The Midnight Muse - Kaplan Jo

When a metal bands lead singer vanishes in the woods, the mushrooms in the forest might know more than theyre letting on in this mycelium-metal horror novel from Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author Jo Kaplan.The dead collect in low places. Thats what Brynn Werner, lead singer of metal band Queen Carrion, wrote in her notebook before she vanished while staying at a cabin in Oregons Umpqua National Forest.A year later, on the anniversary of her disappearance, the rest of her bandmates visit the cabin to remember her and find a way to move on. But tensions arise over who should be their new singer and who is responsible for Brynns disappearancetensions that boil over as they realize not all is as it seems at Trail Creek Cabin.Strange entries in the guestbook write about visions of a pale form that moves through the trees, figures wearing gas masks lurk in the distance, and theres a strange fungus growing from the wall of a tunnel in the cabins basement. Then they hear Brynns voice echo impossibly through the forestand the pale form that emerges from the trees is her perfect likeness. Is it her ghostor something else?Brynn knew there was a secret in these woods. Its why she chased her muse here to finish her masterpiece. The Midnight Muse is an alluring and grotesque dissection of self and fungus. Kaplan delivers an ominous spiral of psychological torment as the members of Queen Carrion slip into a more natural skin.