SPORES: A Short Story

The Beatrix Brighton Chronicles #1

by E.V. Dean

Every surface drips with yellow spores, and Beatrix's father won't leave his house of horrors.

In a city where fungus grows faster than fear, Beatrix Brighton is running out of time.When Beatrix Brighton—a New Hampshire professor with expertise in demonology—receives a desperate call from her father about a fungal plague consuming his home, she expects to find another easily explained phenomenon. Instead, she discovers a city in the grip of something toxic spores blanket every surface, buildings sprout through with yellow growths, and the residents are slowly changing, their minds colonized by something that lurks in the bayou's depths.

As an expert in the occult, Beatrix knows this is no ordinary infestation. But in the heart of Louisiana's darkness, where reality melts like rot-softened flesh, she'll discover that some questions have teeth—and that knowledge can be fatal. To save her father, she'll have to confront an ancient evil that's taken root, one that's turning Baton Rouge into its own twisted nursery.

Perfect for readers of folk horror and Southern Gothic fiction where academia meets the occult. A standalone horror novella.

Perfect for readers who

Folk horror with a modern twistBaba Yaga & Russian Folk TalesBody horrorSouthern Gothic fictionAtmospheric supernatural thrillersStories where academia meets the occultOne Hour Reads

Genres: Horror

86 pages, Paperback

Published March 10, 2025

Reviews

[Ebony · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️’s rounded up

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 1,5* because the idea was nice, but ... nye.
I got intrigued by the cover, because it looks really good. And the idea of a weird mushroom growth all over a city, was nice too.

But sadly that's just it.
The author keeps repeating, repeating and repeating stuff, it got so damn annoying, especially bcs it's a short story. In the first 26 pages, the FMC repeats over 10 times, that she needs to get her father out of the overgrown city.
And the same amount she asks herself, if the fungus is maybe toxic and if she get's sick. Does she get a mask? No, she doesn't. An NPC needs to give her one, then the author conveniently forgets that they wearing masks, or the spores would go through the mask - which is BS. The NPC especially used those "WW2"-Mask Types, that has two filters - fungus spores are way to big to get through them, but ok.
And later they just took the mask off again .. like why bother then.

So yeah, there is a shitton of repeating information, probably to fill the pages. The plottwist at the end was a bit lackluster, even tho the monster description wasn't that bad, but still ... and the fmc was just stupid. Especially bcs she is supposed to be a bigass demonoligst worldwide known, blablabla. And then she thinks "Oh we're three, the monster is one, we get that." ???? She should know that they COULDNT get that, because she knows the monster...

Not a bad idea, but bad realization.

[efrit · Rating 4 out of 5]

so at first it was kinda like sci-fi horror but it turned out kinda old folklore mixed. I really liked the details about all the spores and mushrooms, and All the side effects people are having, it had me picturing all in my head so clearly that I'm amazed.

I won this ebook on a Goodreads giveaway.

[Schy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eww! So gross & fun 🥲

[Josh Buyarski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick fun(gi) retelling of Baba Yaga in Baton Rouge

It had a very X-Files feel to it!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I am definitely now a E. V. Dean fan, I really love her writing and story telling it draws me in and holds me there until I finish the story.

This is a Baba Yaga retelling and it was weird and creepy and done so well! When I can easily visualize what the author is writing, the setting, the descriptions of scenes, the emotions the characters go through, and feel like I’m there in the story then you know it’s written well.

It made my skin crawl reading about the fungus and the heavy air and mushrooms being in and around everything including the food the town was eating it was almost tangible reading it, I loved it.

I also love that the MC in this story, Dr. Beatrix, is also a minor character in other stories and there’s little interconnected pieces that you get from those stories that fits into her background and overall story very well, love when an author does that.

Highly recommend any of this authors work!

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little sporror with a twist I didn't expect.

I went into this book blind, aside from assumptions I made based off the cover. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the origin of the mushrooms, but after sitting on it for a couple days I decided it was a really fun direction to take the story.

