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).

.....................................................................................................................................

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).

.....................................................................................................................................

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.

.....................................................................................................................................

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.

Today's episode takes us into the spaces between sounds - where silence isn't empty, but hungry. These two stories explore the creatures that mirror us so perfectly they might not be creatures at all, but reflections of what we keep buried beneath our civilized surfaces.

Featuring:

'No Strings' by Ramsey Campbell (01.52), narrated by Nathan Chatelier. A contemporary horror story that follows radio host Phil Linford as he encounters a street musician whose performance proves more dangerous than it first appears. This tale examines the thin line between reality and performance, between the self we present and the impulses we suppress.

'Nyarlathotep' by H.P. Lovecraft (24.46), narrated by Shilpa Varma, our Writer in Residence. Selected from our ‘Endless Apocalypse’ collection, this classic work of cosmic horror introduces the crawling chaos that emerges when familiar boundaries dissolve.

Biographies:

Ramsey Campbell has spent sixty years crafting horror fiction that brings cosmic terror into everyday settings. Last year, Flame Tree Publishing celebrated his extraordinary career with 'Serving Horror for 60 Years' - recognizing six decades of influential work in the genre. His latest novel ‘An Echo of Children’ will be published by Flame Tree Press in September 2025.

H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) was an American writer whose cosmic horror fiction has influenced generations of authors. His work explores themes of cosmicism and humanity's insignificance when faced with incomprehensible forces.

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.

Learn more about Shilpa Varma and her role at Flame Tree here.

This episode is hosted by Olivia.

'No Strings' is ©2024 Ramsey Campbell and appears courtesy of the author.

'Nyarlathotep' by H.P. Lovecraft was first published in The United Amateur in 1920 and appeared in Endless Apocalypse (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024)

.....................................................................................................................................

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.

We’ve all heard of H.G. Wells. The famed British author, best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Many of which can be found in Flame Tree’s anthologies. However, have you ever thought about what would happen if you used a time machine to travel back in time to meet the man behind those well-known words?

Featuring:

‘Shaping Things to Come’ by Dominick Cancilla (01.00), narrated by Nathan Chatelier. We found this one in our collection ‘Time Travelling Short Stories’. This is a clever story that considers the literary implications of time travel.

‘The Ghost’ by Catherine Wells (18.38), narrated by Olivia. One of the shorter stories in ‘The Open Heart’, a collection of H.G. Wells’ wife’s work that was published earlier this year. A classic horror story, full of atmosphere and whimsy.

Biographies:

Dominick Cancilla is currently living in Santa Monica, California. His previous works include dozens of short stories, one book of philosophy, and one novel, Revenant Savior. He’s also a rather extreme fan of Disney parks and his most recent works – a pair of travel guides for vampires and other unusual creatures planning Disney vacations – include advice for theme-park-visiting time travelers.

Catherine Wells (1872–1927), born Amy Catherine Robbins, worked as a teacher and studied at Tutorial College, Holborn where she met and later married H.G. Wells. She is regarded as a great supporter of her husband’s literary outpourings, while she was in fact herself a serious writer, quietly creating her own stories and poems, long-neglected until now.

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

This episode was hosted by Bea.

Our previous episode on Catherine Wells: https://flametr.com/4eqaOT7

‘Shaping Things to Come’ is ©2017 Dominick Cancilla and appeared in Time Travel Short Stories (Flame Tree Publishing, 2017).

‘The Ghost’ by Catherine Wells was first published in The Book of Catherine Wells in 1928 but more recently appeared in The Open Heart (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025).

.....................................................................................................................................

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.

In today’s episode, which is a couple of days ahead of the Buck Moon, we are presenting you with two moon-tales. Stories, where the night dances with ancient power as the moon watches.

Featuring:

‘Shattered Moon, Hungry Sea’ by Elou Carroll (02:13), narrated by Olivia. A story where a child’s curiosity unleashes oceanic fury, proving that some jewellery should never be touched, and some secrets should stay sewn into the sky. Borrowed from Flame Tree’s ‘Moon Falling’ collection.

‘The Moon-Slave’ by Barry Pain (10:28), narrated by Bea. A Victorian nightmare, where the moon enslaves a young girl to its spell. What begins as artistic expression becomes supernatural bondage, proving that some performances are more binding than any marriage contract.

