The Fungus

A brilliant London scientist breaks a genetic code that will end world hunger, but something goes terribly wrong in the lab and a plague is released upon Great Britain. The lucky ones die quickly, gruesomely consumed by a ravenous fungus, but others survive and are transformed into something . . . different. London is cut off from the rest of the world by encircling warplanes bent on stopping the spread of the deadly mutation by any means possible. Only a last-ditch suicide mission, a descent into the microbial hell of ground zero, can save mankind from its own invention. With its breakneck pace and razor-sharp wit, THE FUNGUS is a horrific tour de force that also happens to be tremendously fun to read. A cult favorite since it was first published in the mid-eighties, this reissue includes a new introduction by the author and contains the hilarious HAK Letters as an addendum. Illustrated with electron microscope imagery. What the critics say: “THE FUNGUS is excellently bizarre. I loved it and you find it grows on you” —Brian Aldiss “Loud, scary, sick fun. You will never again go near mushroom soup” —Kirkus Review “A first-rate and vivid thriller” —Publishers Weekly “A spectacularly gruesome nasty, written with inventiveness, grisly wit, and considerably more intelligence than almost any of its competitors” —Ramsey Campbell “It grabs, it’s real and it keeps you reading. Taut, surprising, gripping” —Science Fiction Review