Lee Murray’s incredible poem adds itself splendidly to our anthology of sporror. Her talent to make words flow, to have every line make such an impact makes it clear why she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature, particularly speculative literature. Let’s see what she has to say about her poem, Point Zero.
still, our bodies spored
riddled with cosmic fruit
the same tired arguments circulating
Point Zero by Lee Murray, featured in Dark Spores by Crone Girls Press.
Q (Crone Girls Press): What inspired your story in this anthology? Tell us the “story behind the story.”
A (Lee Murray): My poem, “Point Zero“, was meant to be based on a specific Aotearoa New Zealand mushroom, the white basket fungus, which has a polyhedral fruiting body that resembles a bony cage, the kind the witch might have used to imprison Hansel in the Grimm fairy tale. I recall I used to find them frequently on my walk to school in the country’s central plateau when I was a little girl, although I haven’t seen one in a long while (decades), so I think environmental and other pressures mean they may be becoming rarer now. The fungi has a number of names in Māori, including tūtae kēhua, which means ghost droppings, and also whareatua, which means ‘house of the devil’. Occasionally, they are called tūtae whatitiri, after the cannibalistic goddess of thunder, Whaitiri, since the skeletal baskets tend to appear after thunderstorms. So you can see why this particular fungus appealed to me as the perfect specimen to inspire a horror poem. Only, inspiration never came. I played with a few ideas, but none of my scribblings seemed quite right for this anthology, so I set the work aside for a moment, hoping something would come to me. I even attended author talk by a local mushroom expert, certain that would prompt an idea, but nothing ‘popped up’. And then, unexpectedly, a poem came to be in a rush one morning, inspired in part by Mike Carey’s horror-thriller novel The Girl with All the Gifts (also a tandem 2016 film directed by Colm McCarthy), despite my not having read the book in years. The novel examines the fall-out of a global pandemic caused by a parasitic fungus, but what struck me most about Carey’s work was his commentary about the overriding hubris of humans, society’s intrinsic belief that the human race should be the species to survive. I loved the way Carey approached that theme and the wonderful twist he gave his tale,. This anthology offered an opportunity to explore that concept in my own writing. So while I wasn’t able to come up with a suitable poem about the white basket fungus as planned, I’m delighted to bring you this tiny ‘spore’ package in the form of a poem.
Q: There are a number of different flavors of horror. Where does your story fit, and what drew you to this particular category?
A: Possibly body horror with a social lens.
Q: What do you love about mushrooms? What drew you to this anthology?
A: Is being pressganged by editors Carol Gyzander and Rachel Brune an appropriate answer? Just kidding. I was lucky enough to be an invited poet to Dark Spores, and having appeared in other volumes by this powerhouse editorial duo, I jumped at the opportunity. Not only are their productions gorgeous, but their anthologies explore social, political, and environmental themes in unique and unusual ways, which make them perfect volumes for discerning readers of the weird. It’s always an honour to appear in a Crone Girls’ Press book.
Q: When you’re not writing, what might we find you doing? (Free time or for a day job?)
A: Free time? [laughs] If I have free time…I love to walk the dog with my husband, go to the movies with my mum, drink tea with my writer gals, sit in the spa pool, and get a massage.
Q: What’s next in your writing journey?
A: In the last few years my focus has been on expanding my creative practice as a screenwriter, poet, essayist, and anthologist, which means it has been a long while since I approached a novel, well over six years since my last release, in fact. So while, I’m still planning on doing all those other things, with numerous projects in the works, I’m hoping to put some words down on a longer form work. It’s slow going because I rarely manage more than a few hundred words a day, but I’ve made a start. If you see me, please ask me how I’m going!
About The Author
Lee Murray is a writer, editor, poet and screenwriter from Aotearoa New Zealand, a Shirley Jackson Award and five-time Bram Stoker Award® winner. A USA Today bestselling author with more than forty titles to her credit, she holds a New Zealand Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement, and is an Honorary Literary Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Authors. In 2025 Murray was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature, particularly speculative literature. Her latest work is NZSA Cuba Press Prize-winner Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud. leemurray.info
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