A Couple of Tales from ‘Spores of Doom: Dank Tales of the Fungal Weird’ (Edited by Aaron Worth, British Library)


I am slowly, but surely, getting rid of books that I’m either never going to read again or should never have bought in the first place (far too easily done at the moment, if you’re me…) It’s making me feel a little happier about myself and it’s also got me in the mood to keep going and read more of the books that are left. Although, having said that, payday tomorrow…

Anyway :o)

I’ve picked up a few of the books from the ‘British Library Tales of the Weird’ collection but up until now, have only read a couple of stories from ‘The Lure of Atlantis’. I thought I’d do something about that and check out a couple of tales from ‘Spores of Doom’. I’ve always seen fungus more as background scenery for the main event, lets see what happens when it takes centre stage.

Quick thoughts follow then on Mark Samuels’ ‘Cesare Thodol: Some Lines Written On A Wall’ and Aaron Worth’s ‘The Mykophagoi’ (quick thoughts I’m afraid, my medication is giving me a bit of a kicking so I need to pace myself a little better this week…)

‘Cesare Thodol: Some Lines Written On A Wall’ – Mark Samuels

In which our narrator follows the history of one Cesare Thodol to an inevitably lonely, and hungry, conclusion…

And there I was, thinking that all fungus does is just sit there and grow really slowly… Mark Samuels takes a great pleasure in proving me wrong with this creepy tale of lunatic asylums and how a differing view of the world may not necessarily mean that you’re mad. Definite hints of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ but with its own unique feel. When it’s done right, a sense of inevitability can do a lot for a Weird Tale and Samuels really strikes a good balance here. You know what’s coming but it is pieced together gradually and you can’t help but follow along. Not a bad introduction to the ‘Fungal Weird’, well worth a look if you come across it.

‘The Mykophagoi’ – Aaron Worth

In which two convicts escape from a penal colony to start a new life but make the fatal mistake of stopping to eat first…

This one raised a few more questions than it answered but I loved how Worth taps into that sense that there is far more to our world than we know; hidden places that hold things we should never know of but it’s a small world and we can’t escape finding out the hard way. Not just that either, Worth really captures the feel of the fungus as a form of life that we can’t comprehend but still with its own urge to live. I didn’t quite get the ending (cut me some slack, it had been a long day…) but you do get a real sense of terror in the observers obvious reluctance to tell Nicholas what had actually become of him. The clues are there, I just couldn’t make sense of them, but I will be going back for another go. ‘The Mykophagoi’ is an intriguing tale that is worth spending time with.

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