Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual violence.

What happens when someone who was never supposed to speak suddenly finds their voice? Today we're exploring that question through two very different lenses - one brutally contemporary, one ancient as the changing seasons. Both ask us to listen to voices that were meant to stay silent forever.

Featuring:

‘Vessels and Warnings’ by Gabrielle Emem Harry (1.45), narrated by Cheryl S. Ntumy. A powerful narrative where remembering your own name becomes an act of rebellion. This story can be found in our African Ghost anthology.

‘The Rape of Persephone’ by Homer and Hesiod (17.28), narrated by Amanda Benzecry. A myth from Ancient Greece, where a young woman is taken against her will, a mother's grief changes the world and compromises must be made. Borrowed from our Greek Myths and Legends collection.

Biographies:

Gabrielle Emem Harry is a Nigerian speculative fiction writer. She writes fantasy, science fiction, horror, slipstream and anything with a fabulist bent and is most interested in crafting stories that sit in the gaps between genres, refusing to be strictly defined. She was selected as a 2023 Literary Laddership for Emerging African Authors Fellow and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Solarpunk, Apparition, Omenana, Isele and more.

‘The Rape of Persephone’ was derived from Hesiod’s Theogony. Hesiod is often credited with beginning the Greek mythical tradition, he lived and composed around 700 BC. Theogony deals with the origins of the world and the gods.

Cheryl S. Ntumy is a Ghanaian writer of speculative fiction and has appeared in Black Friday, FIYAH Literary Magazine, Apex Magazine and World Literature Today.

Amanda Benzecry (voice actor) regularly narrates books for Audible, is on the panel for the RNIB and is a frequent contributor (both as a narrator and a writer) to TNF Soundings, providing audio material for the visually impaired.

This episode was hosted by Olivia

‘Vessels and Warnings’ is ©2023 Gabrielle Emem Harry and was originally published in Apparation Literary Magazine in 2023 and appeared in African Ghost (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024).

‘The Rape of Persephone’ appeared in Greek Myths & Legends (Flame Tree Publishing, 2022).

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Music is an extract of Sunbeams by Allen Stroud, from his Fractal Series album, licensed courtesy of fpl-digital 2025.

This podcast is hosted and sometimes narrated by Beatrix Ambery (also audio editor), Olivia Jackson (also podcast coordinator) and Nick Wells (also producer).

Chosen from hundreds of wonderful tales, short stories such as these are selected by our short window open submission process, giving opportunities to writers of all levels of experience, culture and location. Look out for our submission announcements, and see the full list here: flametreepublishing.com/gothic-fantasy-book-series-list.html

Our full range of thematic short stories, epic tales, mythology and folklore titles are available at all good bookstores, online and in retail, and at flametreepublishing.com

Flame Tree Publishing, Independent Publisher of the Year 2024, British Fantasy Society. Beautiful Books, Timeless Storytelling, Fresh Perspectives.

The Flame Tree Myth and Fiction podcast is created and © copyright 2025 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd.

Everyone knows Achilles - the golden warrior, the rage of the Greeks, the heel that doomed him. But nobody talks about Achilles the toddler, the little boy who was scared of water. Both stories in this episode will help listeners consider Achilles, the man, not just his life but what he left behind…

Featuring:

‘How Achilles Grew Up’ by Kenzie Lappin (02.17), read by Nathan Chatelier. A story that looks beyond the Achilles of marble statues and towards the deep emotion of his story. This can be found in our Myths, Gods & Immortals book, Achilles.

‘Odysseus Sails to Seek the Son of Achilles’ (21.41), read by Bea. Chronologically connected to the above, this is an example of a traditional Greek mythology text, fully immersed in ancient politics, battles and grief. Borrowed from our book, Greek Myths & Tales.

Biographies:

Kenzie Lappin has written for several publications, such as Cosmic Horror Monthly, Brigids Gate Press, Apex Magazine, WordFire Press, Air And Nothingness Press, and more. She loves science fiction, fantasy and mythology. Check her out on Twitter at @KenzieLappin. She loves science fiction, fantasy, and a mixture of both. She has always had a fascination with mythology.

‘Odysseus Sails to Seek the Son of Achilles’ is part of a wider collection of Greek mythology, sourced and contributed to by a myriad of authors, editors and translators. A full list of contributors can be found in Greek Myths & Tales. However, this narrative was likely derived from one of Homer’s epic poems. Little is known about Homer’s life, but he is thought to have been born sometime between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries.

Nathan Chatelier is a British voiceover artist with almost fifty audiobooks recorded alongside thousands of other projects, from videogames to the Mean Girls West End trailer. Check out his demos.

This episode was hosted by Shilpa Varma. To find out more about our writer-in-residence and her role at Flame Tree, click here.

‘How Achilles Grew Up’ is ©2025 Kenzie Lappin and appeared in Achilles (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025).

‘Odysseus Sails to Seek the Son of Achilles’ appeared in Greek Myths & Tales (Flame Tree Publishing, 2018).

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Music is an extract of Sunbeams by Allen Stroud, from his Fractal Series album, licensed courtesy of fpl-digital 2025.

This podcast is hosted and sometimes narrated by Beatrix Ambery (also audio editor), Olivia Jackson (also podcast coordinator) and Nick Wells (also producer).

Chosen from hundreds of wonderful tales, short stories such as these are selected by our short window open submission process, giving opportunities to writers of all levels of experience, culture and location. Look out for our submission announcements, and see the full list here: flametreepublishing.com/gothic-fantasy-book-series-list.html

Our full range of thematic short stories, epic tales, mythology and folklore titles are available at all good bookstores, online and in retail, and at flametreepublishing.com

Flame Tree Publishing, Independent Publisher of the Year 2024, British Fantasy Society. Beautiful Books, Timeless Storytelling, Fresh Perspectives.

The Flame Tree Myth and Fiction podcast is created and © copyright 2025 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd.

After three months of the Myth & Fiction Podcast, we thought it was about time we heard from you! We asked for your questions and comments about the show and today we’re answering them all. Join Olivia, Nick, and Bea as they respond to your thoughts in this special Q&A episode.

If you have more questions for the Myth & Fiction team, please use our feedback form, we’d love to hear from you: https://flametr.com/44poBFK

Shilpa Varma’s blog, Between Worlds: https://flametr.com/44Zgjni

Our Open Submissions: https://flametr.com/416KeIT

Thank you so much for your support of the Myth & Fiction Podcast! We’ll see you in August.

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Music is an extract of Sunbeams by Allen Stroud, from his Fractal Series album, licensed courtesy of fpl-digital 2025.

This podcast is hosted and sometimes narrated by Beatrix Ambery (also audio editor), Olivia Jackson (also podcast coordinator) and Nick Wells (also producer).

Chosen from hundreds of wonderful tales, short stories such as these are selected by our short window open submission process, giving opportunities to writers of all levels of experience, culture and location. Look out for our submission announcements, and see the full list here: flametreepublishing.com/gothic-fantasy-book-series-list.html

Our full range of thematic short stories, epic tales, mythology and folklore titles are available at all good bookstores, online and in retail, and at flametreepublishing.com

Flame Tree Publishing, Independent Publisher of the Year 2024, British Fantasy Society. Beautiful Books, Timeless Storytelling, Fresh Perspectives.

The Flame Tree Myth and Fiction podcast is created and © copyright 2025 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd.