An Irish Christmas: Stories

Sure and if a body likes Irish humor and tales, this whimsical, solidly Hibernian set of 17 stories featuring the roguish, charming and not-so-charming denizens of County Kerry will be a fine bet to place under the tree. Novelist, poet and fabulist Keane (Durango) offers these authentically cadenced tales for the holidays, even though many of them only nominally concern Christmas. In ""A Christmas Comeuppance,"" the local canon learns the truth of the old adage ""people in glass houses..."" through the lens of a judicious video camera. ""The Seven Year Trance"" finds Hiccup O'Reilly playing Scheherazade for his brothers-in-law, who promise to beat him up if he doesn't come up with a good story to explain his seven-year absence. A fantastical ghost story accompanied by many rounds at the local pub (financed by Hiccup) saves his life. ""The Resurrection"" features a fey, lovely barmaid who succeeds in ""raising"" a comatose young football player she has always had a hankering for. A calf gains a home instead of becoming ""baby beef"" by submitting himself, as it were, to God in ""The Sacred Calf."" Irish customs from the public house to the wake are lovingly explored by a writer who casts an amused eye on the foibles of his countrymen. (Nov.)