Exploring the fascinating world of fungi

Aliya, aged 48, said: “I’m usually a fiction writer, and I’ve been writing science fiction and horror stories for years. Often I write about weird organisms that humanity must learn to get along with, and I’ve found a lot of inspiration in the natural world. Fungi are some of the strangest organisms of all. I’d been reading about fungi and seeking them out on walks for a long time so when a publisher asked me if I’d be interested in writing a non-fiction book about them, I jumped at the opportunity. They are a fascinating form of life and can be found absolutely everywhere, surviving and thriving in the most surprising ways. There’s so much to learn about them, and it was wonderful to get the chance to share some incredible facts about them.

“I wrote the book during the first Covid lockdown, and I was so grateful that I’d ordered a huge stack of books from Chichester library on the subject that I then got to hang on to for months before I could return them! That lockdown was filled with fungi, for me. I researched and wrote every day, dividing up the book into three main areas of fungal life: Eruption, Growth and Decay. I wanted it to be the kind of book you could dip into, really enjoy for a few moments, and then have a new way of looking at the world around you in your head for the rest of the day.

“This is a stand-alone book and probably will be my only non-fiction book! I really enjoyed the experience of writing it and I’m proud of it, but my heart belongs to fiction writing.

“I’ve been writing for over 25 years and have written mainly horror, science fiction and fantasy. I’m currently shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke award for my latest science fiction novel Skyward Inn. I’ve also had a collection of short stories published recently called From the Neck Up. I joined a creative writing group and was instantly certain it was what I wanted to do. That was about thirty years ago, and I’ve been writing ever since. I’m not sure why it’s been so important to me. I think maybe it’s given me a way to explore things that interest me, and that I never feel I quite understand. Fungi certainly fits into that category! They are a wonderful, mysterious form of life.”

Aliya writes across many genres and lengths. Her 2014 SF-horror novella The Beauty was shortlisted for the James Tiptree and Shirley Jackson awards. The following historical-SF novella, The Arrival of Missives, was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, and her very different novels The Loosening Skin and Skyward Inn were both shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award. She has written over one hundred published short stories that have appeared in Interzone, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Black Static, Strange Horizons, The Dark, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and The Guardian, as well as in anthologies such as Unsung Stories’ 2084.

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