Strange & Fantastic #26
The conclusion of Mushrooms for Mirabelle, plus a few quick updates
Hey there! I hope everyone is doing well. Been a busy month here at House Shirey, both in terms of family life and writing life.
On the family side of things, my wife, Sarah, and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last weekend, so that’s awesome. Can’t believe how quickly time has flown. As cliche as it sounds, it really does feel like it was only just yesterday we were getting married. Now we’re 10 years in, with two incredible little girls. It’s true what they say: Blink, and you’ll miss it. We’re trying our best to not blink so much these days. Unfortunately, all of our anniversary plans fell through because our oldest daughter caught a stomach bug from school, and Sarah caught it as well. *Whomp whomp* Oh well, that’s life! We still made the best of the weekend and enjoyed our time together the best we could considering the circumstances.
New Book in 2026!
On the writing side, I’ve got some exciting news: Madness Heart Press, the publisher behind City of Spores, will be publishing my bizarro coming-of-age novella, Pallbearers, in 2026! I’m so excited to be working with MHP again, and I’m so happy that Pallbearers has found such a great home. It’s a weird little book, maybe even weirder than City of Spores, and I was starting to think it wouldn’t find a home anywhere, but here we are, and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait to share it with you all!
Unofficial 2025 “Book Tour”
I also spent a good chunk of this month setting up a small “book tour” of sorts for Summer and into Fall. Starting at the end of June, I’ll have a book signing event every month through October, although the events for September and October are still being finalized. So, for now, here’s my upcoming event schedule for 2025—I hope I’ll get to see some of you out there!
Saturday, June 28: 2nd & Charles, Hagerstown, MD, 2pm - 4pm
Sunday, July 20: Commonwealth Brewing Co., Fairfax, VA, 11am - 4pm
Saturday, August 9: Blend Coffee Bar, Ashburn, VA, 3pm - 7pm
September: TBD
October: TBD
City of Spores Audiobook
Just a friendly reminder that City of Spores is now available as an audiobook narrated by the incredible Kerie Darner! It’s up on both Audible and iBooks. Thanks to everyone who has already grabbed a copy. If you still haven’t grabbed one, you can get it here.
What I’m Watching: Andor (Disney+); Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney+); The Last of Us (HBO Max); Prey (Disney+); Mickey17 (HBO Max); Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (theater); Twin Peaks: The Return (Blu-ray).
What I’m Reading: Morning Star: Book 3 of the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown; Absolute Superman (DC Comics); Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC Comics); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Comics); Ultimate Wolverine (Marvel Comics); Invincible Presents Battle Beast (Image Comics).
What I’m Listening To: Vaxis III: The Father of Make Believe by Coheed & Cambria. And all the other Coheed & Cambria albums.
Monthly Serial: Mushrooms for Mirabelle
[Read Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6]
(Part 7)
The house shook as Mirabelle shut the door behind us. The wood creaked and splintered loudly; the floorboards overhead groaned and shuddered as the thing that used to be our daddy flung itself again and again at the door we’d barricaded.
Outside, over the sounds of Daddy’s tantrum, angry shouts grew louder. Closer.
The floorboards moaned and the thing upstairs roared. I moved to the kitchen window and peeked my head through curtain and glass. Uh-oh…
“What?” Mirabelle asked, frantically searching for anything she could use as a weapon. She had a rusty knife, a pot, a broken floorboard with a nail stuck through it, a fireplace poker, and Daddy’s rifle: nothing which would give her much help for long holding off the mushroom monster upstairs or the angry townsfolk flooding down the road.
She joined me at the window. A ways off, a mob of people poured down our old, abandoned street with torchlight tongues dancing above their heads.
We gotta go, I said.
“But Daddy—”
That, I said, pointing at the ceiling, ain’t Daddy. Not no more.
“We can’t—”
We can’t stay here! They will kill you, Belle. Or that thing upstairs will. We have to go now!
“I hate this goddamned place,” Mirabelle sobbed. “This town, this house, Granny; all of it.”
Me too.
The front door splintered in a cyclone of broken wood and Daddy roared into the house, and I realized in horror that we’d forgotten to board up the window Henry had broken through.
No! I cried, swinging at Daddy, jumping on his back, slipping through every time. No!
Mirabelle screamed and bashed the rifle against Daddy again and again, careful not to break open the black bulb at the end of the stalk growing from his head. His tendrils reached out and coiled around her as the both of them rolled across the floor. She kicked and scratched at him and shoved him toward the fireplace. Daddy hit a corner beam and it snapped in twain, and the chimney collapsed on him as Mirabelle hurled herself away from it, toward the kitchen table.
We could hear the townsfolk on the road. They were almost at the house.
Sobbing, Mirabelle got to her feet, found the oil lamp and screwed the lantern off the bulb of oil. She splashed the oil over the kitchen and fireplace and the rest of the main level.
Daddy roared, heaving beneath the rubble of the chimney as he tried to push it off himself. The tendrils that weren’t severed or wounded whipped about like blind snakes, searching for Mirabelle.
She ran to the window on the other side of the room and used the butt of the rifle to knock out the glass. She grabbed the box of matches from the kitchen table.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she said.
Then Mirabelle struck a match and set her world on fire.
THE END.
Signing Off
Well, that’s it for May 2025, folks. I hope you enjoyed “Mushrooms for Mirabelle”!
As always, thanks so much for reading, and stay strange.
—Austin
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please subscribe—you’ll get a free eBook of my short story, “Magus,” available EXCLUSIVELY for subscribers!
I’d also love it if you considered checking out my weird fantasy noir novella, City of Spores, or my illustrated sci-fi thriller chapbook, Goodly Creatures.
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