Fantasy and Fellowship is a newsletter sharing weekly micro-fantasies, filled with deep and expansive lore, that deliver a 1,000-page “adventure high” in under 60 seconds—no novel-length commitment required. If you want to read, write, and learn more about the business of short-form fantasy fiction, this is for you.
(This story started as a micro-fantasy, but I just loved it so much that I couldn’t resist expanding it to a Fantasy Short. So consider it a freebie… on me!)
Mushroom Mania
By J. Louis
Lyle sprawled out on the forest floor, leaves and sticks tickling the back of his neck, and stared up into the canopy.
It was bright, as if a thousand colors had melded with the sunlight to wash over the world like a watercolor painting. Great trees expanded overhead, their limbs groaning with the breeze. Ancient ruins poked up from the forest floor like broken teeth, lichen and fungi crawling across their surfaces.
“What do you think is older,” Lyle asked, popping a glowing, red-capped mushroom in his mouth. “The trees or the ruins?”
Mr. Truffles shrugged. The troll, or gnome, or whatever he was, sat on a stump, whittling away at a piece of wood, his fingers like gnarled twigs with their bark-like skin. Lyle had discovered him while foraging. He was so tickled to find him; he had never heard of little people living in the forest! It was well enough that he found him—he desperately needed something, anything, to clear his head, to get those dreaded three words off his mind.
“Yeah, you’re right, Mr. Truffles.” Lyle bit off the mushroom’s stalk and tossed it in the growing pile between the two. The stalks resembled a pile of bleached bones that had sat out in the sun too long. “Definitely the ruins. Do you live here alone?”
Mr. Truffles shook his head. He pulled his necklace out of his tunic, a leather thong lined with eight little wooden figures, two of them taller than the rest. Lyle smiled; Shae wanted a big family too. The way the wind whistled overhead, he could almost hear her voice even now.
I’m with child.
“Mr. Truffles, what’s it like? Having a family?”
Mr. Truffles wiped wood shavings off his jacket and stood up, smiling. He placed his project on Lyle’s bloated stomach: a figurine of two human adults, one holding a bundled-up baby, and the other holding two big mushrooms in his hands.
Lyle smiled. His face felt funny, like he could stick a hot poker to it and he wouldn’t be phased at all. Lyle’s eyelids grew heavy, the world’s colors faded as if dissolving into shadow. “I’m beat. Might rest my eyes for a spell,” he said. “Thank you, Mr. Truffles.”
And with that, Lyle drifted off, lulled to sleep by the soft crunching of Mr. Truffles’ parting footfalls.
Lyle opened his eyes, blinded by the waning embers of daylight filtering down from the dense canopy. Everything felt washed out, as if all the forest’s colors had faded like old parchment. How long had he slept? His stomach roiled, and his mouth felt full of sawdust. He groaned, rolled onto his side, and retched.
Idiot! What would Shae think if she could see you now?
He wiped his mouth and peered around the hollow. Alone again. And no Mr. Truffles.
So it was a dream after all.
A dull pain throbbed in his stomach, and he realized he was lying on top of something: a familiar wooden figurine. Its miniature faces seemed to smile up at him.
He let his gaze linger on the bundle wrapped in the motherly figure’s arms, and he knew he would never be alone again.
Reflection questions
Let’s get the conversation going in the comments based on these questions (straight from The Microfiction Method):
Think about your expectations for this story. Did it turn out the way you expected, or a different way entirely?
Are these characters static, or are they changing as the story progresses?
How does this story use sensory details to paint a rich environment?
Be sure to keep your answers to these questions in mind as you continue with your own writing.
From the prompt vault
Next, it’s your turn!
Write a short story based on the word: mushroom
My prompts are always so bleak, so I was excited to try a fun one out this week… or should I say a fungi one?
I’ll see myself out.
Anyway…
Mushrooms are cool, and you can experiment with how to implement them in your story—especially in a genre like fantasy that doesn’t care too much about the realistic consequences of eating them. Do they cause wacky things to happen when eaten? Do they have other magical or herbal properties that create conflict or tension in your story?
If you use this prompt, be sure to restack this post so we can get more writers in on the fun. I love seeing what the fantasy community cooks up every week.
In case you missed it…
Like this story? Check out the last one here:
For more of an explanation on why I write short fiction, you can read this post:
And if you’re curious about the business of fiction writing, you can check out this latest (paid) post here:
That’s all for how. Stay tuned for more updates, stories, and more.
And above all else… keep it fantastic.
Cheers all, and happy writing.
— Josh
🚨 P.S. Did you know I wrote a book?🚨
The Microfiction Method is now available for your reading and writing pleasure! It’s full of resources to help you achieve your most productive writing year yet.
There’s so much packed into this book, including daily writing prompts, a habit tracker, reflective questions, short stories, essays… You name it, it’s probably here. If you pick it up, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I figured early on that the mushrooms or whatever he was eating was going to be trouble, but I thought Mr. Truffles was not real. This reminded me of a very old movie called the "Gnome Mobile".
A story with flips and turns.
I feared the gnome would do him harm, or at least was a mushroom induced hallucination.
Once awake and thinking clearly, Lyle has a wooden carving to take home to his partner.
But wait. He received the news, and then ran off to the forest for quite a while to come to grips with the news? There could be another phase of this story once he returns home…