WHAT HAS LONG PINK FINGERS AND SMELLS LIKE ROTTING FLESH? It is a slime-covered fungus known for its pinkish red tenta...

Review of The Devil's Fingers

The Devil's Fingers by Hunter Shea cover

WHAT HAS LONG PINK FINGERS AND SMELLS LIKE ROTTING FLESH?
It is a slime-covered fungus known for its pinkish red tentacles and pungent odor. It is indigenous to Australia but has spread to North America. Its Latin name is Clathrus Archeri, also known as Octopus Stinkhorn. Most people call it The Devil’s Fingers . . .
 
I DON’T KNOW BUT IT’S GROWING ON YOUR NECK. 
Deep in the woods of Washington, botanist Autumn Winters stumbles onto a field of the luridly colored fungi. Two of her fellow campers make the mistake of touching it. Now it’s growing on them. Fleshy gelatinous pods. Sprouting from their skin. Feeding on their blood . . .
 
AND IT’S STILL GROWING.
Autumn watches in horror as her friends are transformed into monstrosities—grotesque, human-fungal hybrids as contagious and deadly as any virus. Autumn knows she must destroy these mutations before they return to civilization. But if there’s one thing that spreads faster than fear, 
it’s The Devil’s Fingers . . .


It's easy to see where Clathrus archer would be the influence for Hunter Shea's horror The Devil's Fingers. Native to New Zealand and Australia, the original land of Nope, the fungus looks like an alien hatching or the shrimp cocktail fingers a la Beetlejuice. I can't imagine what the first to happen upon it might have thought. Well...I guess we can considering they named it The Devil's Fingers. Watch it "hatch" here

Hunter Shea creates a new nightmare for us in the third installment of his One Size Eats All novellas. Continuing the classic us against nature battle cry sung by the previous novellas Jurassic Florida and Rattus New Yorkus, The Devil's Fingers makes for a worthy addition and adversary.

When a group of hikers stumbles onto the hatching grounds of mutated fungal Devil's Fingers, their struggle for survival begins. This is no symbiotic relationship. As each of the friends fall victim to the highly communicable fungus, their friendship is put to the test under the physical and mental duress.

If you are looking for grotesque, hopeless horror with a last man standing body count, The Devil's Fingers is for you. Shea pulls no punches with this graphic, gory good time. Cringeworthy, yet incredibly fun, this novella wastes no time getting under your skin.  


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4 Paws Up!

4 paws up
DIVIDER

About the Author

Hunter Shea

Hunter Shea is the author of over 20 books, with a specialization in cryptozoological horror that includes The Jersey Devil, The Dover Demon, Loch Ness Revenge and many others. His novel, The Montauk Monster, was named one of the best reads of the summer by Publishers Weekly. A trip to the International Cryptozoology Museum will find several of his cryptid books among the fascinating displays. Living in a true haunted house inspired his Jessica Backman: Death in the Afterlife series (Forest of Shadows, Sinister Entity and Island of the Forbidden). In 2011, he was selected to be a part of the launch of Samhain Publishing’s new horror line alongside legendary author Ramsey Campbell. When he’s not writing thrillers and horror, he also spins tall tales for middle grade readers on Amazon’s highly regarded Rapids reading app.
An avid podcaster, he can be seen and heard on Monster Men, one of the longest running video horror podcasts in the world, and Final Guys, focusing on weekly movie and book reviews. His nostalgic column about the magic of 80s horror, Video Visions, is featured monthly at Cemetery Dance Online. You can find his short stories in a number of anthologies, including Chopping Block Party, The Body Horror Book and Fearful Fathoms II.

A lifetime New Yorker, Hunter is supported by his loving wife and two beautiful daughters. When he’s not studying up on cryptozoology, he’s an avid explorer of the unknown, having spent a night alone on the Queen Mary, searching for the Warren’s famous White Lady of the Union Cemetery and other mysterious places. 
You can follow his travails at www.huntershea.com