Fortune Box / Madeleine Swann

"Madeleine Swann tinkers with the familiar until it no longer comprehends itself. In Fortune Box, a parade of people with weakness uncomfortably similar to our own confronts the disintegration of reason as though it were just another bothersome day. Swann drags classic absurdism into the current day with an effortless sense of dry, cheeky fun and, in so doing, earns a seat at the table with greats such as Kafka, Gogol and Kharms. Swann is an absurdist in the truest sense of the word and I can think of no greater praise than that."—Matthew Revert, author of Human Trees and Basal Ganglia

No one knows where or what Tower Ltd Surprise Packages is or why it’s sending gifts to complete strangers across The City. All they know is that each package is the best thing that’s ever happened to them…or the worst.

In one box is a packet of seeds that allows you to grow your perfect date. In another there’s a cupcake that causes anyone who eats it to grow eyeballs all over their skin. There’s also a parcel with a mousetrap that turns all your enemies tiny. Or you could receive your autobiography, which when signed, makes your every thought famous. Or maybe even a key to a secret door that leads to another dimension where all your unfinished and abandoned projects exist. But with each package received comes both fortune and misfortune that will surely result in unexpected consequences.

Like a season of episodes from The Twilight Zone or Friday the 13^th The Series, comes a collection of dark and humorous stories from the premier British female author of bizarro fiction.