Fortune: Lost and Found

by L.S. Murphy (Editor), Kate Jonez (Editor), Brent Michael Kelley

Capital, cash, gold, lucre-- money makes the world go round. But fortunes easily gained are often painfully lost. Since the very first king pressed his face onto the very first coin no single thing has led so many to ruin. Fortune, it seems, has a dark side and a wickedly evil sense of humor. Curses, plagues and misfortunes rain down on those who dare to tip the scales in their own favor. Fortunes, Lost and Found edited by L.S. Murphy and Kate Jonez is a collection of tales about money and wealth and the potentially horrifying consequences of gaining or losing it.

Featuring stories from Brent Michael Kelley, Kurt Fawver, Christian A. Larsen, Phil Hickes, Wednesday Lee Friday, Garrett Cook, Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi, Andrew G. Dombalagian, Lydia Ondrusek, John Jasper Owens, Eric J. Guignard, Andrew M Stockton, and Cory J. Herndon

Genres: Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2012

About the author

L.S. Murphy lives in the Greater St. Louis area where she watches baseball, reads every book she can find, and weaves tales for teens and adults. When not doing all of the above, she tends to The Bean (aka her daughter), her husband and a menagerie of pets.

Reviews

[C.V. Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's always this difficult task when it comes to reviewing an anthology. Specifically, one that doesn't belong to a single author, but to plethora of authors scattered across different - but relevant - genres. I always find a couple I really enjoy and wish they were full length novels. Some of them I feel didn't have the correct length the author needed to tell the story. Then there are others I might not have read under other circumstances.

The reading list within Fortune is the following:

A Friend in Paga by Brent Michael Kelley
The Bottom Line by Kurt Fawver
The Plagiarist's wireless by Christian L. Larson
Down the Pan by Phil Hickes
Trabajando Alegre by Wednseday Lee Friday
Things They Took From Luke by Garrett Cook
The Rules by Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi
The Second Vault by Andrew G. Dombalagian
The Best Laid Plans by Linda Ondrusek and John Jasper Owens
Hungry by Eric J. Guignard
Twisted Words by Andrew Stockton
Storbeck's Gold by Cory J. Herndon

The best way to rate this collection is with a 4 star review. There were three stories that stood out to me as being my favorites and following through with the theme of greed really well: A Friend in Paga, The Bottom Line, and Trabajando Alegre.

None of the stories struck me a bad. Every story was well written and edited. I wouldn't give any one of them a rating less than 3 stars, but I don't feel that's fair to deconstruct the whole anthology. This is a collection, and it's meant to be read as a collection.

Some of the stories are filled with the horrors of selling out friends and loved ones to get the prize. Others are thick with suspense and the personal greed of the protagonists. And all of them have varied treasures. Each fortune ranges from a physical item, a woman, sleep, better lives, wishes, or just your standard old green-backs. There's something for everyone within Fortune's pages.

After you're done reading it you might want think about who would sell you out. And what would it be for?

[Darcia Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an entertaining and well-written collection. While the writing styles are all completely different, they share the common theme of Fortune. I was intrigued by the way each author interpreted this theme.

The standouts for me were Down the Pan by Phil Hickes, Trabajando Alegre by Wednesday Lee Friday, and Twisted Words by Andrew Stockton. This is not to say the other stories were faulty in any way. I didn't find one bad or even mediocre story in the bunch. The three I mentioned were the ones I connected most with. The writing styles hooked me from the start, and story themes stuck with me long after I'd finished each of them.

[M. Fenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received Fortune: Lost and Found as a member giveaway on LibraryThing. It's a horror anthology centered around the theme of greed. Not a bad topic for horror. The twelve authors in this book each approach it in his or her own way, exploring what their characters will do for money, power, voices from the past, or even a good night's sleep. On the whole, Fortune: Lost and Found is a decent read, with most of the stories being well-written and interesting. My favorite, by far, is Brent Michael Kelley's "A Friend in Paga," but I also really enjoyed Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi's "The Rules" and Christian A. Larsen's "The Plagiarist's Wireless." "Down the Pan" by Phil Hickes was also fun. While I rate the book fairly low, these stories and a couple others make up for the weaker ones. It's worth checking out. 2.5/5

[L.S. Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of stories that will creep you out and keep you awake at night wondering what lurks around the corner.