Deep beneath the earth of a North Cumbrian wood lies the germinating mass of a fungus-like organism. How long it has occupied the fibrous soil of that place is uncertain, but Dr Jim Alburton estimates it is close to ten million years. Then again, this is not his sphere of expertise. He would normally consult Jane Milner, the county’s only resident fungus expert. But Jane is dead, along with her partner — victim of a rare, acute brain disease. Alburton found her on the floor of a laboratory, sticky orange fluid oozing from her ears. This was disturbing enough, however her partner’s face was mutilated beyond recognition, an apparent result of his girlfriend’s killing frenzy. Alburton comes to know of the fungus because of Jane’s notebook, which describes its discovery but gives little scientific detail or where it is located. He can’t help thinking the discovery is bound up with her sudden death and that of her partner. The police are moving too slow for Alburton’s liking and don’t accept there’s a connection between this incident and an increasing number of horrific deaths rapidly blooming in the area. A woman walking her dogs along a popular pathway is savagely attacked, a local student inexplicably kills the school nurse, a care-worker suffers a psychotic episode and attacks an elderly man in his home. The news bulletins deliver more reports by the hour. As the number of incidents mounts, Alburton becomes convinced the county is quickly becoming the epicentre of a fungal disease epidemic that could spread nationwide. He concludes the fungus must be acting on its host’s nervous system, causing them to become depraved killing machines. Yet few believe him as he has little evidence for his theory. Now he faces the responsibility of tracking down the source of the disease, persuading the authorities and somehow preventing a cascade of bloody murders. With the newly christened phenomenon known as Mycophoria accelerating in its impact, there are only days or perhaps hours to accomplish this before the disease goes pandemic.
Tom Adams is an imaginer drifting between lands of fantasy, horror and bizarro. When he strays back into the realm called reality he finds himself in Middleland; a geologically beautiful gamut of scenery in the north west of England. The forces that drive him shift their shapes with sharp needles of inspiration, but at present include the art of Zdzislaw Beksinski, the music and words of Ronnie James Dio and a frankenstein amalgam of word-scriptors such as Vonnegut, Tolkien, Clevenger, Leonard and Bradbury. He occupies niches in cyberspace at https://mosquitoinyourwhisky.wordpres... and https://www.facebook.com/tomghadams/
Let me assure you that the substance of what I write is demonstrably true. My interpretations may differ from others but I present them here and will let you judge for yourself. Please share and distribute on your social networks. The aim is to get this thing to go viral — then they’ll have to take notice, because make no mistake, Mycophoria is still out there, somewhere … waiting.
I figured I would finish 2020, the infamous year when a virus crippled the entire planet, with a novel about a fungus potentially causing another worldwide pandemic. This fungus makes its victims commit sudden uncontrollable acts of madness, violence and murder, preceded by a pasty orange gunk oozing from their ears. Victims include both humans and animals, such as normally loyal and loving pet dogs and husbands and wives.
While the book has the bewildering title Mycophoria, it should have been more conveniently called A Fungus Among Us. Then prospective buyers would at least have a clue what the book is about.
Scientist Jim Alburton is a specialist in ecological genetics. He discovers the bodies of two dead colleagues and one has pasty orange gunk oozing from her ears. A pathologist friend suggests to Alburton that the gunk’s origin may be a fungus. As more victims fall prey to this fungus, Alburton joins a team of experts to discover how to stop the outbreak from spreading and turning mentally healthy people into ticking psychotic time bombs ... only to uncover a sinister clandestine government program designed to control and weaponize the fungus instead of killing it.
The book is thus a hodgepodge Zombie novel, where docile people degenerate into, well, savage zombies; Apocalyptic tale, threatening the end of civilization; Medical thriller, as scientists race against time to determine the cause of and cure for the infection; and Political thriller, pitting brave individuals against an evil government plot.
Because the pathogen here is plant-based, there’s even a hint of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, though in that case the spores came from outer space, and instead of raving maniacs, the victims became emotionless robots, a 1950’s metaphor for the plague of Communism.
In fact, like Body Snatchers, Mycophoria rises to the level of decent Science fiction. In a clever Chapter 23, the author explains how the fungus had developed a type of intelligence, as it learned through a frightening self-awareness how to dominate the bodies of the hosts it infested.
In the end, though, after ambitiously trying to achieve so much, the author wound up with a diluted finished product. Even the obligatory gore was largely formulaic; the exception being one memorable scene where a wife literally dismembered her husband using her jaws.
To be fair, the book does have a catchphrase that “It will release your darkest desires,” but my only desire while I was reading was simply to finish and be done with it. Much like how we all felt about 2020.
A scientist studying forest animals is exposed to the spores of a huge puff ball. Within hours, she was leaking orange gunk from her ears, thinking very horney thoughts and then thinking very violent thoughts. Before too long brutalized bodies start piling up and the investigative scientists and police have to figure out how to put an end to it. I thought it was well written and I liked the story a lot. It got pretty gruesome at times, and I’d have to put it down and walk away for a while. That’s when I know I’ve found a new author (thank you for the recommendation, Billy). I can’t wait to read more by Mr. Adams.
