Listen free for 30 days
-
The Fungus
- Narrated by: Ian Pringle
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Horror
People who bought this also bought...
-
Slimer
- By: Harry Adam Knight, John Brosnan, Leroy Kettle
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a yacht being used to smuggle drugs sinks, the six smugglers must seek refuge the only place they can - an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the sea. But there's something strange about this oil rig. For one thing, it looks more like a scientific research facility. And for another, there are no people - only piles of clothes with no bodies in them. It soon becomes clear that something is loose on the rig. Something deadly. It's stalking them, one by one, but it's not just a horrible death they have to fear - it's what comes after.
-
-
Great story, awful narration
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-20
-
Ghost Train
- By: Stephen Laws
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Something deadly is stalking the corridors of the King's Cross train, preying on the passengers. It once attacked commuter Mark Davies and threw him from the train. Ex-policeman Les Chadderton is obsessed with the murders and suicides on the Easst Coast mainline. His own wife has been among the victims. Together, Davies and Chadderton must board the Ghost Train and face their own fears made real, travelling on a one-way ticket on the Nightmare Express....
-
-
A mish mash of events
- By Kindle Customer on 16-12-19
-
Worms
- By: James R. Montague
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Norfolk coast made for a perfect holiday - as long as the sun still shone. But when the rain came, the creatures left the shadows. Spectres from the past tortured James Hildebrand's mind. His blackest nightmares were crowded with malevolent, coiling images of decay. Then, suddenly, he knew the threat was real. The dead alone could not quench their hunger. And, for the living, the horrors that fed and multiplied in the darkness of the night became more terrible with the dawn.
-
-
Not What You Might Expect
- By MR J LAMBERT on 11-09-20
-
The Amulet
- By: Michael McDowell
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a rifle range accident leaves Dean Howell disfigured and in a vegetative state, his wife Sarah finds her dreary life in Pine Cone, Alabama made even worse. After long and tedious days on the assembly line, she returns home to care for her corpse-like husband while enduring her loathsome and hateful mother-in-law, Jo. Jo blames the entire town for her son's mishap, and when she gives a strange piece of jewelry to the man she believes most responsible, a series of gruesome deaths is set in motion.
-
-
Great
- By Amazon Customer on 02-10-19
-
The Bog
- By: Michael Talbot
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hovern Bog. People live in terror of it - especially the residents of Fenchurch St. Jude, the little village located at its edge. They think of it as a living being. When 2,000-year-old bodies are recovered from the bog, perfectly preserved, it is the discovery of a lifetime for archaeologist David Macauley. But close examination of the corpses reveals a curious fact: all were cruelly, mysteriously murdered, gnawed to death by some unimaginable creature.
-
-
Very good story
- By Rhona on 03-06-20
-
The Well
- By: Jack Cady
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years earlier, John Tracker fled the insanity of his family and their house, a centuries-old monstrosity that his grandfather Theophilus rigged full of hallucinatory tricks and vicious death traps designed to capture the Devil. Now middle-aged, John receives word that the place is to be demolished to make way for a freeway, and he decides to revisit it with his girlfriend Amy Griffith before its destruction. But when a blizzard traps them inside the house, they will be forced to contend with the dangers hidden within: strange time-shifts, murderous traps, and more.
-
-
Hill House, Hell House, Well... House?
- By Prester Jim on 26-04-20
-
Slimer
- By: Harry Adam Knight, John Brosnan, Leroy Kettle
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a yacht being used to smuggle drugs sinks, the six smugglers must seek refuge the only place they can - an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the sea. But there's something strange about this oil rig. For one thing, it looks more like a scientific research facility. And for another, there are no people - only piles of clothes with no bodies in them. It soon becomes clear that something is loose on the rig. Something deadly. It's stalking them, one by one, but it's not just a horrible death they have to fear - it's what comes after.
-
-
Great story, awful narration
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-20
-
Ghost Train
- By: Stephen Laws
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Something deadly is stalking the corridors of the King's Cross train, preying on the passengers. It once attacked commuter Mark Davies and threw him from the train. Ex-policeman Les Chadderton is obsessed with the murders and suicides on the Easst Coast mainline. His own wife has been among the victims. Together, Davies and Chadderton must board the Ghost Train and face their own fears made real, travelling on a one-way ticket on the Nightmare Express....
