Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adrian M. Gibson is an award-winning Canadian SFF author, podcaster, book designer, and tattoo artist. He is 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, as well as writing masterclasses. And, as of May 2026, he is the Publishing Project Manager for Grimdark Magazine, heading up their line of fantasy and sci-fi novellas. He lives in Quito, Ecuador with his family.

For the latest updates, follow Adrian on social media @adrianmgibson. You can also stream/watch new episodes of SFF Addicts every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.

Publisher: The Kinoko Book Co. (June 16, 2026) Page count: 291 pages Formats: ebook, pp, hc

A Murder Most Fungal is strange, but it lands on the right side of strange. It's basically a murder intrigue among sentient fungi, so, yeah.

The story follows Pocho, a celebrated chef forced to cook for the military governor who conquered his homeland. When murder disrupts his carefully controlled world, he's pulled into a conspiracy that stretches far beyond the kitchen. 

Pocho is proud, stubborn, compassionate, and exhausted by the compromises he's had to make just to survive. Better still, he thinks like a chef. His profession shapes everything from the way he solves problems to the way he judges people, and that makes him feel distinct from the usual fantasy protagonist.

The kitchen scenes are fantastic. They have the chaos, pressure, and rhythm of a real professional kitchen, and it's obvious the author knows this world firsthand. Those chapters have an authenticity that can't be faked, I think.

The worldbuilding is equally impressive. The fungal biology isn't just cosmetic, since it influences religion, communication, architecture, politics, and everyday life. That's the kind of detail that makes a setting feel alive instead of simply unusual. 

That said, Gibson really, really wants you to know everything about this world. There are terms, titles, foods, customs, gods, and enough fungal vocabulary to make me briefly wonder whether I'd accidentally enrolled in Mushroom Studies 101. For the first hundred pages, I wished the author to stop  introducing new words.

To be fair, there's a glossary at the beginning of the book. It's comprehensive, but the sheer volume of invented terminology can feel intimidating early on. Most readers will settle into it eventually, but the opening asks for more patience than it probably should.

That said, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. This is an ambitious novel that actually has something to say about colonialism, identity, survival, and cultural preservation, while still delivering an engaging mystery. More importantly, it never feels like it's copying someone else's fantasy world.