A good pandemic novel and actually scifi with all of the science of the fungus included. I liked the characters and the story, but it did conclude a bit quickly for me. Well-written and worth following this author.
This book is about an epidemic, a horrible deadly epidemic. You could be reading about this in the news, which makes it even scarier. It is so good it could be an X-Files script. I loved it !
This was an awful book. It’s like the author didn’t know what story he wanted to tell and wanted to try out a bunch of different genres all in the same book.
I’m not even going to put spoiler tags because there’s literally no story to spoil, and I feel confident I’m doing you a favour by laying it all out on the line for you so you can avoid the same mistake of reading it that I made.
The gore and violence sections were sickening and in my opinion unnecessary to move the story forward - I skipped through anywhere they appeared. If this author wants to write books solely in that genre I actually think he has a great chance. It’s just not my thing personally.
The character of “Skinner” - I have no idea where the author was going with this. At first he seemed like a psychopath, even had a running commentary of his therapist in his head as he battled with his angry/psycho thoughts, but then did an abrupt 180 and all of a sudden was part of the “good guys” group and turned against his own police force to join a group led by a man he initially harassed and bullied. Made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
I was so tempted to not finish the book but was curious as to where this fungus came from - and after all that I didn’t even get to find out. There was an ambiguous and unsatisfying ending that made no sense and actually made me mad as I wasted my time reading until the end.
All in all, this book was terrible and you should skip it. I don’t like being so negative towards authors because I respect the trade and the hard work they put in, so I will say that this author does seem to have “something” that I think if refined could make for a way better book in the future.
Not only is it written by a lad from Brampton (the last outpost of sanity before the southward traveller hits the intellectual wasteland of darkest Ingerland), this book is ABOUT Brampton. The allusions are veiled as the benefits of Brexit, but still easily identifiable to anyone who has ever searched in vain for an unlocked public toilet along the A69 between Hayton and Greenhead.
Adams does pull a few punches in this description of drama on Front Street on a Saturday night - c'mon Tom there are WAY more penises bitten off than that - but his prose is lush, and you can almost smell the chips.
What Are We Reading?: Mycophoria, by Tom G.H. Adams
Rating: 5/5 Orange-Bleeding Ears
Give me the short version: Can a mysterious new outbreak be controlled, before it's too late?
You know, I was worried I'd never again capture the excitement of being a teen diving into a brand new James Herbert or Dean Koontz. With Mycophoria I've rediscovered everything I loved: fast dynamic pacing, a broad cast of enjoyable well thought out characters, body horror, and a generous sprinkle of science.
Mycophoria confidently broadens its ambition and scope as you go, starting small and opening up big so that it never loses its audience despite the speed at which events unfold. Particular shout-outs to Chapter 5: Huskies, and Chapter 13: Suffer the Little Children for making me grieve for the outbreak's impact on ordinary people. Some characters only appear in a single chapter, but during that time they draw breath so vividly that the tension is nerve-rending when the orange gunge starts flying.
I've had the pleasure of reading a few of Tom G.H. Adam's novels now and I must say his development of craft, having already started good, has been exponential. It makes me a little afraid to read what he has lined up for us next, in case he manages to go full Sutter Cane.
Favourite bit: "The realisation struck Olivia that she'd just pronounced the woman dead. How did she know? The same way she'd known her Dad was gone that late November. Not the lack of breath from the nostrils or the fact that his chest didn't rise or fall anymore. It was to do with the absence of something. Like the essence of the person had departed. She'd seen this in the way the woman's hand was splayed open, the phone laid in the centre of her palm."
I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. It was better than The Walking Dead.
This book starts off by showing you the discovery of the thing that causes the "zombie outbreak".
What this book does best is it shows how the zombie outbreak affects the lives of ordinary people. Every few chapters you read from the perspective of people who are about to be affected.
Every time I started a new chapter from the perspective of someone who wasn't the main character, I felt the anticipation and the creepiness. I knew something bad was going to happen and I felt powerless to stop it. I wanted to tell the characters to get out of there and find safety. You never knew if you were reading from the perspectives of the people who were about to turn, or the people who would die to zombies, and that was nerve-wracking. This is what kept me glued to this book and wanting to know what happened next.
The author also captures the mindsets of the different characters, be the zombie, victim, or heroes, very well.
The only minor thing I didn't really like was that although this was written in past tense like almost all books are, occasionally we would get glimpses of the future. For example: "The sound of Casson's grunting and maniacal laughter haunted dreams as long as ten years later." This ruins the tension if you know who's going to survive in a chapter.
Also, this book is not for kids. There's a lot of graphic content in it.
The concepts were well presented and the biology seemed plausible. The first chapter drew me in and got me interested in what was yet to come. The character development was pretty good, I enjoyed Alburton's reminiscences which made his character more sympathetic and likable. Character actions stayed in character or had an explanation.
The descriptions of the killings were gruesome. My favorite was the . My favorite section of the book was when Olivia .
The ending had a twist which added to the overall horror of the scenario.