-
-
A mish mash of events
- By Kindle Customer on 16-12-19
-
Worms
- By: James R. Montague
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Norfolk coast made for a perfect holiday - as long as the sun still shone. But when the rain came, the creatures left the shadows. Spectres from the past tortured James Hildebrand's mind. His blackest nightmares were crowded with malevolent, coiling images of decay. Then, suddenly, he knew the threat was real. The dead alone could not quench their hunger. And, for the living, the horrors that fed and multiplied in the darkness of the night became more terrible with the dawn.
-
-
Not What You Might Expect
- By MR J LAMBERT on 11-09-20
-
The Amulet
- By: Michael McDowell
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a rifle range accident leaves Dean Howell disfigured and in a vegetative state, his wife Sarah finds her dreary life in Pine Cone, Alabama made even worse. After long and tedious days on the assembly line, she returns home to care for her corpse-like husband while enduring her loathsome and hateful mother-in-law, Jo. Jo blames the entire town for her son's mishap, and when she gives a strange piece of jewelry to the man she believes most responsible, a series of gruesome deaths is set in motion.
-
-
Great
- By Amazon Customer on 02-10-19
-
The Bog
- By: Michael Talbot
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hovern Bog. People live in terror of it - especially the residents of Fenchurch St. Jude, the little village located at its edge. They think of it as a living being. When 2,000-year-old bodies are recovered from the bog, perfectly preserved, it is the discovery of a lifetime for archaeologist David Macauley. But close examination of the corpses reveals a curious fact: all were cruelly, mysteriously murdered, gnawed to death by some unimaginable creature.
-
-
Very good story
- By Rhona on 03-06-20
-
The Well
- By: Jack Cady
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years earlier, John Tracker fled the insanity of his family and their house, a centuries-old monstrosity that his grandfather Theophilus rigged full of hallucinatory tricks and vicious death traps designed to capture the Devil. Now middle-aged, John receives word that the place is to be demolished to make way for a freeway, and he decides to revisit it with his girlfriend Amy Griffith before its destruction. But when a blizzard traps them inside the house, they will be forced to contend with the dangers hidden within: strange time-shifts, murderous traps, and more.
-
-
Hill House, Hell House, Well... House?
- By Prester Jim on 26-04-20
-
The Reaping
- Paperbacks from Hell, Book 3
- By: Bernard Taylor
- Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Tom Rigby is commissioned to paint a young woman’s portrait at Woolvercombe House, the offer is too lucrative to refuse. But from the moment of his arrival at the secluded country mansion, strange and inexplicable events begin to transpire. Soon, he is drawn into an impenetrable maze of horror, and by the time he discovers the role he is intended to play in a diabolical design, it will already be too late. For, the seeds of evil have been sown, and the time to reap their wicked harvest is nigh!
-
-
Vintage 80s Horror
- By Angela on 15-11-19
-
The Other Place and Other Stories of the Same Sort
- By: J. B. Priestley
- Narrated by: David Sweeney-Bear
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) was a versatile and prolific novelist and playwright, but in The Other Place (1953), he shows an unexpected talent, proving himself a master of the weird tale. In "The Grey Ones", Mr. Patson visits a psychiatrist after he becomes convinced that a race of demons masquerading as men are plotting the overthrow of the human race...but what if he's not insane? In "Guest of Honour", a banquet speech becomes a horrifying affair when the keynote speaker realizes his audience is made up of monstrous and menacing creatures.
-
-
Fascinating strange tales
- By Beth on 26-02-20
-
The Nest
- By: Gregory A. Douglas
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was just an ordinary garbage dump on peaceful Cape Cod. No one ever imagined that conditions were perfect for breeding, that it was a warm womb, fetid, moist, and with food so plentiful that everything creeping, crawling, and slithering could gorge to satiation. Then a change in poison control was made, resulting in an unforeseen mutation. Now the giant mutant cockroaches are ready to leave their nest - in search of human flesh!
-
-
The Nest
- By 1 on 07-10-19
-
The Moorstone Sickness
- By: Bernard Taylor
- Narrated by: Matthew Lyon
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of their infant son, Hal and Rowan Graham decide to leave the mad bustle of London and move to a quiet country refuge. And the rustic village of Moorstone seems perfect. Too perfect? Lying beneath a hill capped by an enormous stone, Moorstone hides mysterious secrets. Why does such a small town need such a large insane asylum? Why do the village's elderly residents leave everything they own to young newcomers they barely know? And why is everyone so friendly, so handsome, and so preoccupied with Hal and Rowan's health?
-
-
Lightweight and Forgettable '80s Horror
- By MR J LAMBERT on 22-12-20
-
Elizabeth
- A Novel of the Unnatural
- By: Ken Greenhall
- Narrated by: Becca Grabowski
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"If you were to go into your bedroom tonight - perhaps by candlelight - and sit quietly before the large mirror, you might see what I have seen." The image in the mirror of 14-year-old Elizabeth Cuttner is that of the fey and long-dead Frances, who introduces Elizabeth to her chilling world of the supernatural. Through Frances, Elizabeth learns what it is to wield power - power of a kind that is malevolent and seemingly invincible. Power that begins with the killing of her parents...
-
-
Entertaining
- By Rhona on 07-08-20
-
The Spirit
- By: Thomas Page
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has many names: Bigfoot...Yeti...Sasquatch. But whatever it is, it’s out there in the woods and leaving a trail of blood and severed heads behind it. For John Moon, a half-mad Indian, it is a spirit that holds the key to his inner self. He worships its power and he’ll kill to protect it. Desperate, exhausted, half-starved, Moon will follow it wherever it goes. For Raymond Jason, killing it has become an obsession. He was the only survivor of a hunting trip to the Rockies where the hunters became the monster’s prey.
-
-
Just The Spirit!
- By Mart on 11-11-19
-
Offbeat
- By: Richard Matheson
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot, R.C. Bray, Scott Brick, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aptly titled Offbeat, Richard Matheson, a modern master of strange fiction, offers 13 excursions into the unsettling and bizarre. In these stories you will encounter a major league pitcher with a horrific secret for his astonishing success; an ordinary man who wakes to find himself in a silent, empty world; a death row prisoner with an extraordinary explanation for his innocence; and a novelist whose fictional creations transcend the printed page.
-
When Darkness Loves Us
- Paperbacks from Hell
- By: Elizabeth Engstrom
- Narrated by: Karly Hutchins
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sally Ann and Martha. Two women, searching for love. Finding terror. During a terrifying storm, a gentle childhood is destroyed by a twisted man who promises love but delivers nightmare. In the lightless depths of an underground labyrinth, unseen creatures lie in wait for an innocent traveler, cold skeletal hands stretched out in welcome. There is horror in darkness - horror made greater when darkness loves us.
-
-
Good until the end.
- By emma lane on 13-07-20
-
Hell Hound
- By: Ken Greenhall
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"What are the possibilities of my strength? That is a thought I have never had before. What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly to feel a weight thrusting against the back of her legs? What if she were to lunge forward, grasping at the air, striking her thin skull against the edge of a stair? What would become of me if she were found unmoving at the bottom of the stairway?" Such are the thoughts of Baxter, a sociopathic bull terrier on the hunt for the perfect master.
-
-
Psychological horror
- By Thing on 19-05-20
-
Sweetheart, Sweetheart
- By: Bernard Taylor
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Warwick, an Englishman living in New York, has a sudden premonition that his twin brother, Colin, is in danger. He returns to England and learns the shocking truth: both Colin and his young bride Helen have died ghastly deaths - deaths that no one in the village wants to talk about.
-
-
Repetitive and boring
- By ziiigggg on 20-05-18
-
Night Things
- By: Michael Talbot
- Narrated by: Eric Bryan Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built by a madwoman during the Victorian era, Lake House is a 160-room mansion in the Adirondacks with stairways that lead nowhere, bizarre rooms designed to distort the senses, endless series of mazelike halls - and a century-long history of violent deaths. Lauren Montgomery, her son Garrett, and her new rock star husband Stephen Ransom have just arrived at Lake House, anticipating a long and relaxing summer. But what they don't know is that their rental home is actually a labyrinthine puzzle at whose center lurks something unspeakably evil....
