THE BONES WIZARD

A very mixed bag of 12 tales, including two previously unpublished, from Ryan (Cast a Cold Eye; Halloween Horrors, ed.; etc.), ranging from mild horror to mainstream religious. The title piece concerns an Irish bones player who goes to extraordinary, but not unexpected, lengths to obtain a perfect set of bones. The Irish connection figures elsewhere too, in tales about witches and bloodthirsty roses. Also: babies fall from the sky to a grieving, childless woman; a young Italian girl endlessly carries the body of Christ; a woman finds that everybody is filled with red sand instead of blood; a young man is called to the priesthood via a series of coincidental meetings; a drifter is haunted by his dead lover; a man goes insane working in the bedding department at Macy's; a railroad engineer keeps count of all the people his trains have killed in accidents; nuclear disaster creeps up on a small, aging town; and odd things happen to a man in search of his missing father. Agreeably set forth but bland and unremarkable.