Reviews and Comments

Entertaining anthology of fungi-related short stories often (but not always) with a horror-bent.

My favourites (with particulary outstanding shorts marked as †)

• Last Bloom on the Sage by Andrew Penn Romine
• The Pilgrims of Parthen† by Kristopher Reisz
• Kum, Raúl (The Unknown Terror) by Steve Berman
• Tubby McMungus, Fat From Fungus† by Molly Tanzer and Jesse Bullington
• Wild Mushrooms† by Jane Hertenstein
• Where Dead Men Go to Dream by A.C. Wise
• Dust From a Dark Flower† by Daniel Mills
• A Monster in the Midst by Julio Toro San Martin
• The Pearl in the Oyster and the Oyster under Glass† by Lisa M. Bradley
• Letters to a Fungus by Polenth Blake
• The Shaft Through The Middle of It All by Nick Mamatas

structurally flexible. engaging characters. lightly nostalgic (but not too much!). devoured in 4 days: it was enjoyable!

it was sad, at times. i think i enjoyed all characters? except for probably dov. the rendition of relationships over such a span of time is something i don't recall ever reading. the internal monologues and renditions of conflicts from different points of view were something special, i feel

book 3 maintains the essence of the series but manages to stray away enough from what kept me captivated in 1 and 2 such that i feel satiated to stop here. for now, anyway (and thank the guidestars for that!)

finished reading kallocain during lunch, it has such luscious sentences

it feels like a poem wearing the guise of a novel. the first time i tried to read it, i read like i would any other novel. but for me, it only revealed itself, and was frankly only understandable, when taking the pace down a few notches

i don't know what translation keeps the dreamy poetry of its sentences intact; you could always learn swedish