“I’d like to see you come up with one big lie to explain all your other lies.”

27. Strange Angels – Kathe Koja

I read this as a wallow. Grant’s got artist’s block and isn’t finding any inspiration for photography in unemployment or living off his girlfriend Johanna the art therapist…until he sees the crayon drawings of Robin, a schizophrenic who Grant decides is his way out of muddling along in slackerdom and not finding his way out of anything on his own. It’s one thing to make friends with another artist who has illnesses to deal with, it’s one thing to support someone’s art, it’s another to pretend you have the wherewithal to take someone who has always needed full time care – you, who has no training in therapy or care, Grant – out of that care and just encourage them to completely decompensate so you can see what they’ll do artistically. Grant thinks he knows what will be best for Robin and once his art therapist girlfriend Johanna leaves him, there’s no voice of reason to tell him how selfish and ill-informed he is. Robin is really tortured by being taken away from the services he needs and Grant seems to almost understand what he’s done was not the right thing by the time Robin just wants to “be with the angels,” but it’s not going to work out and Grant should’ve listened to his art therapist girlfriend.

Ozma and Peregrine’s most destructive art tendencies involved trying to gnaw on the canvas corners as opposed to being pushed over a mental cliff by some selfish jerk named Grant who wants them to draw.