Biographies:

Elou Carroll is a graphic designer and freelance photographer who writes. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The Deadlands, Baffling Magazine, If There’s Anyone Left (Volume 3), In Somnio: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror (Tenebrous Press), Spirit Machine (Air and Nothingness Press), Ghostlore (Alternative Stories Podcast) and others. When she’s not whispering with ghosts, she can be found editing Crow & Cross Keys, publishing all things dark and lovely, and spending far too much time on X (Twitter) (@keychild). She keeps a catalogue of her weird little word creatures on eloucarroll.com.

Barry Pain (1864–1928) was renowned first and foremost as a comic writer. Like his friend and fellow- humourist Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927), however, he had a longstanding interest in the supernatural and the gothic. His mad-scientist shocker The Octave of Claudius (1897) was to become a pioneering Hollywood Horror movie, in the form of A Blind Bargain, with Lon Chaney and Raymond McKee, in 1922.

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

‘Shattered Moon, Hungry Sea’ is © 2020 Elou Carroll and was originally published in Apparition Lit in 2020 and appeared in Moon Falling (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024).

‘The Moon-Slave’ by Barry Pain was first published in Stories in the Dark in 1901 and more recently appeared in Weird Horror Short Stories (Flame Tree Publishing, 2022).

.....................................................................................................................................

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.

Today’s episode carries us East through two short stories. These stories are united by a powerful motif - water as memory. In both, water surmounts to more, it comes to represent the enduring presence of the natural world. Offset by human mortality and the quickening of time associated with growing up.

Featuring:

‘Waiting for Karaga’ by Amal Singh (00:55), narrated by Shilpa Varma. A touching short story, borrowed from our ‘Shadows on the Water’ collection, that narrates the relationship between a lake and a young girl.

‘The Fisher-boy Urashima’ by Basil Hall Chamberlain (20:18), narrated by Amanda Benzecry. Selected from our ‘Hidden Realms’ short story collection, this pick is a Japanese Fairy Tale that is in essence an exploration of morality.

Biographies:

Amal Singh is an author from Mumbai, India. His short fiction has been longlisted for the BSFA award, and has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous venues such as Clarkesworld, F&SF, Apex, Asimov’s, among others. His debut novel, The Garden of Delights, was published by Flame Tree Press in 2024.

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) was working in a bank in London when he dropped out and decided it was time to see the world. His first voyage took him to Japan, he settled there, first as an adviser to the government, then subsequently as literary scholar and translator.

Learn more about Shilpa Varma and her role at Flame Tree here.

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 is hosted by Bea.

Our Feedback Form: https://flametr.com/44poBFK

‘Waiting for Karaga’ is ©2018 Amal Singh and was originally published in Truancy Magazine in 2018 and appeared in Shadows on the Water (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024).

‘The Fisher-boy Urashima’ by Basil Hall Chamberlain was first published as a chapbook by Kobunsha in 1886 and more recently appeared in Hidden Realms (Flame Tree Publishing, 2023).

.....................................................................................................................................

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.

Our second monthly Special invites our listeners into the world of publishing, with a particular focus on the Middle East.

Recorded at London Book Fair 2025, Olivia speaks to Trevor Naylor - a writer and publisher who has over 40 years of experience in the book industry. Though his career has taken him to over 90 countries, he spent decades based in Cairo, Egypt. We catch up with him as he’s working on his latest project, a book about Egyptian Gods and mythology.

This conversation is full of fascinating insights into the Middle Eastern publishing landscape, its stories and its enduring influence.

A big thank you to our guest Trevor Naylor for taking the time to chat with us!

Trevor Naylor was born in Hull and now lives in West Yorkshire where he works as a non-fiction writer, specialising in books about Ancient Egypt. He also runs his company, named Parkway, selling books across the Middle East region. Trevor has worked in all areas of publishing and bookselling over more than 40 years. He was Sales and Marketing Director of the leading Arts publisher, Thames and Hudson. He held the same position at the American University in Cairo Press in Egypt. He has managed and worked in bookshops, owned his own independent bookshop in the UK, and travelled extensively representing publishers and selling books to over 90 countries worldwide. He is also currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing with the University of Hull.

If Trevor’s story got you curious about Ancient Egyptian myths and legends, our books ‘Egyptian Myths & Legends’, ‘Egyptian Myths & Tales’ and ‘Egyptian Ancient Origins’ , are available to shop on our website.

.....................................................................................................................................

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.