- Publisher : Connected Editions, Incorporated
- Publication date : January 15, 2026
- Language : English
- Print length : 410 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1561780960
- ISBN-13 : 978-1561780969
- Author : Sarah Clarke Stuart
Song Of The Unsung Mushroom by Sarah Clarke Stuart begins with a tale of teen-aged girl, Claire, and her younger brother, Gunther, after the loss of their parents. They now live with their grandmother (Gran) and her boyfriend. They spend their much of their days on the lake and river near their home in Florida paddling around in their canoe. They investigate various sites and encounter some folks who are friendlier than others. Eventually, they make the longer trip out to an island where they encounter strange sets of twins and others in a near fantastical realm. They make repeated trips to this island together, but when Claire travels there by herself shortly before a hurricane strikes, she comes home changed. Gunther feels she is not the same Claire.
This book blends genres with aspects of fantasy and science fiction, ecological thriller and even some horror. I have to admit that my favorite part of the book was before all these aspects blended into the story. I really loved the story of the young girl and her brother and their small adventures in their canoe. I almost wanted to just stay there and find out how their lives would go, but the book went a very different direction.
You have to accept some fairly bizarre science in the book, but given that, it is an interesting tale of a girl trying to escape from her life and finding that she misses what she wanted to escape from. I liked the idea of natural communications via fungal interconnectedness across ecological bounds. It’s also a fun story with its conspiracies, secret organizations, and family dramas with other flavors sprinkled in. I enjoyed the book a lot, but I still want to read that story of the Claire and Gunther who never found their way to the island as well.
Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets MANY of his books out of the library/Libby so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
Monster: A Novel by Matt Truxaw
