The Biomass Conflux is accessible hard science fiction concentrating on biology, following a colonization fleet which had run out of options. The final planet of their possible choices contained atmosphere, gravity, and life without any noticeable sentients. They landed.
As one would expect with an entirely new planet, some problems slow down the plans of building a new home. Mother Earth still throws surprises at us on the regular, a new planet will have everything from stupendous gifts to horrific horrors.
Side-note: The story has so much LGTBQ+, let’s just call it queer and be done with it.
Per the Amazon blurbs the genres include: Space Opera / Science Fiction / Colonization / Alien Contact / LGBT / Non Binary / Trans
The Biomass Conflux by William C. Tracy
- Of Mycelium and Men
- To a Fungus Unknown
- The Spores of Wrath
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for OF MYCELIUM AND MEN
Lida was their last chance for an uncolonized planet. But a world-spanning fungus had colonized it first.
Agetha and her husband have spent their whole lives in the fleet’s zero-G. Now all is turmoil as the fleet lands, discovering they are surrounded by a single fungal biomass spanning the entire planet. To build a new home, the fleet must confront a dangerous organism, and Agetha must decide if she can raise a family in this inhospitable landscape.
Jane Brighton holds tenuous command over the colony and its administrators. She and the other gene-modded leaders emerged from their four-hundred-year suspended animation to find a crew much different from the one that departed Old Earth. Jane must direct the colony’s fragile growth and defend it against being overrun by the fast-growing biomass.
But there is something none of the colonists know. The massive organism that spans the planet is not simply a fungal mass, nor even a chimerical combination of species that once roamed the planet. The biomass has desires and goals, and one is to know these strange beings carving out a home in its midst.
Download today to read of the colony’s fate in Of Mycelium and Men!
MY REVIEW for OF MYCELIUM AND MEN
Of Mycelium and Men goes hard … hard sci-fi that is. The author did a good bit of research on fungus and cell structure and reading this book will either make you want to eat mushroom pizza or avoid mushrooms the rest of your life. Horror overtones grace the story but don’t overwhelm it.
The story follows colony ships landing on the planet, and the two most realized characters are the colonization actions and the planet’s biosphere. The human characters are one-sided, but each one is different. Each human group of the colony are isolated and lack nuance, but the colonization actions and the biosphere reactions make excellent reading.
If you like science, horror, mushrooms, mycelium supporting forest roots, or stories about colonizing space, you will enjoy this brief novel (274 pages). It works as a stand-alone but also is the first book of the series.
Bought directly from author at 2024 ConCarolinas.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for TO A FUNGUS UNKNOWN
Forty years after landing on Lida, the colony still isn’t finished.
Agetha has survived many more battles than she anticipated when she first landed on her new home planet. She’s older and wiser, has gained family and lost loved ones. And yet her reward for four decades of service is to be pushed to the colony’s outer edges with the other aging Generationals.
But that was only the beginning of her adventure.
The biomass has spent years studying the intruders who landed on its surface, carving a new home from its very essence. Never satisfied in its attempt to communicate with this new and invasive species, finally it has found a way to express its intentions. The colonists may never be the same.
Discover the fate of the colony in the second book of The Biomass Conflux trilogy!
MY REVIEW for TO A FUNGUS UNKNOWN
Opening communication with other sentients will be a challenge we will face someday. To A Fungus Unknown explores different ways communications can be established – parent-child, spouse-spouse, mentor-student, leader-follower, administrative-director, fungus-host, images, words, symbols, touch. Override. Destructive. Constructive. Assistance. Threat.
This exploration of the theme is where the science fiction story really shines.
Second of The Biomass Conflux series, To A Fungus Unknown has all the weaknesses and strengths of the first book. Strong hard sci-fi of the biological variety with mild horror threaded throughout, but the characters – while wide-ranging and with a variety of motivations – come across as wooden. They are more important as functions within a colony than as individuals. No individual goes through a growth or character change arc; the story is about how humanity as a colony will grow and change according to the planet it inhabits.
We like to think that we will change the worlds, but the fact is the worlds on whose surface we will one day live will change us. Dark or light skin, temperature, snow or heat. Allergies, illness, pets, food. Those living on the surface of the planet reflect the planet. To A Fungus Unknown questions how much the image of reflected humanity can change while remaining recognizably human.
I liked the second book of the series more than the first. (Read through Kindle Unlimited.)
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE SPORES OF WRATH
The fate of Lida looms.
Agetha thought her fate was sealed, pushed to the edge of the colony to die. But with the revelation that the biomass is not only intelligent, but sentient, changes to colony are accelerating, threatening its very existence.
Those who were controlled by the biomass once again have free will. Now, the human colonists are raising their voices and for the first time really influencing their new home. The planet-wide consciousness is slipping into a crisis of identity, when it doesn’t even have a sense of self.
The wilds surrounding the colony are becoming increasingly unstable, and the colonists find themselves divided into those who have been touched by the biomass and those who are still wholly human. Can one small colony survive its inner conflicts as well as the titanic might of an entire planet?
Read the exciting conclusion to The Biomass Conflux trilogy!
MY REVIEW for THE SPORES OF WRATH
Each book of The Biomass Conflux series builds on the last, becoming richer and more layered, like a master chef delivering a three-course meal. The first course you might wonder how the chef is going to deliver a full and varied meal of Mushrooms, but from the first sauteed garlic-fungus appetizer, to the Portobello cap roasted to perfection covering half the plate, to the final mushroom-shaped meringue dessert melting in your mouth, amazement gives way to full enjoyment. Overall, the meal does lack a couple things to pursue its theme – but all is forgiven because of the execution.
The Spores of Wrath delivers the final course of this series. Like books one and two, it lacks the character-driven storyline commonly found in today’s literature – somehow each individual has their own agenda, sexuality, and skills, yet still comes across as slightly wooden and similar. (This is bothering me as a editor because the characters even have different vocabulary based on their interests! Why aren’t they more engaging?!? I’m not sure HOW to fix this, or even if it should be fixed.)
But the lack of character depth is offset by the wonderful planet biology, the exploration of personhood, and the development of the space colony. The science fiction aspect of this story rocks.
The Spores of Wrath is the final book of the series, and is NOT a stand-alone. Start with the first book and read all the way through. The final book delivers the series and does not disappoint. (Read through Kindle Unlimited.)
(By the Way: I have eaten a mushroom feast with multiple courses before. I recommend trying it out, just like this series. If the book or food fits your appetite, consume it!)
