Lost and Found

by Brandon Meyers, Bryan Pedas

Alan Densmore is a failing novelist whose downward-spiraling career is driving a stake through the heart of his marriage. In an effort to repair the crumbling relationship with his wife, Lisa, he brings them to the Blue Skies Inn, a bed-and-breakfast nestled away in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. But, instead of bringing the couple closer together, the weekend getaway only delivers psychological terror. Haunting memories are traded for haunting spirits as the story unfolds in this dark novella, which is told in two parts, from two separate decades. The second half of the tale marks the arrival of a mildly famous paranormal investigator, who finds himself completely unprepared for the terrifying events that begin to unfold at the Blue Skies Inn.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Amazon

134 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2013

About the author

Brandon Meyers is author of the novel "Lovely Death" and the short story collection "Chasing the Sandman." And when not writing solo, he and his best friend, Bryan Pedas, co-authored the novels "The Sensationally Absurd Life and Times of Slim Dyson," "The Missing Link," "The Graveyard Shift," and "Dead and Moaning in Las Vegas," as well as the humor blog/web-comic A Beer for the Shower. Someday he will grow up and get a real job. Brandon can be reached at brandonleemeyers@gmail.com .

Reviews

[Barbara Jean Byrem · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first settled in with ‘Lost and Found’ I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve know the work of Bandon Meyers and Bryan Pedas for quite some time now and these guy are seriously funny. Then all of a sudden they come round the bend with a tale of psychological horror, and I’m thinking; ha, can they really pull this off.

‘Lost and Found’ is like the best roller coaster ride you have ever experienced. The first half is that slow exhilarating creep up the steepest grade possible. You are thrown so far back into your seat; it’s hard not to worry about your head snapping off. As you near the summit and each tiny tick along the track brings you closer and closer to that point of no return, your heart is racing and breaking at the same time. Next you teeter at the pinnacle and gain a slight reprieve as you enter through the same welcoming door into another time. But, don’t get too comfortable, because you’re barely over the threshold and your ride dives to depths of the mind one wouldn’t think possible. Connections are made and broken. The story weaves itself together into an intricate pattern and then splinters into pieces. Just as everything seems to fall into place and you are about to enter the gate where you can ‘exit the car safely’, there is one final scene that will leave you sleepless and wondering about this simple tale for years to come.

I’ll bet you expect me to compare this to something written by a icon like King, but no I’ll go one better because ‘Lost and Found’ reminded me of the true master of intense tales of horror with a psychological twist so diabolical that you are unable to forget this story . I’m talking about Rod Serling, creator of ‘The Twilight Zone’. I’m sure he would have picked this up in a minute for one of his iconic presentations. It is truly that good.

So, treat yourself to an E-ticket ride with “Lost and Found”. Remember to fasten your seat belt and hang on tight.

[Andrew Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost and Found may be the best ghost story I've ever read. Not that I read a lot of ghost stories, but the ones I have read have all been pretty typical. This one is far from typical. So far from typical that you don't know... Um, wait... I want this to be as spoiler free as possible and saying that this is a ghost story is almost a spoiler all by itself.

Okay, so let's start with the technicals. Bryan and Brandon continue to deliver the best edited independent books that I've read. I think I counted, maybe, three typos. Not that I was counting, because I wasn't, but the lack of errors made the ones I did see kind of jump out at me. But it may have only been two. Few enough as to not be worthy of commenting on. I know, then why am I commenting on it? Well, the traditionally published book I am currently reading (you know, the one with a budget to hire professional editors) has already have three or four times as many errors, so I think it's worth noting that these guys do a better job of polishing their work than the "professionals."

Okay, so back to the story:
The story is told in two parts: "Lost" and "Found." Both stories are completely independent of each other in that you could sit down and read either of them and come away from whichever one you'd read and think, "Well, that was pretty good. Not spectacular but pretty good." However (and this is a big "however"), when you put the two stories together, they interlock and are spectacular. Seriously. And I wish I could talk about it, but that would be the spoiling part.

So let's call Lost and Found a psychological thriller with a paranormal twist, which still doesn't cover it, but it's probably as close as I can get. It's creepy, maybe scary, but not gruesome in any way. It has a little bit of Ghost Whisper and a little bit of... um, I'm not sure... some kind of reality hunter type show. You should probably just go read it. Yeah, you should probably go do that right now.

[Debra Barstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories, Story one seems like it had some Stephen King influence to it and the second one ghost hunters. easy fast read.

[Jim Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy read

This is a genuinely creepy read that just keeps you guessing until the end. Short but well written and fun. Highly recommended

[sandy elder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense

I enjoyed this short novel. It was a great escape and well done. The story made you think about the character of all the humans.

[Rich Padzik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helping the lost become found

The lost souls are found, a great story line. Paul and Sandra help two lost people find the their way.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been putting off reviewing Lost and Found by Brandon Mayers & Bryan Pedas for weeks because I am at a loss how to do it without including spoilers or repeating what the authors already wrote. Let me start by saying I am not a professional reviewer (up until a few weeks ago I didn't even know they existed) or a writer, I am simply someone who enjoys reading. With that being said, lets get to it.

The book is in two parts, part one takes place decades before part two so each part has different main characters. These characters are not developed to the point where you know a whole lot about them prior to what happens in the book however they are developed enough where you understand the who, the what, and the why, that happens in the story. Because of this, I felt no connection with any of the characters and it was like the story played out in front and I was an outsider looking in. It is totally possible the authors intended it this way, I really don't know. I am not saying it wasn't entertaining, what I am saying is it is different than most books where I at least feel some sort of a connection with one or more of the characters or I am transported right into the setting of the story sometimes even feeling like I am a part of it or in the same room as the characters.

Some of the lines in the book seemed a bit 'off' and the one that really bothered me was, "He stepped out into the lobby like a zombie, arms waving slowly in front of him as he made his way to the front desk." Where did that come from? There are no zombies in this book. It would have flowed much nicer if he used different terminology or by simply saying he was trying to feel his way through the darkness. Other than this (which I should add may be just due to my personal taste) the story flowed through each part and I had no problem switching from part one to part two.

The story itself I thought was quite interesting. It had me turning page after page and what I thought was happening isn't what really happened. I was quite surprised a few times about the turn of events and I just loved the way it all came together from the different times and perspectives of the characters. The pace was good, slow in parts but it needed to be and not so slow that it came to a screeching halt. The length was good for this novella (a little over 100 pages) because it told the story and wasn't full of fillers, it stayed to the plot. Even the cover of the book has significance and once you read it, you will see it for yourself. The ending was fantastic!

So to sum it up, I would rate this as a good ghost/paranormal story, I liked it and feel it is definitely worth reading.

[Alisi ☆ wants to read too many books ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is rather hard to review and rate, and sitting down to think of a way to do this is a bit painful.

Rating: 4 stars for the first story and 2 stars for the second.

First and foremost: this book is two separate stories intertwined. And it's really weird that the author decided to do this because the story doesn't flow very well with the way that it's setup.

So, the first story (the proverbial 'Lost') is about a couple who checks into this inn for whatever reason. Weird shit starts happening and so on. The proverbial 'Found' story is about ghost hunters who go to the inn to investigate this couple (who died there apparently.)

I hesitate calling it a spoiler because it's blatantly obvious when you start the first story. The problem comes thusly: since the first story is rather interesting in nature (it starts off with all this supernatural stuff coming from the very beginning.) However, the 'found' part is very dry and boring. I was skimming the second story. We go from all this interesting supernatural stuff to a ho-hum ghost investigation. It's like hitting a brick wall while going 60 mph.

I felt nothing for almost all the characters (save, perhaps, the daughter.) The couple in the first story was cliche heaven, though that was a bit more forgivable because of its pace -- it didn't leave us to dwell.)

It doesn't help that the prose is HORRIBLE. It's quite obvious that the author doesn't have a decent editor. It's terribly redundant. I gave up highlighting the worse halfway through because there was too much (and let me say that this is the first time I've *ever* felt like I should highlight the terrible prose -- it's that bad. But I got a new shelf idea so it's probably all good.)

Notables:

He stepped out into the empty lobby like a zombie, arms waving slowing in front of him as he made his way to the front desk.

Only Alan would think this place would be romantic, she thought, as she went to pull herself out of bed.

[Wait, where'd she go to pull herself out of the bed? Did she break herself into two sections? How does on pull oneself out of bed?]

She stood in spite of her aching appendage and went to flip the light switch, but not before she tripped over an ottoman.

[Appendage? You see, clearly if you'd've kept that second self to get the light after it pulled you out of bed than you wouldn't have this problem.]

"Well, we have work to do," her father said (though he accentuated this by biting into his muffin).

[What?]

[Christine Rains · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Densmore is determined to save his crumbling marriage while his wife, Lisa seems to have given up. He brings her to the Blue Skies Inn for a romantic weekend, but the bed-and-breakfast is not at all romantic. What starts off as a bad trip turns into something horrific. Decades later, a paranormal investigator and his daughter spend the night at Blue Skies hoping to catch some evidence of the ghosts. As the night unfolds, they get so much more.

This is a clever paranormal thriller which has two halves to the story: Alan and Lisa's and then Paul and Sandy's. Alan and Lisa's night turns from creepy to terrifying. Their emotions are already running high because they're struggling with their relationship and Alan's failed career as a writer. When Paul arrives decades later, he's determined to give his career a boost by catching evidence of the supernatural. The inn does not disappoint much to Sandy's dismay.

The two stories are neatly entwined and I did love the ending. I'll definitely be picking up more from these authors.

[Samantha Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike anything I've ever read

when I first started reading this book, I thought the plot line to be okay and relatively unique... with ghost stories how unique can you really get? the book is divided into two parts; I read one one night and the other the next. at first, not a whole lot seemed relevant and that kind of bothered me. but after reading the entire book, it was just awesome how everything came together. I found myself going back and forth between the two different parts to see the correlation between them. such a good, quick read.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was fun and refreshing after reading multiple series. The story plays out like a good episode of the Twilight Zone (not to creepy but still charming), and although you know what's going to happen after the first half of the story plays out, the second half doesn't feel overly repetitive. Despite being a quick read I don't think I've been this excited or engaged in a story for a while. I would highly recommend this story to anyone who needs a good palette cleanse from series or genre overload.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella has been classified as horror, and reading the two threads of the story as individual linear events, it can be construed as such. But that is oversimplifying the brilliant Möbius strip of a plot. To me, this story would fit perfectly next to one by Ray Bradbury.


* Read for the '2019 PopSugar (Advanced) Reading Challenge' task: Two books that share the same title (1)

[Wanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost and Found is a quick novella about two worlds that collide where ghosts and past regrets are prevalent. The authors put forth a good effort, in writing a story that reads like a camp fire haunting.

[Joy L. Farnsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read with a great twist.

I liked it. Great story, well written and what a twist! I think you could have easily made this a full length book. At the very least the man and his daughter should appear in another story or two.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not truly a deep book but was entertaining. I liked the story and the ending. Not bad for a free novella.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

just ok.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it! A fun rainy afternoon read! I want to know MORE!!!!

[Hazel Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this book. so well written and had me hooked. I'm a new fan of Brandon and Bryan.

[Delta]

Free 07-07-14 (Horror Novella)

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Found-Bran...