Return to the mushroom metropolis of Neo Kinoko, immerse your self in a sinister world of gangsters, blackmail, and fungal delicacies, and put together for a Michelin-star tragedy in six programs.
The knives are out on this fast-paced, standalone Fungalverse novel. Set a number of months after the occasions of the award-winning Mushroom Blues, this facet story combines the culinary surprise of Jiro Goals of Sushi, the kitchen chaos of The Bear, and the explosive rigidity of Hong Kong crime thrillers.
Within the aftermath of the “Fuyu Bloodbath,” riots and whispers of revolution proceed to plague the Hōpponese capital of Neo Kinoko. Consequently, the iron grip of a international army occupation tightens day-to-day. Amidst this, Pocho Jiro, a once-renowned makizushi chef, has chosen to cook dinner for Duncan MacArthur—the Coprinian Army Governor in Hōppon—as his private chef… and indentured servant.
A run-in with harmful fungal gangsters units off a sequence of occasions that Pocho can not escape from. He’s left with two selections: Assassinate MacArthur, or watch his beloved sister die in entrance of his eyes. Will Pocho take up his knife and put together MacArthur’s ultimate meal?
Shit… writing a second ebook actually is exhausting
Simply earlier than I printed my debut novel, Mushroom Blues, I had all these grand, formidable publishing plans, and even a projection timeline that lined up launch home windows years upfront. I informed myself, “I’ll write and launch ebook two by X date, after which do ebook three by Y date, et cetera et cetera.” However, effectively… all of that fell aside sooner than a goddamn fungus grows after a rainstorm.
Seems, writing a second ebook can truly be as difficult as individuals say—it actually was for me. “The Sophomore Hunch,” “Sequelitis,” “Second E-book Blues” or no matter you wish to name it, it’s actual! The factor is, as a lot as I’d ready myself mentally (even speaking to quite a few printed authors on my podcast about this very idea), I wasn’t prepared for a way I’d truly really feel as soon as Mushroom Blues was printed, nor was I prepared for the weeks and months that adopted. I put a lot of my psychological and emotional power into that ebook that I didn’t go away room to benefit from the achievement of debuting, or the successes that adopted, or the truth that I had different tales that I needed to write down.
And that’s to not be detrimental and poo-poo my complete expertise—quite the opposite. For a self-published debut, Mushroom Blues has finished rather well: it has bought 1000’s of copies; it bought nominated for a bunch of awards and received lots of them; and it even landed 2nd place (out of 300 books) in Mark Lawrence’s tenth Self-Revealed Fantasy Weblog-Off (SPFBO) competitors. That’s quite a bit to dwell as much as for a mission that started off as an experiment and has developed into one thing far past my expectations. However that comes with quite a lot of baggage, too. I set the bar fairly fucking excessive for my first go at this, so the aftermath of my debut was riddled with begins and stops, concepts that burst into my mind, solely to fizzle away after just a few self-conscious pages. I discovered myself plagued with questions that did extra to interrupt me down than construct me up: Was Mushroom Blues a fluke? Would I have the ability to write a very good ebook once more? What the hell am I even doing? A second ebook turned one thing that felt increasingly distant, even unattainable.
All this to say, writing a second actually may be that onerous, as a result of it comes with the entire inside and exterior expectations of that first ebook. At the very least, that was the case for me. I didn’t simply produce my first novel via some divine act of inspiration, and I didn’t overlook how you can write, both. A Homicide Most Fungal is proof that I used to be in a position to write, end, edit and publish a second novel, but it surely took me not writing a direct sequel to get there. (Aspect story standalones, for the win!) Now, trying again, I notice I used to be too caught up within the perceived necessities of being a debut self-published creator, and I let my entrepreneurial pursuit override the truth that I’m a creator initially. In a form of self-destructive method, I took the enjoyable away from myself by prioritizing the enterprise facet of issues way over the act of writing the tales that will gas that enterprise in the long run. Talking of which…
Creativity is sacred (and advertising and marketing can solely take you thus far)
Honestly, my debut broke my inventive spirit. In hindsight, a significant motive why the sophomore hunch hit me as exhausting because it did is as a result of I didn’t cease advertising and marketing Mushroom Blues for a year-and-a-goddamn-half. I used to be so wrapped up in making that ebook successful that I created this tunnel imaginative and prescient state of affairs for myself, the place nothing felt as vital because the factor that already existed—this tangible ebook that had already been printed. “I can hustle and get that ebook into extra readers’ arms!” I repeated to myself time and again.
