Epeolatry Book Review: The Midnight Muse by Jo Kaplan

The Midnight Muse by Jo Kaplan journeys into the world of music and the mystical realm of mushrooms. Kaplan entwined both subjects in surprising and unforgettable ways. I’m still thinking about this one long after I’ve read it.

Mushrooms and music converged at Woodstock. Back in the 60s and long after, mushrooms were symbols of expanded consciousness, freedom, love, and dissolving boundaries. They’ve now entered craft stores and home décor shops. The red and white speckled Amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as the lucky mushroom or Glückspilz in Germany, has made its way to the U.S. as a symbol of good luck and good health. 

The music of Woodstock washed over crowds and the shrooms opened minds. Together they created an era of wonder, a celebration of the unfiltered.

But now, modern horror writers have a new generation standing at the crossroads of curiosity, creativity, and caution. Kaplan’s The Midnight Muse projects melody and discordance, and submerged me deep into the dark haunted atmosphere. I heard the creeks and creepers, the cello and the bass, the banging and the sliding. The ooze. She casts a whole new light—a shadowy, shivering light—on the pairing. 

Within these pages, mushrooms don’t just open doors—they inhabit, embody, and possess. They stir haunted melodies and summon links within the body of music and the human body, intertwining them in disturbing and body-horrific ways. 

Rather than fearing a conversion, as the main characters do—other characters attempt to embrace it. They try to understand it and possess it, and make it bend to their will. But this living entity has a mind of its own. 

There is a distinguishing chapter referred to as “After”—meaning after the incident in the woods. In the After, the reader is in the present, and those chapters are told in present tense. Kaplan then gives each character his/her own POV, allowing the reader to get into the character’s head and into their individual thoughts regarding the mystery and the happenings; these chapters are in past tense. Kaplan also utilizes articles and excerpts, interviews, quest book excerpts, and redacted government documents to allow insight. No tedious info dumps from this author! And there is the “Before”—think of it as a collective muse that possesses. Toward the middle of the book, we have solid suspension of disbelief surrounding how and why: was this incident in the woods due to a ritual, the government, the magic of the haunted song, or sound waves. Magic versus science. 

The fungus is not just a mimic, it’s a sentient. The cilia lining the feet of those it possesses is so…ewwww! Characters responded realistically to their horror. The isolation was real. The dread was all encompassing. 

I’ve read all three of Kaplan’s novels. She’s a gifted storyteller and her books are worthy on your personal library shelves. Grab a copy of The Midnight Muse. I promise you’ll never see mushrooms in the same light again—pun intended (mushrooms like the dark, as does Kaplan’s fungi).

/5

Available from Amazon.