-
-
Another great Talbot story!
- By Kenneth Skaldebø on 23-08-20
-
The Cormorant
- By: Stephen Gregory
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young family receives a welcome surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian's nephew and his wife, Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune, enabling them to leave their unfulfilling lives in the city for a newfound freedom in the remote seaside cottage. There's just one catch. Uncle Ian's will has a strange condition: The couple must care for his pet cormorant or forfeit the bequest.
-
-
Old Creepy Story
- By Missgotty on 19-01-21
Summary
When a brilliant scientist seeking to solve the problem of world hunger tries to create giant mushrooms through genetic manipulation, what could possibly go wrong?
The mutated spores escape the lab and spread across all of England. Toadstools grow to 20 feet tall, and a case of athlete's foot can mean a grisly and horrible death.
But those who die quickly are the lucky ones. Those who survive infection by the fungus will be transformed into something unthinkably monstrous...
With a perfect mix of nightmarish horror and black humor, Harry Adam Knight's cult classic The Fungus (1985) will grow on you.
Critic reviews
"A spectacularly gruesome nasty, written with inventiveness, grisly wit, and considerably more intelligence than almost any of its competitors." - (Ramsey Campbell"
"Loud, scary, silly, sick fun ... you will never again go near mushroom soup." (Kirkus Reviews)
"A first-rate and vivid thriller." (Publishers Weekly)
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about The Fungus
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- PUDDING STENCIL
- 20-05-20
more
more of this please audible. Can we get some more 80's horror please, Guy N Smith for starters.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 17-03-20
Fungus Gone Wild
Classic '80s horror. So glad this book got a audiobook release. The narrator did a great job.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Juril Moone
- 07-03-20
An absolute cult classic masterpiece
The story begins wildly and how the fungus starts to spread was told with great detail. How the fungus took over people with all possible disgusting ways was gross to imagine. I love this book and this author became my favourite. I now have to read all his other books :]
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kellen M
- 28-01-20
Trashy body horror but excellent narration
I enjoyed a lot of this book -- the pulpy setting, gleeful gore and over-the-top fungal horrors. There was a bit too much gratuitous rape and wafer-thin characterisation (especially for the women!) for me to fully enjoy it. It was a product of its time, I suppose - the glimpses of current affairs c.1985 grounded the action in he wider world quite well (apartheid, the Troubles Margaret Thatcher et al). The narrator did a brilliant job and really elevated the story.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- knittyboot
- 17-12-20
Good listen
Far better narrator than his other book which was ruined by the guy reading it. Enjoyed this story, i'm presuming it was written in the 1980's and as a consequence doesn't have much political correctnes in it. I found this quite refeshing but i imagine younger listeners would be annoyed by it. Holy crap i just added a trigger warning to something, i'm not as old and crusty as i thought!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 21-06-20
A Good Body Horror Romp
I had heard about The Fungus for some time before I discovered it on Audible, and I’m glad I got to experience it. The story wastes no time in establishing London being overtaken by the titular fungus, and the shifting points of view work in showcasing this and the main cast, who are a good range of character types and have fairly well handled arcs. The plot’s simple and doesn’t feel dragged out, making it all the easier to enjoy. I liked the dark humour, which I feel was particularly effective at the beginning, it stops the book from being totally grim. The ending is strong and doesn’t leave the reader or listener with a sense of dread that wastes their investment. Ian Pringle does a solid job of voicing the characters, such as the reluctant protagonist and author Barry Wilson and the violent booze-loving Sergeant Terence Slocock, both at odds with each other. This would probably have made a good 80s horror flick back, especially with all the body horror involved. I’d recommend it to fellow fans of body horror works, whether it’s literature of film.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MR J LAMBERT
- 14-06-20
Another Cult Gem From Valencourt Books
The Fungus is a really enjoyable scifi/horror story from the mid '80s. It's not quite as good as Slimer (also by Harry Adam Knight) but well worth a listen. Ian Pringle does a great job with the narration. It's well read and the characters are clearly defined. I love the work Valencourt Books is doing releasing underappreciated books for a new audience. Recommended.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deedra