However there was a convergence level that snapped me out of my marketing-induced fugue state: all of my advertising and marketing efforts began to plateau, the ebook had developed its personal word-of-mouth snowball impact, and the inventive elements of my mind have been screaming at me to “WAKE THE FUCK UP AND WRITE!” I spotted I couldn’t market this ebook perpetually, and the very best advertising and marketing I may and ought to do was write and publish the following ebook. In spite of everything, I’d spent far too lengthy desecrating essentially the most sacred facet of being an creator: writing.
With that in thoughts, I went via a interval of significant self-reflection, pondering on how I may transfer ahead on this business in a method that was creatively sustainable for me. It took quite a lot of effort, however I started to seek out pleasure within the course of once more. Drafting A Homicide Most Fungal actually helped, as did my folktale novelette “The Stem-Cutter’s Daughter” (featured in The E-book of Spores anthology). One other factor that aided my inventive rejuvenation was collaborating on initiatives with pals, together with a graphic novel and an audio drama. I didn’t must make a sacrifice on the altar of some inventive deity, however I did discover my method once more, little by little. And the newfound respect I’ve for my course of is invaluable, such that advertising and marketing can occupy the sidecar of my inventive bike versus using the bike itself.
Meals makes for wonderful worldbuilding gas
I really like me some meals. Cooking, too. However on the outset of writing A Homicide Most Fungal, I had quite a lot of trepidations about centering a whole story round meals. Not solely that, centering it round a chef who’s additionally a mushroom individual. But as I delved deeper into the position meals performs within the tradition of the fungal individuals of my secondary world, the extra doorways I opened into what it means for them to be them. In the end, each organic being requires a point of sustenance, and that sustenance can take many types. However as soon as a dwelling being reaches a stage the place they manipulate their meals past its pure state, oooooh, that’s when issues get enjoyable! In spite of everything, even mushroom individuals need to eat.
That’s as a result of meals is a elementary pillar of most any tradition (actual, fantasy or in any other case), and it might probably reveal a lot a couple of individuals as soon as it turns into delicacies. The meals itself represents a culinary chronicle, permitting readers a peek right into a tradition’s geography and the assets they’ve entry to, the construction of a society and its capacity to coalesce round techniques like agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and commerce, or how establishments of management (similar to governments) impose their authority on how meals is dealt with and distributed. There’s additionally language, storytelling and different types of communication and the way they revolve round consuming practices, or the truth that recipes handed down from era to era are primarily an adaptive, edible historical past. Add to that celebrations, festivals and spiritual practices that incorporate eatables and banquets and the like.
Meals is a literal feast of worldbuilding alternatives. You possibly can current these particulars to readers in a refined, piecemeal method, via the context of a personality and a setting, such that they eat up this info with out feeling slowed down or pulled out of the story. I utilized this method quite a bit in A Homicide Most Fungal, providing readers easy, throwaway particulars that might add to their immersion and have interaction their imaginations within the potentialities of this world: “If Adrian describes the principle character getting ready a meal of fungalfin tuna, what does that imply about different animals on this world? Are they additionally merged with mushrooms?!” That layering—each by the creator and the reader—makes a world really feel a lot extra plausible.
So, with that in thoughts, I’ll by no means take the worldbuilding potential of meals as a right once more—hopefully you received’t both.
Kitchens are an ideal setting for high-stakes drama
One other factor I used to be hesitant about with A Homicide Most Fungal was the narrative potential of a restaurant setting. It’s a reasonably confined setting with out quite a lot of area to work with, so would there be sufficient rigidity and drama, or alternatives for character and relationship improvement? However as soon as I began writing the story, my worries have been shortly swept away like a crumbs on a kitchen ground. Why? As a result of I found that kitchens are literally an splendid breeding floor for storytelling potentialities!