As other reviews have mentioned the beginning of this novelette is very repetitive and could have used some editing, and there are some silly decisions made by characters, but if every character did the smart, logical thing in horror we would nearly never have an interesting story, so I'm okay with it.
I did find the main character's background with religious/demonology to be bizarre and felt like it would've made more sense if she had be a specialist in folklore, but over all a fun read with some really vivid mushroomy descriptions. I look forward to reading more by this author.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ambiance and imagery in this one is so good! The swampy, stagnate heat; the excessive humidity that permeates everything... seemingly drowning you ever-so-slowly whilst you take in yet another forced breath; the mold and fungi literally everywhere . As someone born and raised in the South and who has lived along the Gulf Coast for several years, this read was so easy to identify with; I loved every claustrophobic minute of it! 🍄🥵

😒 Complaint - oh, the overdone Southern trope! For some reason, writers want to make everyone from the South sound backwoods, "...𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒔... 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆." (Jeremiah, university student studying engineering 😑)

[Sydney Woolsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

I did not know what to expect when I started this story, but I am SO glad I read this.

I gasped. I teared up. The last few lines were perfection on a page. Ugh! SO GOOD!

I need everyone in my immediate circle to read this because I want to talk about it. I could have taken 300 more pages of this. Can this be a prequel? I'm ready for Bea to just go solve some demonic crimes around the world.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never realized how much mushrooms could work well in a horror setting! Especially when paired with Slavic folklore. I really appreciate how much thought E.V. Dean put into the world-building, or specifically, all of the bits of cause and effect that led to the town of Baton Rogue ending up the way it did.

The story is well-written, with descriptions that provoked the feeling of claustrophobia and sickness. A story that kept me reading on for more.

[Hooterbby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed the imagery of this, a yellow fungus covering every inch of Baton Rouge's swamps. I went in blind to this and I was so excited to reach the cause. I always enjoy an ending that isn't quite the end, or a hint at it anyway. If any of the other stories are like this I know I'm going to have a great time reading them. It's a really fun folklore short story!

[Emmalee Clift · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just didn’t do it for me. I’ve read another short story by the same author that I enjoyed much more than this one. It all felt so rushed, even for a short story. Nothing is really memorable about it besides mushrooms. I wanted to like it but I couldn’t get into it. I had to push myself to finish it.

[Dawn O Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for those Easily Frightened

The author has the uncanny ability to draw the reader into the story, making the reader part of the cast of characters. I'm still shaking! Well done!

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this one on my lunch break and I really enjoyed it! A great little short story filled with Southern Gothic charm and folklore.

[A Crimson Petal 🥀 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark fairytale with Southern Gothic charm, some horror elements and imagery that is hauntingly beautiful.

Eco Horror/Sporror is one of my favorite genres and this short story did not disappoint.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Southern gothic sporror
I enjoyed this spore filled fever dream, and if you read it and like it but want something a little more gruesome, watch Shrooms 🍄

[jennifer cecil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out a little slow but picked up halfway through.

[Grace Vignuolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this short story was the perfect length and I was completely hooked from start to finish. I also felt like the story contained creepy/gross elements without being too gross. Definitely for all horror fans!

[Prue S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been waiting for this one to come out and stoked it's here. This was all it promised to be and more. A haunting, suffocating, dark fairy tale that takes place in Baton Rouge. It's a quick read and it goes by even quicker. Probably around 100 pages. I loved the twist at the end - I definitely was not expecting it - but it reminded me of some of Grimm's dark fairy tales. Enjoyed this one very much so.

[E.V. Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're reading this, you're probably thinking of checking out SPORES or you just read it. Thank you! I appreciate every single read of this whacky novella which was so much fun to write. If you enjoyed Beatrix as a character, do let me know by dropping a note. There will be much more Beatrix to come in the next few years of releases. Typically I release every 1-2 months so if you enjoyed this keep an eye out. Thank you!