Synopsis from Amazon:
What happens when the mundane and the fantastic meet? We get Cracks in the Tapestry.
Review for Cracks in the Tapestry follows description.
A former secret agent’s sister return from the dead, bringing with her mysteries surrounding her miraculous return?
A Reverend takes his message from God to a new planet eager to spread the gospel.
A NASCAR driver discovers there is much more happening on the track then he ever had imagined.
A thief must steal her love’s most prized possession.
A scientist discovers something very peculiar about an archeologist exhibiting odd behavior.
A newborn siren discovers a man who can resist her song.
A Sioux warrior must face off against the might of the US Military Remnant to defend his home and people.
Will you peer through the Cracks in the Tapestry?
Review for Cracks in the Tapestry follows description.
A former secret agent’s sister return from the dead, bringing with her mysteries surrounding her miraculous return?
A Reverend takes his message from God to a new planet eager to spread the gospel.
A NASCAR driver discovers there is much more happening on the track then he ever had imagined.
A thief must steal her love’s most prized possession.
A scientist discovers something very peculiar about an archeologist exhibiting odd behavior.
A newborn siren discovers a man who can resist her song.
A Sioux warrior must face off against the might of the US Military Remnant to defend his home and people.
Will you peer through the Cracks in the Tapestry?
>>>>>>>>>
My Review:
Ever since publishing Princess of Undersea for the first time in 2016, I had been looking for more publishing opportunities. In 2017, I contributed a short story to Dreamtime Dragons, and it was about that time that another group of authors from a writers' group I was part of on Facebook decided to produce an anthology, and we called ourselves The Tapestry Group.
The theme for the anthology was "when fantasy bleeds through into reality", and now that I have finally read all the stories involved, I wanted to review some of them!
Cracks in The Tapestry starts out reasonably well with "Ghosts of the Past" by Arthur David, a rousing crime-thriller style mystery tale of two sisters who had once been agents of a clandestine organization, until one sister got killed and then the other sister decided she wanted out of the organization. The twist? Five years later, the "retired" sister gets recalled when she receives word of an attack perpetrated by none other than her long-dead sister. What is really going on, here? Is someone impersonating her sister, or has the organization managed to do the impossible in her absence? I found the story relatively intriguing, although the pacing was a little clunky in places, and the ending felt rather abrupt--but all in all, a great start to the anthology, for sure!
Next up was "The Revival of Om" by R. Eric Smith--and I have to say, I found both his stories (he also had a second story in the anthology, "Through The Eyes") highly entertaining and unique! "The Revival of Om" is set up like a story of a preacher heading to the Wild West to present the Gospel to the native cultures, complete with a language barrier and a famously loose grasp of contrasting cultural practices... except that this preacher is coming from Earth and attempting to stage a revival on an alien planet. I was especially intrigued to see the way the preacher tried his best to stay straightforward in his presentation, yet when the translator attempted to further "translate" not just his words but the ideas into concepts more akin to the aliens' own belief system, the resulting communication gave new meaning to the phrase "lost in translation"!
Smith took me on a journey again in "Through The Eyes", as a doctor heads to an asylum in the Congo Republic, where a brilliant researcher has suddenly and mysteriously gone insane, responding violently to her colleagues and babbling in some strange language. The doctor's process of figuring out how to calm her down, and then communicate with her yields some fascinating results--and the twist at the end that brings the payoff to all of the confusion and strangeness had me grinning with admiration! Smith is definitely an author I would read again in a heartbeat!
Of course, there was one story in the anthology I was most excited to read, because I am already a fan of the author. "Life at The Speed of Time" by J. D. Cunegan once again puts on display his strongest skill, and the one I most consistently enjoy across any of his stories: his sense of characterization. A NASCAR driver competing in Daytona experiences a strange sensation while in the middle of his race--not quite deja vu, but almost like magic. His reality is shaken, but as he learns more about it from his own racing team, he discovers that all is truly not as it seems! I think this story was probably my favorite out of the entire anthology! Cunegan does storytelling so well, throwing the reader right into the midst of the action through the eyes of a relatable point-of-view character, and we feel all the chaos, confusion, and curiosity that comes along with the incredible journey! (Definitely check out my reviews of other J. D. Cunegan books at the end of this review!)
The other stories in the anthology were quaint enough, just not as spectacular as the ones I've already mentioned. "The Sky-Rock Thief" by C. Scott Davis and "The Sioux" by Benjamin D. Pegg were both somewhat stories that followed characters from Native American backgrounds, with Davis' tale taking place far back in history, while Pegg's story brings the Lakotah culture far into the future. I found the contrast of time relatively interesting, but as far as the characters themselves, or even the plot, it just wasn't as thrilling as the others. And the final contribution to this anthology was a simple poem by Lorna Woulfe, a few stanzas describing the sensation and the experience we wish for the readers in this collection of stories, as they witness these "Cracks in The Tapestry."
My story "Heartsong", I'm opting not to review, but you can read a review of it from another reader by clicking the hyperlinked text! Here, I will just mention that it takes the archaic superstition that "a woman aboard a ship brings trouble" so the common response was just to throw her overboard, and turns it into "origin lore" for the mythical siren, a beautiful creature who could sing such alluring songs that men would throw themselves overboard at the sound of it. It was a fun tale to develop, not quite "Little Mermaid" but more along the lines of a gender-swapped, mermaid-themed "Beauty and The Beast", as my main character, a woman who became a siren after she was tossed overboard, and discovers a man who seems immune to her songs. She holds him prisoner until she can figure out what to do with him, or why she can't seem to drown him like the others.
On the whole, Cracks in The Tapestry celebrates the weird and wonderful dimension just beyond the "real world", and the writers who attempt to peel back that veil separating the two and give readers a glimpse of what is possible on a true flight of fantasy! I'm rating this anthology a solid ****4 STARS**** for the great storytelling on display, and I would definitely recommend it to anybody looking for a pleasant little "sample pack of imagination"!
Further Reading: (Anthologies/Also By The Authors)
The Jill Andersen Series--J. D. Cunegan
-Bounty
-Blood Ties
-Behind the Badge
-Behind The Mask
-Bounty
-Blood Ties
-Behind the Badge
-Behind The Mask
Punk Anthologies--Writerpunk Press Group
-Sound & Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk, Vol. 1
-Once More Unto The Breach: Shakespeare Goes Punk, Vol. 2
-What We've Unlearned: Classic Literature Goes Punk
-Sound & Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk, Vol. 1
-Once More Unto The Breach: Shakespeare Goes Punk, Vol. 2
-What We've Unlearned: Classic Literature Goes Punk
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