ALL HALLOWS’ EVE

These new tales are all set on Halloween, and readers hoping for eerie doings featuring a cast of ghosts and unwary young folk won’t be disappointed. From a spectral serial killer who rises again in “Morgan Roehmar’s Boys” to a helpful clan that rescues a terrified teen from a maniac during a “Cemetery Field Trip,” most of the dead-but-not-gone characters are still tangible enough to work their wills on the living. Tossing in the occasional witch (“Come in and Rest a Spell”), vampire (“My Real Mother”) or werewolf (“Pretending”), Vande Velde dishes up a varied menu of voices, settings and plot twists. Though the spark of brilliance that lights up the stories in her Being Dead (2001), and most of her longer fantasies, shines more palely here, there’s plenty to chill, challenge or even charm. (Short stories. 10-13)