After Earth is struck by a shower of strange particles of blue light in the mid-'60s, a far-flung group of people find themselves gifted with strange, diverse, superhuman powers and a tendency to recount their experiences in terms reminiscent of a description of an acid trip. Many of them gather a few years later in San Francisco under the leadership of a charismatic shaman, but their cult-like lifestyle comes to an end upon the arrival of Grey Man, a recipient of the blue light's gift who also serves as the embodiment of death. Scattered to the wind, the few survivors of an attack and various light-affected individuals—including the novel's biracial, half-gifted narrator—attempt to determine their future in a threatening world that seems increasingly alien to them. If all this sounds like a lost Marvel Comics series, it's not, but it's a premise that might be better served in such a setting. Blue Light, the first excursion into science fiction by author Walter Mosley, best known for the Easy Rawlins mystery series, is a combination of hoary, starry-eyed psychedelia; hoarier science-fiction cliches; cartoonish, forgettable characters; awkward, uneconomical storytelling; and clunky, self-indulgent prose. In other words, it's the science-fiction equivalent of everything Mosley's mystery writing is not. Though the author seems occasionally on the verge of getting at something—be it comments on the '60s counterculture, the craft of history, or the endurance of mythical themes in modern culture—the nearly unreadable Blue Light is a serious disappointment. Mosley can't be faulted for his ambition, but he should have had the good sense to refrain from releasing what reads like an unpromising first draft.