The Infection is Coming…

Scared yet? Well, you shouldn’t be.

I’m sure some of you have seen the “my story is infected” posts going around socials the last little while, but I’m here to explain what all of that’s about today. The stories involved are infected, but I promise you this has nothing to do with a lab accident at my work…or elsewhere. But with tomorrow being Halloween, the infected thing seemed fitting.

It’s in reference to The Book of Spores.

Sometime in early 2024 (it was before my surgery and downtime that year, so the exact point in time is a little foggy), the authors of FanFiAddict got together and decided to make an anthology. There were quite a few themes presented, but collectively, “fungus” was the theme that won the vote. And so, the concept for The Book of Spores was born.

For those of you signed up to my monthly newsletter, you may have seen a reference at the end to “secret project #1” with mushroom emojis for several months now. It’s no longer a secret project: that was my only hint about this upcoming anthology that I could share. I’ve been excited about this from the start (even though I sometimes struggle with the short story format), because the FFA team is a great group of people and there are some very talented authors in the mix. And the theme is fungus, something I’ve always been fascinated by, and have also had the opportunity to work with first-hand during my microbiology career.

The stories range from science fiction to fantasy to horror, but each one is supposed to feature the Book of Spores in some way. I’m told there are some interludes tying some of the stories together, and there will also be (for those who back the Kickstarter campaign) some fun extras to go along with the book.

The authors contributing to the anthology are: Emma L. Adams, Eleni Argyro, Fraiser Armitage, Adam Bassett, Tom Bookbeard, A.J. Calvin, C.M. Caplan, Harry Chilcott, C.J. Daley, Tori Gross, Greta Kelly, Ryan Kirk, M.J. Kuhn, Kaden Love, Krystle Matar, D.B. Rook, and Will Swardstrom. The cover artwork is by Jeff Brown, and the interior formatting is by Adrian M. Gibson.

You can add The Book of Spores to your Goodreads TBR here:

The Kickstarter Campaign

The campaign is currently in the prelaunch phase, which means you can check out all the details (and the fun stuff you’ll get as a backer) now. The campaign will go live in mid-November.

There will be artwork inside the book, as well as some pretty cool cover art by Jeff Brown (I don’t know who is working on the interior art at this time, as those details haven’t been shared with the wider team yet.) It will be a very pretty book, despite its infectious tone.

Important Note: I believe there will only be a limited print run—so if you want a physical copy, you’ll need to check out the Kickstarter page. (It might be the only way you’ll get one, though I’m not 100% sure at this time.) Ebooks should be available on the usual retailers later.

Check out The Book of Spores on Kickstarter here.

Also: Happy Halloween!