- 29-05-20
The Fungus
This was good! Trying to end world hunger,a scidntist invents mushrooms,until it is found to be sentient and shows its own agenda. Ian Pringle was a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Prester Jim
- 08-04-20
The Day Of The Truffles
Mycological body-horror adventure set in Thatcher-era Britain. With an ichor-stained tongue poked firmly into an ulcerated cheek, this recently disinterred pulp novel from 1985 spans the gaps between the catastrophe fiction of John Wyndham, the sexually-explicit shocker staples of the '70s and '80s, and the post-Apocalyptic neo-zombie fare of '28 Days Later' and 'The Girl With All The Gifts' (the latter even shares the same climactic locale of a tumescently fungoid BT Tower). Credited to Harry Andrew Knight, this book was actually one of several co-written by the late John Brosnan and Leroy Kettle. Brosnan was a well-known film critic of the era and this background is evident in the lurid B-movie thrills and cinematic narrative structure to be found here. A more ambitious book might have made clever play on the implicit political satire, but instead this rattles along with the gimlet-eyed efficiency of a John Carpenter flick. Despite the schlocky grindhouse stylings, the book is entertainingly written, with the pseudo-science well-handled and plenty of vivid imagery throughout; just don't expect consistent characterisation or contemporary sensitivities to be spared. All said, what really elevates this is Ian Pringle's top-notch narration. For those that care about such things, his intonation is similar to Julian Rhind-Tutt, which suits the novel perfectly; he even makes the frequent, gratuitous sex scenes far less cringeworthy than they deserve. Excellent work that man! Oh, and fantastic cover art.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gary lawson
- 21-01-20
Grossly good
What fun, gross fury horror. I have never been keen on mold and now its boarding ob a phobia lol. I would definitely recommend this book
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Bill
- 10-05-20
Nicely done with an old school feel.
The world is it deep doo-doo. A perfect environment for mushrooms. Ok. I tried to make something happen there and it didn't really pan out. The fungi actually came first. Then the world turned to doo-doo. This one started pretty fast and wasted zero time putting our protagonists (and the entire world) in great peril. Basically it's the story of two mycologists. One trying to feed the world (FAIL) and one former turned mid-list spy novel writer that may be the only hope to save the world. Oh yeah and they used to be married. This could get interesting. Nicely done with an old school feel.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Janet
- 15-01-20
The Fungus Among Us
I was surprised by how good this book was. The narrator did a great job as well
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Liv
- 30-11-20
Fun, old horror with frustrating characters
As someone who gags at the sight of fungus and mold, I will admit this book made me uncomfortable and that’s not something many horror books have managed to do. But the main characters take this book downhill pretty quickly. You’ve got 3 stereotypes; the intelligent writer, the smoking hot scientist, the trigger happy army boy. So far, so clique. Except all of them suck. The writer is whiny and gets a thing up his rear about the doctor after barely knowing her, all he does is complain, and frankly the fungus infected people are more likable than he is. The doctor comes off as a strong independent woman to the point that it feels like a joke. “I can shoot, fight, fix cars, oh but I love being mistreated and having needless sex on a dangerous mission”. The army man is introduced and you think “maybe his redemption will come soon and he’ll be a badass this story needs”. Instead he’s just a plain ol’ ass and plays dick measuring contests with the writer. Honestly this book doesn’t do anything new but it does do plenty wrong.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Deedra
- 26-10-20
The Fungus
This was good! Trying to end world hunger,a scidntist invents mushrooms,until it is found to be sentient and shows its own agenda. Ian Pringle was a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Natsu
- 12-09-20
okay
feels like a very abrupt ending. as through the author gave up trying to think of s good ending.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Scott
- 28-06-20
The perfect summer listen
A perfect example of 1980's paperback horror. A lot of action, a little sex and whole lot of disguting apocalyptic monsters. Fast, fun and suspenseful, a perfect way to spend a few summer afternoons listening in my studio.