Alchemy and Artifacts

Tesseracts Anthology #22

by Lorina Stephens & Susan MacGregor

There is nothing new in the world except the history we do not know. Alchemy and Artifacts (Tesseracts Twenty-Two) is a collection of twenty-three amazing stories based on historical artifacts combined with fantastic historical fiction. The stories meld culture, concept and incident into a rich collection of 'what if' speculations that provide warnings yet revel in the cultural celebrations we continue to observe today. They are the touchstones that resonate with all who listen to and learn from the past. For, once the instigators are dead, the wars ended, and the political machines decayed, only artifacts remain. And it's through these cultural artifacts that we glimpse the possibility of what may have occurred in the past and may yet occur in the future. You are invited to delve into the motivations behind the events of the past, the quests for power, the fights against repression, and the sacrifices to a greater cause -- human dramas that reflect the worst and best of who we are -- to see what satisfaction comes from sudden insight and awe. Featuring works by these Canadian writers: Colleen Anderson, Lara Apps, Leslie Brown, Katherine Cameron, Chris Patrick Carolan, Geoff Gander & Fiona Plunkett, Bev Geddes, Mary-Jean Harris, Geoffrey Hart, Kate Heartfield, R. W. Hodgson, Kurt Kirchmeier, Jason Lane, Halli Lilburn, Cat McDonald, Tony Pi, Mike Rimar, Bianca Sayan, Holly Schofield, Michael Skeet, Erik Jon Spigel, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Michal Wojcik The stories in Alchemy and Artifacts (Tesseracts Twenty-Two) nourish those who wander in today's wilderness, and who, without the benefit of the past, are destined to plunge blindly along a path of ignorance, destroying all that has been, everything that is true and beautiful and that which nourishes our global community.

294 pages, ebook

Published January 10, 2019

Reviews

[M.H. Thaung]

This is a collection of fantasy short stories which are based on historical (or legendary) events and situations, but as an added factor include a (usually physical) artifact.

The stories are ordered chronologically from the distant past (Greece of around 1100 BCE as depicted by Homer) to relatively recent times (America and Canada of the 1960s and 1970s). Unsurprisingly, they have different styles and flavours, from the rather functional prose of "Caligula's Eagle" by Tony Pi to the heavier descriptions of Bev Geddes in "The Witch of Glencoe". Nothing was overdone, however: despite my personal preference for lean text, the stories were all very readable.

What I enjoyed about all the stories was the sense of an underlying history that could have happened, as if there were hidden mystical influences on recorded events. If I had to pick favourites, they would be: "The Berlin Golem" by Geoffrey Hart, "Things Better Left Buried" by Chris Patrick Carolan and the first story in the collection, "Cleaning House in Ithaca" by Leslie Brown. Of course, an advantage of short story anthologies is that if one story doesn't appeal to you, you can move on to the next one.

If you enjoy historical fantasy/alternate history, I think there will be something for you in this collection.

I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. This is my honest review.