Possession

Possession is an sf story about a future earth with changed climate and melting permafrost, where the narrator works with an African pouched rat to find bodies infested with mind controlling fungus before it can spread further.

I really enjoyed this story's optimism about dealing with monsters and strangeness with compassion even through fear. I also liked the narrator talking about their OCD, and how that was weaved into both why they were doing their job and also as a source of empathy.

For me, I think this is an especially nice counterpoint to several other recent stories (about intelligent fungus!) that ended with a much different destructive tone. (cc #SFFBookClub)