fiction books that feature fungus, mushrooms, or bacteria in sort sort of way! mainly horror leaning, because who isn’t scared of sentient mold?
created by the_rags
last updated December, 2025
Among us?!?! 👀 /j


it truly was a curse to be online at all in 2020 because literally i can’t say or hear among us without the “call meeting” music from that game playing in my head 😭
Among us was truly a moment 🖐️😔
Ohhh, this is a neat list!!
I was gonna make a pun, but I see that you use she/her pronouns, so it doesn't quite work. But it was gonna be a fungi/fun guy pun, so insert either laughter or groaning, as needed xD
Use it on me instead >:) /lh /nf (idk if it would even make sense cause it might've been related to the creation of the quest but if not I'd love to hear it lol)
Haha, it was "Since you created this list, you must be a fun guy!" Hehehe
Hehe, that's great. You could switch it to "fun gal" (like fungal) for @the_rags! :)
Added!
I love sporror (spore x horror)!!! I was gonna make my own list but I haven’t read enough sporror or know about enough to really curate a list myself, so I’m glad someone else did!!
omg i LOVE fungal horror i just read the craziest one called Moonflow, splatterpunk fungal weirdness
yes, fungal horror is one of my fav niche subgenres. and Moonflow just came out right? i didn’t realize it was a fungal horror…may need to investigate 👀
it's fungal in the psychoactive way, the MC is a mycologist who is trying to find a rare type of mushroom called The King's Breakfast to grow/sell, and in her search she gets sucked into a cult that worships the mushroom, super trippy and weird now that i'm thinking about it i wonder if it's not quite the same as the other books i just got excited


honestly my vision for this list is just “there’s a lot of fungus in here” so it may fit! also it sounds so amazing so i’m definitely putting it on my TBR
if it's not fungal at the very least it's heavily botanical, there's lots of creepy nature imagery, nature taking back from people. i'd say the fungal/botanical part is the backdrop to the culty weirdness so it might fit but not quite the same way!!


ooooo okay! maybe i’ll investigate a bit but i appreciate the recommendation either way! the cover is soooo pretty
i know i totally picked it for the cover LMAO but ended up really liking it! even if it doesn't fit your list hopefully you end up liking it!!
Root Rot by Saskia Nislow and The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan are both fungal horror, I enjoyed both of them.


both seem interesting, thanks for the recs!
Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio would also fit. 🫡 Mushroom horror is just such a nice niche genre with how fascinating actual fungi are.


it is! it’s interesting to me how the portrayal of fungi in novels almost always gives off a horror vibe, because even the books on here that aren’t technically horror definitely display the fungi in a scary/frightening way. i feel like it’s because they’re a very “other” category that is not plants or animals and we naturally feel fear towards things we can’t understand! (thanks for the rec btw, didn’t realize Graveyard Shift was a mushroom horror!)
Why is this the EXACT list I didn't know I was looking for??? Off to the TBR I go!