"In January 2314, Rowena Savalas—a curator of the vast archive of the twenty-first century's primitive internet—stumbles upon a story posted in the summer of 2024. She's quickly drawn into the mystery of the text: Is it autobiography, fantasy, or fraud? What's the significance of the recurring number 381?
In the story, the protagonist Fairly walks the Horned Road—a quest undertaken by youngsters in her village when they come of age. She is followed by the 'breathing man,' a looming presence, dogging her heels every step of the way. Everything she was taught about her world is overturned.
Following Fairly's quest, Rowena comes to question her own choices, and a predictable life of curation becomes one of exploration, adventure, and love. As both women's stories draw to a close, she realizes it doesn't matter whether the story is true or not: as with the quest itself, it's the journey that matters."
"In a post-apocalyptic world where all the women have died a group of men and boys survive. The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong.
Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the woods. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? What about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods? And what of mushrooms like heads, on the graves of women?
Discover the Beauty.
This story is a dark slice of the New Weird, encompassing dystopian post-apocalyptic fiction, dark fairy tale and horror. Whiteley’s prose is poetic and elegiac, weaving the beautiful and macabre, etching razor- sharp observations on love, loss and what women, mothers, sisters, lovers, mean."
"Fungi are unlike any other living thing—they’re almost magically unique. Welcome to this astonishing world …
Fungi can appear anywhere, from desert dunes to frozen tundra. They can invade our bodies and live between our toes or our floorboards. They are unwelcome intruders or vastly expensive treats, and symbols of both death and eternal life. But despite their familiar presence, there’s still much to learn about the eruption, growth, and decay of their secret, interconnected world.
Aliya Whiteley has always been in love with fungi—from her childhood taking blurry photographs of strange fungal eruptions on Exmoor to a career as a writer inspired by their surreal and alien beauty. This love for fungi is a love for life, from single-cell spores to the largest living organism on the planet; a story stretching from Aliya’s lawn into orbit and back again via every continent.
From fields, feasts, and fairy rings to death caps, puffballs, and ambrosia beetles, this is an intoxicating journey into the life of an extraordinary organism, one that we have barely begun to understand."
