From devices of comedy to alien antagonists to symbols of deep seated corruption, mushrooms and fungi make strangely appropriate side characters. They are used as set dressing, as indicators of other realms and as terrible weapons. Appropriately, they have woven tendrils so firmly through fiction that it's pretty much impossible to work out when they first entered storytelling cannon - potentially it was when storytelling pre-dated written language. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at these strange beings, examining how they have been used in a variety of genres and how you might want to use them in your own writing.

Under the microscope this week - The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson, What Moves the Dead - T Kingfisher, The Last of Us, The Girl with All the Gifts - M R Carey and many more.

Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic