What do you think?
Rate this book
Liaden Universe #stories
Fortune's Favors
ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY?Mar Tyn eys'Ornstahl is a lucky man. His very presence can determine the fall of a card, the spin of a wheel, or whether the bread will rise or fall.In fact, Mar Tyn eys'Ornstahl isn't merely lucky. Mar Tyn is a Luck; a focal point for the elemental force of random event. While most people think that there is good luck and bad, Mar Tyn knows better. Luck is Luck; only the aftermath of Luck's presence can be found to be good or bad.Mar Tyn's Luck, for instance, has recently cost him his home, and his savings. He has only one thing left to gamble.And his life might not be enough.ALL NEW! NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED!
92 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2019
About the author
Sharon Lee
197 books777 followersSharon Lee has been married to her first husband for more than half her lifetime; she is a friend to cats, a member of the National Carousel Association, and oversees the dubious investment schemes of an improbable number of stuffed animals.
Despite having been born in a year of the dragon, Sharon is an introvert. She lives in Maine because she likes it there. In fact, she likes it so much that she has written five novels set in Maine; contemporary fantasy trilogy Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas, and mysteries Barnburner and Gunshy.
With the aforementioned first husband, Steve Miller, Sharon has written twenty novels of science fiction and fantasy — many of them set in the Liaden Universe® — and numerous short stories. She has occasionally been an advertising copywriter, a reporter, photographer, book reviewer, and secretary. She was for three years Executive Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and was subsequently elected vice president and then president of that organization.
Despite having been born in a year of the dragon, Sharon is an introvert. She lives in Maine because she likes it there. In fact, she likes it so much that she has written five novels set in Maine; contemporary fantasy trilogy Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas, and mysteries Barnburner and Gunshy.
With the aforementioned first husband, Steve Miller, Sharon has written twenty novels of science fiction and fantasy — many of them set in the Liaden Universe® — and numerous short stories. She has occasionally been an advertising copywriter, a reporter, photographer, book reviewer, and secretary. She was for three years Executive Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and was subsequently elected vice president and then president of that organization.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 15, 2019
A delicious short story, fully satisfying, in that it left me desirous for more!
April 15, 2019
Very enjoyable reading!
April 15, 2019
We’re back on Liad in “Fortune’s Favors!” As always the characters are so real that you could reach out and touch them. Mar Tyn worms his way into your heart as he wanders Low Port at the behest of his “Luck.”
“Dudley Avenue and Farley Lane” takes us to Surebleak where Daav, Aelliana, and Kamele are enjoying Kareen’s hospitality. Now that the Uncle has released them, it is time to make plans for their future. Will the future be as exciting as the past?
WONDERFUL STORIES TO SAVOR!
“Dudley Avenue and Farley Lane” takes us to Surebleak where Daav, Aelliana, and Kamele are enjoying Kareen’s hospitality. Now that the Uncle has released them, it is time to make plans for their future. Will the future be as exciting as the past?
WONDERFUL STORIES TO SAVOR!
April 15, 2019
All I can say is that it is definitely wonderful to be back in the Liaden Universe.
May 11, 2019
I don't know why, I just can't help myself. Anyway, Sharon and Steve invent a new(ish) category of Talent, the Luck (there's no such thing as good or bad luck, just luck - although if that were true nobody would hire one to up their gambling winnings.) We've already seen other characters who can tweak the ley lines, so it's not surprising. At least in this particular Low Port, the Healers disapprove.
The ebook also includes a very short outtake that centers around Daav and Aelliana and Kamele that might raise a few eyebrows.
The ebook also includes a very short outtake that centers around Daav and Aelliana and Kamele that might raise a few eyebrows.
August 10, 2020
I wish I'd read Don Eyr & Serana's stories first, but not too confusing as is. + Bonus Daav-&-his-2-ladies outtake.
Does anybody else recall a short-lived TV series called "Strange Luck"? The fact that I do demonstrates that I have an interest in this general premise, where there can be no such thing as an impossible -to-believe coincidence, though that leeway is not overused here. I also like this character, who's just struggling to survive and do the right thing as much as possible; I feel sympathy and admiration for him, more so because of where and how his culture, as much as his nature, forces him to live. (Not so much good feeling toward the Liaden Healers, most of whom are apparently outright hostile to Lucks, which cannot be justified by merely trying to protect their patients from the unlikely outcomes Lucks involuntarily carry with them.)
I'm pretty sure I read one story where supporting character Don Eyr appeared before in the lead, but unfortunately it must have been just once during one of my less memory-forming rapid-fiction-devouring phases, plus I know there's another, too. I still enjoyed seeing the safeplace they've created amid the perils of Low Port through Mar Tim's wary eyes. I'm not sure how many other members of their household are also returning characters. Once I've read/re-read the related other works at some point, I guarantee it will be no hardship to come back to re-read this one, too, with a more-solid grounding.
I was a bit surprised to find that the final section of this ebook, from about 83% to 91% (not mentioned at all in About This Book, nor in the Amazon blurb AFAICR) is a completely unconnected outtake scene taking place in Kareen's house on Surebleak, featuring the youthened Daav and re-embodied Aelliana recently reunited with ~their~ former [spouse] Kamele, Theo Waitley's scholar mother. It's a rather fluffy, polyamorous bit *after* their initial explanation and catching up and *cough* so forth. I'm a couple novels behind, so I'm not sure how/how much of the could-have-been-fraught revelations — and possibly the "and so forth", too — were shown in the main works, without including this, but I'm glad Sharon and Steve didn't simply throw it out or just post it on their Splinter Universe site.
The end matter includes an author's note about the tangled-workflow-chronology origins of both stories, then the usual About the Authors and Other Books By...
Does anybody else recall a short-lived TV series called "Strange Luck"? The fact that I do demonstrates that I have an interest in this general premise, where there can be no such thing as an impossible -to-believe coincidence, though that leeway is not overused here. I also like this character, who's just struggling to survive and do the right thing as much as possible; I feel sympathy and admiration for him, more so because of where and how his culture, as much as his nature, forces him to live. (Not so much good feeling toward the Liaden Healers, most of whom are apparently outright hostile to Lucks, which cannot be justified by merely trying to protect their patients from the unlikely outcomes Lucks involuntarily carry with them.)
I'm pretty sure I read one story where supporting character Don Eyr appeared before in the lead, but unfortunately it must have been just once during one of my less memory-forming rapid-fiction-devouring phases, plus I know there's another, too. I still enjoyed seeing the safeplace they've created amid the perils of Low Port through Mar Tim's wary eyes. I'm not sure how many other members of their household are also returning characters. Once I've read/re-read the related other works at some point, I guarantee it will be no hardship to come back to re-read this one, too, with a more-solid grounding.
I was a bit surprised to find that the final section of this ebook, from about 83% to 91% (not mentioned at all in About This Book, nor in the Amazon blurb AFAICR) is a completely unconnected outtake scene taking place in Kareen's house on Surebleak, featuring the youthened Daav and re-embodied Aelliana recently reunited with ~their~ former [spouse] Kamele, Theo Waitley's scholar mother. It's a rather fluffy, polyamorous bit *after* their initial explanation and catching up and *cough* so forth. I'm a couple novels behind, so I'm not sure how/how much of the could-have-been-fraught revelations — and possibly the "and so forth", too — were shown in the main works, without including this, but I'm glad Sharon and Steve didn't simply throw it out or just post it on their Splinter Universe site.
The end matter includes an author's note about the tangled-workflow-chronology origins of both stories, then the usual About the Authors and Other Books By...
April 17, 2019
Mar Tyn eys'Ornstahl is a Luck, which isn't always a good thing, especially on Solcintra, where people know what it means. Things happens around Lucks; they're not always good things. Mar Tyn, for instance, has recently lost his home and his savings, suffered some serious injury, and brought harm on people he might previously have considered friends, and wound up in the bakery, school, and stronghold that is the home of Don Eyr and Serana fer'Gasta.
He's going to draw trouble on these kind people who have rescued him and treated his injuries, unless he gets away from them, and yet his Luck keeps drawing him back to them. Life in the Liaden universe is never easy, but it's also never dull. This is a great story that I enjoyed very much.
The bonus extra here is essentially an outtake scene, that didn't quite fit in either Neogenesis or Accepting the Lance (not yet out when I write this.) Kamele, Daav, and Aelliana need to get properly acquainted. It's slight--as I said, just an outtake scene--but delightful.
All in all, recommended. Enjoy!
I bought this chapbook.
He's going to draw trouble on these kind people who have rescued him and treated his injuries, unless he gets away from them, and yet his Luck keeps drawing him back to them. Life in the Liaden universe is never easy, but it's also never dull. This is a great story that I enjoyed very much.
The bonus extra here is essentially an outtake scene, that didn't quite fit in either Neogenesis or Accepting the Lance (not yet out when I write this.) Kamele, Daav, and Aelliana need to get properly acquainted. It's slight--as I said, just an outtake scene--but delightful.
All in all, recommended. Enjoy!
I bought this chapbook.
November 12, 2019
A sweet little novella that follows Mar Tyn a "Luck" who works at the Old Port on Solcintra. We meet our old friends Serana and Don Eyr. The idea of luck is hinted at the end of Crystal Dragon both when Jella is told the luck is with him, but also when they fill up the ship with some less high and mighty folk, one of whom seems to have some similar abilities. I don't always understand how Liaden magic is supposed to work. Everyone seems to know this guy attracts luck (both good and bad) whether or not they have any special powers or not. Sometimes I suspend my belief, sometimes I feel mildly irritated by this universe. It works here.
There's a second very short outtake at the end that features Daav, Aelliana and Kamele which I rather liked, but I was rather confused at first because it was not obviously a separate story at first a we know that the characters in the novella will end up on Surebleak, so I thought they would show up again.
There's a second very short outtake at the end that features Daav, Aelliana and Kamele which I rather liked, but I was rather confused at first because it was not obviously a separate story at first a we know that the characters in the novella will end up on Surebleak, so I thought they would show up again.
October 25, 2019
3 stars.
This short story introduces a character who is a "Luck" - someone whose survival in Low Port is dependent on people thinking he brings them good luck. But when he's maligned by someone that his luck has turned, he becomes a pariah and his life in peril.... An interesting concept, in light of what we know of Korval's Luck. I don't remember this character in any of the previous books though and he doesn't appeared have a Korval connection?
There is also a deleted scene from Neogenesis . I'm glad that it was deleted because frankly I thought it a bit tacky.
This short story introduces a character who is a "Luck" - someone whose survival in Low Port is dependent on people thinking he brings them good luck. But when he's maligned by someone that his luck has turned, he becomes a pariah and his life in peril.... An interesting concept, in light of what we know of Korval's Luck. I don't remember this character in any of the previous books though and he doesn't appeared have a Korval connection?
There is also a deleted scene from Neogenesis . I'm glad that it was deleted because frankly I thought it a bit tacky.
April 15, 2019
A very fine short story
The characters in the first story are so beautiful. The story kept me awake as I could not leave the characters before safety was reached. It was wonderful to know the bakery thrives.
To read the second was interesting and informative. So now everyone does well.
The best part of stories written Sharon and Steve is reading them leaves me feeling joy comvort.
The characters in the first story are so beautiful. The story kept me awake as I could not leave the characters before safety was reached. It was wonderful to know the bakery thrives.
To read the second was interesting and informative. So now everyone does well.
The best part of stories written Sharon and Steve is reading them leaves me feeling joy comvort.
April 21, 2019
Another facet of The Luck
The writing as usual gives new meaning to such concepts as ethics, informal society, and personal relationships in backgrounds as diverse as vendetta and a house call ending in reconciliation between lovers. Oh, and s new branch of the Luck of the Korvals seen writ small and largely spurned at the far end of society. I can think of no peers in this genre.
The writing as usual gives new meaning to such concepts as ethics, informal society, and personal relationships in backgrounds as diverse as vendetta and a house call ending in reconciliation between lovers. Oh, and s new branch of the Luck of the Korvals seen writ small and largely spurned at the far end of society. I can think of no peers in this genre.
April 21, 2019
So good!
This chap book contains a longer “short story” with a new character, Mar Tyn, whom you will love! He lives in Low Port, but I’m unsure of the planet. He is a “Luck”, with a new-to-us set of abilities. His story is compelling.
Also included is a cut scene, the reunion of Daav, Aelliana, and Kamele. So interesting! Not what I expected, but I definitely like it. This was such a satisfying read!
This chap book contains a longer “short story” with a new character, Mar Tyn, whom you will love! He lives in Low Port, but I’m unsure of the planet. He is a “Luck”, with a new-to-us set of abilities. His story is compelling.
Also included is a cut scene, the reunion of Daav, Aelliana, and Kamele. So interesting! Not what I expected, but I definitely like it. This was such a satisfying read!
April 15, 2019
Fortune favors the reader
Readers are always lucky when this duo releases anything new and this these two short stories are no exception. The title story gives us a glimpse into the lives of those who aren't as fortunate as the main characters in the series in a way that is very intriguing and very well written.
Readers are always lucky when this duo releases anything new and this these two short stories are no exception. The title story gives us a glimpse into the lives of those who aren't as fortunate as the main characters in the series in a way that is very intriguing and very well written.
April 15, 2019
As always, this 28th book of Adventures in the Liaden Universe was an absolute delight to read! There are two parts to this short book. Firstl, a story focused on a new character, and set mostly in Low Port. The other piece is a short scene that chronologically fits in Neogenesis, but didn't really fit in the novel. So we get to see it on it's own!
April 17, 2019
It’s about people...
I read too much space opera and tire of the miraculous ‘new technologies ‘ that get invented there as well as the endless space fighter battles. These authors have captured me with inventiveness (you have to have an auto-doc box!) but mostly with the characters. Their stories are about people. Love them!
I read too much space opera and tire of the miraculous ‘new technologies ‘ that get invented there as well as the endless space fighter battles. These authors have captured me with inventiveness (you have to have an auto-doc box!) but mostly with the characters. Their stories are about people. Love them!
April 22, 2019
Yet another delicious visit to the Liaden Universe! I absolutely adore Sharon Lee & Steve Miller's work, and this new chapbook stands very well with the rest of their oeuvre. I recommend it to both new and established readers.
The story is set back on Liad, in the Low Port. There's also a delightful vignette set on Surebleak that was a delight in and of itself.
The story is set back on Liad, in the Low Port. There's also a delightful vignette set on Surebleak that was a delight in and of itself.
April 23, 2019
Breakfast at Kareen's
...arrives on a tray, left discreetly on a small table just outside the door.
In case you ever wondered whatever happened to Daav, how he handled his newborn situation, this short story will set your mind at ease. And set it afire for more.
Recommended for fans of Lee and Miller, and readers of all things Liaden.
...arrives on a tray, left discreetly on a small table just outside the door.
In case you ever wondered whatever happened to Daav, how he handled his newborn situation, this short story will set your mind at ease. And set it afire for more.
Recommended for fans of Lee and Miller, and readers of all things Liaden.
May 3, 2019
Just Keeps Better!
More new types of characters with such promises to come (I hope!). In the Surebleak story I love how the relationship between the three is resolved. I was really worried about that. I'm reading the stories and novels along with Reading Liad from Dragon Tide to Dragon Ship, and beyond ~ which is a great web site.