I read a beta copy given to me for free (on my request) by the author in return for my thoughts. Some of the story elements may have changed so I apologize if future readers are scratching their heads thinking - huh, those things she referenced they never happened.
I love to read this type of book. The characters were well developed, the fungus amoungus evil and dangerous and the developing love affair added a greAt touch in an otherwise dire story. Loved it.
1.5 rounded up. "This is it... A less than illustrious scientific career ended by a shop assistant-cum-monster." Let me tell you, you don't get to read stuff like that every day. This book was boring, and the monster kept changing in ways that didn't make sense. The plot twist was very evident from the beginning, there were too many characters to actually get attached to them. The author did mention that this started out as a series of short installments, which was very apparent. The first chapter was pretty good, but maybe that was because it involved the only believable female character. The romance felt boring and forced, I wish that we saw more of Skinner towards the end; he wasn't even addressed in the epilogue! The ending would make more sense if this was the start of a series, but then the whole thing would be predictable because the author showed all his cards in this book, which could have stood to be 100 pages shorter and told over the course of more than a week.
Creepy and wonderful, filled with believable characters and a terrifying infection just a tad too believable. Well written, with almost no errors. Definitely recommend!
Mycophoria is an entertaining medical thriller with horrific overtones with a depth reminiscent of other popular writers in the genre such as Robin Cook and Michael Crichton. However, there are enough elements of horror to keep readers of the horror genre entertained as well.
I enjoy a good horror novel, especially those with an interesting premise. The idea of a foreign substance infecting people's brains and bringing out their violet tendencies was intriguing, but I feared the novel might be too graphic (think "slasher" bloody).
Well, my fears were correct. The author does seem to delight in graphically describing the violence being inflicted on the victims of the infected. I guess some graphic descriptions is to be expected, but there was a bit too much for my tastes. Still, I must say that I enjoyed the premise, but was disappointed with several aspects. I found it FAR too convenient that one of the scientists brought-in for the task force just happened to be working on an algae that would suppress the offending fungi. Really? What luck! I also found that the fungus being sentient and intentionally malicious was a bit too much.
So, while this was an enteratining read, I had some issues and problems with it, preventing me from giving it a higher rating.
This book was an excellent read but a bit scary. People in a small community begin hearing a voice in their heads, lose all their inhibitions, and delight in violence and murder. Even animals are affected and become deadly. The only outward symptom is an orange discharge from their ear canals caused by a fungal type parasite that had been growing below ground for ages. A group of scientists race to protect humanity and keep this out of the hands of the government who see it as a potential weapon. As they race to stop it, the fungus grows smart and works to stop them. An excellent book with interesting and relatable characters and a story that will make you wonder what might be out in the woods or fields.
great book. for sure unique. this book starts out with a scientist doing research into something else and she stumbles onto a weird mushroom. she takes samples to study and share with a fellow scientist. after gathering the mushroom she becomes ill. after finally getting home she feels slightly better but notices that she has orange drainage coming from her ears. after no time at all she attacks her husband and they both end up dead. this is just the beginning. soon there is a full blown outbreak and its up to a small group of scientists to figure out what is happening and how to stop it before death tolls go through the roof.
Slow, stiff, ultimately meh. I really wanted to like it, and about 50 pages in kept telling myself "give it time, let it develop". About halfway through I had mentally checked out, and finally just skimmed the last third. The core idea was intriguing, but the characters were unrelatable, the dialog was very stiff, the plot was largely redundant (a series of episodes where people go homicidal, but which at nothing to what we already know). While I've read books by authors with much less talent, Mr. Adams tends to over-write in many passages. Certainly not an awful book, but also not one I'd recommend to many people.
Mycophoria is the first book I have read by Tom G. H. Adams, and I am really impressed. In this book Adams introduced to each character in the book in a manner that made me imagine their looks, their demeanor and the situations in which they find themselves. From beginning to end, Adams spun a tale of continuity, emotion, suspense and horror; one that riveted me to the page.
In my opinion, a solid five stars. This was the first, but will definitely not be the last, book I read by Tom G. H. Adams. I have no hesitation in recommending Mycophoria to readers over eighteen.
A nice, quick read. I was looking for something creepy and this fit the bill. Being so short, it was tough to get to know the characters well, though I feel there was enough to enjoy the story. This wasn't the typical pandemic tale - I found the fungus aspect fascinating and original. The characters weren't annoying and there was plenty of gross detail for those who enjoy blood, gore and other such things. The disturbing cover was the main draw - so deliciously creepy.
I did not want to put it down. As you read the next page, an unexpected surprise would happen and catch you off guard. What a group of dedicated friends to want to save people who got in the way. It was slow moving at first but it kept you interested. Highly recommended for everyone to read.
Just what you need to read during a Pandemic. Currently 0.00$ on kindle. This one was a ferocious relentless paced read. I read the whole thing straight through. It just sucks you in and will not let go.
I enjoyed reading this story. It had interesting characters and the plot moved along nicely. I would recommend it to others looking for a escape type scientific thriller.