"Dark Rides, the first book in Grab Bag, tells the story of Derek, a gay teenager looking for love in carnivals, honky tonks, and hospitals. It's the 1950s. Derek finds solace only in the music of Hank Williams." "Wish Book, the second book in Grab Bag, takes place in a different time: the Great Depression. A small city swarms with con men. Hucksters peddle poisonous patent medicines. Spiritualists bilk the bereaved. Characters converge on a downtown department store, where they clash and connect like cogs in a Rube Goldberg contraption."--BOOK JACKET.