I take a look at it this manner: kitchens are the modern-day equal of a pirate ship. You throw a bunch of random individuals collectively, every of whom has a singular background, temperament, skillset, et cetera, and also you push them to provide prime quality merchandise in a high-stress setting (plus, that setting is full of issues that may burn and stab you). It’s a story goldmine! Add to that the interpersonal developments, the place intense camaraderie is shaped in an virtually trauma-bonded form of method. Or much more sophisticated if sexual tensions or in-fighting evolve between workers.
So, throughout the drafting of A Homicide Most Fungal, I assumed deeply about this specific form of setting and what it may present and attain. I additionally spent a very good period of time going again and watching motion pictures, reveals and documentaries that I’d seen prior to now, form of as a refresher on how kitchen drama may be finished effectively. There’s the comedic method of Pixar’s animated masterpiece Ratatouille (chef’s kiss, such a very good movie!), or the foul-mouthed, fiery method of Gordon Ramsay cooking reveals like Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. However there’s additionally quite a bit to attract from a documentary like Jiro Goals of Sushi, the place the strain stems from an obsessive grasp chef with excessive expectations doling out refined criticisms to his sons and his cooks, in a method that displays his need for perfection. After which there’s a present like The Bear, which delivers these anxiety-inducing household struggles and arguments, or coworkers who’re at odds, or a enterprise that’s falling aside—it’s a shit present, however in the easiest way attainable as a result of you may’t look away. That is trainwreck-style drama, and the restaurant setting is so effectively suited to it.
Suffice to say, my early doubts have been absurd, as a result of eating places are an ideal state of affairs for high-stakes drama. In spite of everything, a kitchen is sure to get messy in some unspecified time in the future, and that mess makes for excellent tales.
I’m obsessive about fungal physique horror
There’s one thing weirdly charming about physique horror. It’s visceral and unsettling, particularly seeing one thing as acquainted because the human physique being deformed and altered in methods each refined and overt. However in relation to fungi particularly, I really like how these organisms can infect the physique, making modifications from the within out, till instantly it turns into this grotesque eruption of mildew and mushrooms manipulating flesh and bone.
Trying again, there are two properties that basically instilled this fascination in me. One is The Final of Us video video games and TV present, which did an unbelievable job of displaying how spores and mycelia creep into hosts, then convert them into freakish fungal zombies with mushrooms blooming from their faces, or bloated our bodies that ripple with fruiting our bodies and spore-filled pustules. It’s so gross and terrifying, however I all the time discovered myself wanting extra—even after I was scared shitless. The opposite property is Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Attain Trilogy (Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance). These books took a special method to The Final of Us, as a substitute delving extra deeply into the psychological and philosophical facets of being contaminated and having your thoughts taken over by an alien entity. Each are creepy as hell of their respective methods, however the end result was that I turned a large fan of how fungi can change a number, each in thoughts and physique.
Now that I write my very own fungalpunk fiction, it was inevitable that physique horror would play an element in it. And whereas I dabbled with fungal horror a good bit in Mushroom Blues, it’s nothing in comparison with A Homicide Most Fungal. This obsession I’ve took a disturbing flip within the newest ebook merely due to the story’s concentrate on meals. Whereas planning out the climax, I assumed to myself, How may meals and fungi come collectively to create a very fucked up physique horror extravaganza? Effectively, you’ll simply need to learn A Homicide Most Fungal to seek out out.
Adrian M. Gibson is an award-winning Canadian SFF creator, podcaster, ebook designer, illustrator and tattoo artist. He’s the creator of the SFF Addicts podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow authors M. J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly. The three host in-depth interviews with an array of science fiction and fantasy authors, in addition to writing masterclasses. He’s additionally the Publishing Challenge Supervisor at Grimdark Journal, heading up their line of fantasy and science fiction novellas. He lives in Quito, Ecuador together with his household.
Adrian M. Gibson: Web site | Instagram | SFF Addicts Podcast | YouTube
A Homicide Most Fungal: Amazon | The Damaged Binding
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