More new types of characters with such promises to come (I hope!). In the Surebleak story I love how the relationship between the three is resolved. I was really worried about that. I'm reading the stories and novels along with Reading Liad from Dragon Tide to Dragon Ship, and beyond ~ which is a great web site.
February 10, 2020
Great novella, wonderful snippet
All the characters in the first story are new to me, but the authors' comments suggest some are well established in the Canon. Very well written, with a fast & well-set hook so necessary in short stories band novellas. The second story is even shorter, but the characters are known, loved,
All the characters in the first story are new to me, but the authors' comments suggest some are well established in the Canon. Very well written, with a fast & well-set hook so necessary in short stories band novellas. The second story is even shorter, but the characters are known, loved,
April 15, 2019
A great addition to the Liaden Universe .
I can honestly say that you write the very best short stories they rarely disappoint me. It was great to read the small addition of Dudley Ave ..... We needed that loose end tidying up
I can honestly say that you write the very best short stories they rarely disappoint me. It was great to read the small addition of Dudley Ave ..... We needed that loose end tidying up
April 15, 2019
Excellent
I loved this action filled short story, and the outtake accompanying it! Interesting new info on "lucks". Makes one wonder who they descend from. Korval? Taizan? I'm looking forward to new adventures!
I loved this action filled short story, and the outtake accompanying it! Interesting new info on "lucks". Makes one wonder who they descend from. Korval? Taizan? I'm looking forward to new adventures!
April 17, 2019
A worthy addition
If you love the Liaden Universe, you’ll enjoy these two stories. The first, A delightful exploration of energy fluxes and luck not obviously related to healers or dramliza. The second, another glimpse of Daav and Aelliana.
If you love the Liaden Universe, you’ll enjoy these two stories. The first, A delightful exploration of energy fluxes and luck not obviously related to healers or dramliza. The second, another glimpse of Daav and Aelliana.
April 19, 2019
Novella set in Low Port, Liad, about a young man who has a talent as a Luck which makes him both despised and prized. The chapbook also has an outtake which shows what happens when Daav and Aelliana meet Kamele and make their peace with her.
April 20, 2019
Another great offering from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, two of my very favorite authors. I look at these novellas and short stories that Lee & Miller periodically put out as yummy snacks to tide me over until the next novel is available. I always enjoy them immensely and I’m always a little sad when I’ve finished them because they leave me wanting more (in the best possible way).
April 19, 2019
Finally a scene with Daav, Aelliana, and Kamele after they all meet up. It's the scene I've been waiting for, over the course of several books in the Liaden series. I'm sad it was cut from Neogenesis, but glad I got to read it here.
April 20, 2019
Mar Tyn is a great new character in the Liaden Universe, a place where luck has had its own way for a long time. With Mar Tyn we have a whole new persona for Luck, and a really intriguing plot device.
April 24, 2019
Very enjoyable chapbook. I hadn't realized that the story/outtake with Daav and Aelliana was a separate story, so while reading that I kept wondering when one of the characters from the first story would show up. I need to read it again on its own.
April 30, 2019
Another book that just grabs me and I don't know why. Not a lot of action but the setting and the interesting society I find fascinating. I have read everything these authors have put out and will continue to do so.
May 9, 2019
Excellent and Intriguing Stories
Love the specific style of storytelling , descriptive and engaging. Excellent character revelation and engaging dialogue. Definitely have the 'Luck'.
Love the specific style of storytelling , descriptive and engaging. Excellent character revelation and engaging dialogue. Definitely have the 'Luck'.
May 13, 2019
Satisfied sigh. Yum!
Another lovely read! Dear authors thank you so much! So satisfying and yet so short. Longing to meet up wth Mar Tyn again. And so lovely to appreciate some of the possibilities opening with the last segment. Umami reading, for sure!
Another lovely read! Dear authors thank you so much! So satisfying and yet so short. Longing to meet up wth Mar Tyn again. And so lovely to appreciate some of the possibilities opening with the last segment. Umami reading, for sure!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews