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MOONFLOW

Bitter Karella

They call it the King's Breakfast. They say one bite and you can understand the full scope of the universe.
They say one bite and you can commune with forgotten gods beyond human ken, gods best left undisturbed. And it only grows deep in the Pamogo forest, a vast uncharted expanse of tangled ferns and towering pines, where the trees crowd so tight that the forest floor is pitch black day and night.

Sarah makes her living growing mushrooms. But when a bad harvest leaves her in a desperate fix, the lure of the King's Breakfast will see her make that journey deep into those unmapped woods. Her only guide is Andy, the most annoying man in the world, but he's convinced there's no danger. But as they descend into the forest, they find that some malignant intelligence seems to twist the paths through the wilderness to confuse them, leading them deeper into a psychedelic dreamscape as they dissociate from reality.

Deep in the woods stands a derelict timber mill, home to a secret anarcho-feminist lesbian cult that uses the King's Breakfast to commune with an ancient goddess of the divine feminine. Hippie prophet Mother Moonflow leads the Sisters in drug-fuelled sex rituals in hopes of creating a new society in the image of the Green Lady, a world for true women, and she'll do anything to achieve it even if her goddess requires the occasional blood sacrifice. When Sarah and Andy arrive and challenge Mother Moonflow's careful control over the Sisters, all soon find that ancient gods care little for human feelings and less for human control.

Bitter Karella (he/she/they) is the writer and horror aficionado behind the twice Hugo-nominated microfiction comedy account @Midnight_pals, which asks what if all your favorite horror writers gathered around the campfire to tell scary stories. His work has appeared in Seize the Press, Tenebrous Press's Your Body in Not Your Body, and Ghoulish Books' Bound in Flesh. She also dabbles in cartooning and text game design.
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Published 2025-09-02 by Run For It

Comments

I've never read a book like MOONFLOW before! It has the energy of a John Waters movie: crass, profane, populated with memorably bizarre and grotesque characters, packed with social commentary and bittersweet pathos - the type of art that is necessary for the current moment.

Karella debuts with a hilarious psychedelic orgy of a novel that drips with the kind of pulp nastiness that makes the cheap horror paperbacks of the past so memorable, but updates the aesthetic with a refreshing heroine and a powerful exploration of transmisogyny within queer spaces... Karella makes the duo's journey gory and weird enough to satisfy any horror fan, but the real triumph of the book is its wonderfully realized trans heroine. Sarah is smart, funny, and flawed, allowing Karella to organically explore larger ideas about gender and sexuality without losing the irreverent and often comic tone. The result is a strange, sublime truffle that will delight any discerning appetite.

Weird, wild, and oh-so-wretched, MOONFLOW is the trans botanical horror we need in the world right now. MOONFLOW will sink its tendrils into you and infest you with its spores...and you'll enjoy it.

Karella has crafted the queer shroom trip from hell you didn't know you wanted. MOONFLOW's dose of terror is potent, and unlike anything you've ever seen.

MOONFLOW is absolutely wonderful. As eldritch and grimy as the terrifying forest it's set in, it takes the thorny interpersonal dynamics of a deranged free-love cult and drops them howling into a squirming mycelium hell of forest gods, nightmare visions and bloody murder. I loved this book!

Wow - what a trip. Literally! The kind of book that you have to strap into, because it's going to buck you off if you're not prepared. There's genuinely no predicting what the hell awaits you around the next bend. This book is a prime example of why horror will literally always be timely and necessary; it finds beauty in the grotesque with some of the most stomach-turning description and heartfelt self-exploration I've ever read. I can honestly say that this is the first time that I've been genuinely scared by a book. MOONFLOW is simultaneously a Tarantino car chase sequence and an Ari Aster monster reveal; it's fun, and it's disgusting, and it's just a damn good time. But at the heart of it all, it's a bleeding, beating heart and an earnest heroine just trying to make it work.

Luminous, trippy and an immensely satisfying read, Karella's MOONFLOW establishes her as a bona fide horror fiction maestro of the most accomplished order.

Mushroom horror continues to be so very hot right now (hot enough to..grow mushrooms?!) and Karella's debut novel is one of the best of the bunch. At times, it reads like a crime thriller and at other times it reads like a nature guide and at still other times it reads like Lynchian horror - but no matter the mode, it is a delight from start to finish.

A triumph of queer, horny, hippy horror that'll make you cackle, gasp, and scream! With its cast of iconic characters, imaginative enchanted setting, gripping story, and mind-bending horrific imagery, Bitter Karella's MOONFLOW is a trip to die for.

A bizarre and fiercely original splatterpunk phantasmagoria of queerness, MOONFLOW is like a gay Jodorowsky film from Hell. Deranged and gleefully weird as fuck, this is an impressive debut from a singular literary talent.

MOONFLOW is transgressive, menacing fun, nesting the grounded struggles of unique and richly-rendered characters in a world of overwhelming, relentless weirdness. Bitter Karella unfolds fungal revelations in newly-discovered colors, coining a language's worth of fresh and horrifying imagery.

MOONFLOW is so much fun. Expert world-building, genuinely creepy situations, and characters that are easy to root for. Unique, funny, and frighteningly real. This is what horror is all about.

Is it legal to have this much fun reading a book? I'm in awe of Bitter Karella's incredible gift for creating biting satire without a shred of cruelty. MOONFLOW made me laugh out loud while genuinely caring about its wild cast of characters, from its all too relatable failed protagonist, to its mondo trash cinema meets Women Who Run With The Wolves villain. This is the queer splatterpunk salvation/dissolution comedic relief narrative we need in these dark times. I had a f*cking blast.

MOONFLOW is a deranged horny dayglo escapade that is so utterly queer to its core. Beyond the delirious visions, there's a profound exploration of community and belonging. I adored this weirdo book.

Bitter Karella is a powerhouse of horror. MOONFLOW is equal parts ridiculous, revolting and charming. It rockets into your psyche with drug-fueled mommy milker cults at 200mph and I loved every second of it.

The book that will have everyone asking "Who let this woman cook?" Horrific, horny and hilarious; a cast at turns both freakish and endearing; destined to inspire cult adoration from its core audience of erudite sickos (complimentary).

As humorous and heartwarming as it is horrific... Fans of Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt and Alison Rumfit's Brainwyrms will love this rollicking, trippy ride.

Karella seamlessly blends dark humor, heist elements, and frightening bits of horror. The novel refreshingly explores Sarah's transness, her complex desires, and her resilience... MOONFLOW is an intensely entertaining novel that fans of mushroom horror will gobble up.