Dr Katarina Gregersdotter and Dr Berit Åström, Umeå University, Sweden invite original essays for an edited volume on fungal horror in popular culture. Palgrave Macmillan have expressed a provisional interest in publishing the volume.

Fungi are entangled in our lives, as food, as medicine or drugs, but also as parasites and agents of destruction, such as black mould, dry rot and cordyceps, the zombie fungus. This entanglement carries over into popular culture, where fungi are used to carry out different kinds of work, articulating deep seated fears and desires, functioning as a threat to, but perhaps also a saviour of, an embattled humanity at the brink of possible extinction.

This edited volume will be the first full-length scholarly study of fungal horror in popular culture such as literature, film, television, and computer games. We invite contributors to approach the topic broadly, both in terms of material analysed and in the themes explored.