maintained by her comic book setting, then she and the Outlaw would have to have some kind of showdown. Usually what happened in the stories, was that if there was no showdown, then local enforcement would imprison the outlaw, but his henchmen would be able to free him out of his cell, which is exactly what happened in this case. While getting closer to the Outlaw, Marzi realized that if she can manipulate this reality she would be able to destroy the Outlaw willingly. However, before she moved in on this action, it dawned on her that if she went outside from what the western reality was providing, that meant that the Outlaw would become something outside of the recent reality. This is something the Outlaw was anticipating. But due to the sudden realization, this altered the Outlaw's powers and Denis (who was already frustrated by the Outlaw) was able to stab him numerous in the torso and the back, killing him as if he was some kind of mortal.
Knowing that the Outlaw was destroyed, Marzi and everyone felt everything would slowly come back to normal. Denis did time in prison, Jane was no more, Beej was in his own world, Jonathan decided to stay in Santa Cruz, Lindsey was pleased to see the return of Alice, and Garamond became a legend to hero with his return to the world.
Setting
Tim Pratt had lived in Santa Cruz for a few years and derived much appreciation for the town and, therefore was able to deliver the backdrop for Rangergirl.Points of Interest
- Genius Loci: inspired from Caffe Pergolesi, a popular coffee shop located behind the downtown area.
- The Red Room: nearby bar that Marzi, Lindesy, and Jonathan attend. This is where Marzi first sees the Outlaw. The bar is a hotspot for college students and the locals.
- Neptune's Kingdom: in Marzi's dream, she encounters the oracle at this location. It is found at the BoardwalkBoardwalkA boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
. - UC Santa Cruz: many of the character are students there; the Outlaw has Beej and Denis construct the special door at one of the art studios.
- Downtown Clock Tower: the Outlaw recognizes this being the only structure that survived the 1989 earthquake and therefore made it his first thing to destroy. The clock can be found one of the ends of the main downtown strip, where Pacific Ave meets with Mission St.
Major themes
The story of Rangergirl has a science fiction theme to it, the book also has elements of fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
and roots of mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
in it as well. The idea of gods that are not currently being worshipped but still exist in modern day society is an idea that has almost become its own genre. Writers like Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
greatly explored this concept. The western setup is something of great use. The book was described as cowpunk
Cowpunk
Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...
, which usually is referred to a style of music, but at the same time, gives the same kind of edge that this story holds. The character, Rangergirl, holds traits found with modern westerns
Revisionist Western
The Revisionist Western, Modern Western or Anti-Western traces to the mid 1960s and early 1970s as a sub-genre of the Western movie....
, that the protagonist is almost an anti-hero. Plus, the fantasy western structure is reminiscent of other stories such as Jonah Hex
Jonah Hex
Jonah Woodson Hex is a Western comic book antihero created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga and published by DC Comics. Hex is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side. Despite his poor reputation and personality, Hex is bound by a personal...
, Brisco County, Jr.
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., often referred to as just Brisco or Brisco County,The series is referred to as just Brisco or by Brisco County by the creator and executive producer Carlton Cuse, actors involved with the show, and by many critics. Some examples include:* Cuse, Carlton, DVD extra...
, and Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower (series)
The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
series.