Fiction review: 'Bone Fire' by Mark Spragg

And according to "Bone Fire," Mark Spragg's latest novel, Wyoming is a place where serious people are scrabbling to find happiness in a barren emotional landscape. In "Bone Fire," Spragg brings together characters he introduced in his previous books, "The Fruits of Stone" and "An Unfinished Life." Rancher Einar Gilkyson is 80 and fading. His granddaughter Griff has dropped out of the Rhode Island School of Design to take care of him. She putters around the ranch, working on bone sculptures and mooning after her boyfriend Paul -- seems neither of them can actually commit. On a nearby ranch, Paul and his young nephew Kenneth live with McEban, one of countless slow-talking cowboys who inhabit Spragg's Wyoming. Meanwhile, back in town, Griff's stepfather, Sheriff Crane Carlson, learns he has a debilitating disease, but his wife, Griff's mom, is an alcoholic housewife who has no idea he's sick. They're all miserable, but no one wants to talk about it. The story moseys along as the characters muck through their trials and unhappiness. It seems Wyoming has the same mundane problems that occur anywhere in the world. But these somber Wyomingites have each other, and that stubborn loyalty is what makes it all bearable. Even more meaningful is their unbreakable tie with the land...read more