It’s 2026 and that means a brand new year and a brand new season of the Myth & Fiction Podcast. For many people, the New Year is about fresh starts, resolutions, new habits and clean slates. But it’s also a moment of closure, a chance to reflect on everything the previous year brought with it. So today’s episode sits between those two inevitabilities: beginnings and endings.

Featuring

The Chains That Bind by Brandon Ketchum (05.40), found in Odin and read by Frances Bodiam. This one draws heavily on Norse mythology and in keeping with this episode's theme, navigates the ultimate ending or Ragnarök from the perspective of the Norns.

How All Things Began From Norse Mythology (19.37), read by Olivia. The wonderfully strange and imaginative Norse creation myth. You can find this one in Sun Rising Short Stories.

Biographies

Brandon Ketchum is a speculative fiction writer from Pittsburgh, PA who enjoys putting a weird spin or strange vibe into every story, dark or light. He is a member of SFWA and the Horror Writers Association, and his work has been published with Air and Nothingness Press, Perihelion, Mad Scientist Journal, and many other publications, including the short story collections Legio Damnati and its sequel Civili Bellum.

Ethel Mary Wilmot-Buxton (1870-1923) was an English translator, author and teacher. Mainly writing accessible scholarly works for younger audiences, Wilmot-Buxton focused on creating educational narratives based on historical literature and events. As always, we must remind the reader that, as tales from mythology and folklore are principally derived from an oral storytelling tradition, their written representation depends on the transcription, translation and interpretation by those who heard them and first put them to paper.

‘The Chains That Bind’ is ©2024 Brandon Ketchum and appeared in Odin (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024).

‘How All Things Began’ from Norse Mythology was first published in ‘Told by the Northmen: Stories from the Eddas and Sagas’ by Ethel Mary Wilmot-Buxton in 1908, but more recently appeared in Sun Rising Short Stories (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024).

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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), Shilpa Varma 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’re back and we’re festive. Today we’re embracing all things Christmas with two tales taken from our Christmas Gothic collection.

Featuring

’And a Piece of Coal Where Her Heart Once Beat’ by Suzanne J. Willis (05.27), a melting pot of folklore, gothic tropes and backwards Christmas symbolism. This one is read by Amanda Benzecry.

‘Where the Christmas-Tree Grew’ by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (19.08), is more of a traditional Christmas story, in the sense that it explores themes of charity, community and Christmas spirit. This one is read by Bea.

Biographies

Suzanne J. Willis is a Melbourne, Australia-based writer, a graduate of Clarion South and an Aurealis Awards finalist. Her stories have appeared in anthologies by PS Publishing and Prime Books, and in Mythic Delirium, Lackington’s, and The Dark, among others. Her debut short story collection, Of Starfish Tides and Other Tales, is due for release by Trepidatio Publishing in 2022. Suzanne’s tales are inspired by fairytales, ghost stories and all things strange, and she can be found online at suzannejwillis.webs.com.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930) was an American author, born in Randolph, Massachusetts. Following the unexpected deaths of her parents, Freeman began writing full-time as her singular source of income. In 1881 her story ‘The Ghost Family’ won first place in a writing contest, marking the start of her career as a short story author. Much of her work pairs the supernatural with domestic realism. She also wrote poems and children’s stories. In 1926, Freeman received the William Dean Howells Medal for her writing from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

‘And a Piece of Coal Where Her Heart Once Beat’ is ©2021 Suzanne J. Willis and was first published in The Dark but more recently appeared in Christmas Gothic (Flame Tree Publishing, 2022).

‘Where the Christmas-Tree Grew’ by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was first published in Young Lucretia and Other Stories (1893), but more recently appeared in Christmas Gothic (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), Shilpa Varma 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.

Here we are at the final episode of October. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome! We've been serving up horror fiction all month long. Two stories per episode, twice a week, with author insights and listener discount codes.

We're closing out the month and the season with two novels. Justin Holley's Unseen Gods, and Ramsey Campbell's An Echo of Children. These are fully fledged horror stories and both came out within the last few weeks. Amanda Benzecry reads the Prologue from Unseen Gods and Nathan Chatelier reads an extract from Chapter 7 of An Echo of Children.

Biographies

Justin Holley lives somewhere on the Cass Lake chain of lakes with his wife, and also a rather large Daneiff named Nu and a clever but tiny Devon Rex named Jinx. Justin is the author of the novels Blood from the Stars, Tethered to Darkness, Seven Cleopatra Hill, the 3-book Bruised series, and several pieces of short fiction haunting anthologies and magazines around the world. Bruised made Grand Master Brian Keene’s 2015 list of top fifteen books. He’s hard at work on his next novel when not boating, investigating the paranormal, or playing sport.

Ramsey Campbell was born in Liverpool in 1946 and now lives in Wallasey. He has received the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University for outstanding services to literature. Three of Campbell’s novels have been filmed – The Influence, Pact of the Fathers and The Nameless (in development as a Netflix series).

Both books are now available to purchase on our website using the discount code revealed in the episode! Unseen Gods by Justin Holley and An Echo of Children by Ramsey Campbell.

This episode was hosted by Olivia.

‘Unseen Gods’ is ©2025 Justin Holley (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025)

‘An Echo of Children’ is ©2025 Ramsey Campbell (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025)

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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), Shilpa Varma 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.

If you listened to Tuesday's episode, you’ll know that this week on the LIVE AND SPOOKY edition of the podcast, we’re spotlighting our anthology, Latin American Shared Stories. A vibrant collection of speculative stories and fascinating essays highlighting the many voices, mythologies, folklore and storytelling prowess of authors from Latin American countries or writing in the traditions of the Latin American diaspora.

In that episode, we included a note from the editor V. Castro and shared two brand new short stories along with insights from their authors.

Today’s bonus episode gives the rest of the anthology’s contributors a platform to share their thoughts and inspirations behind their work. We’ll also be revealing an exclusive discount code that will get you 30% off the anthology on our website!

A big thank you to all of the anthology contributors who sent in audio clips for the podcast: V. Castro, Daniel Olivas, Alyssa Alessi, Gustavo Bondoni, David Bowles, Dr R. Andrew Chesnut, Rios de la Luz, Ivette N. Diaz, Laura Diaz de Arce, Ruth Joffre, S. Alessandro Martinez, Juliana Spink Mills, Vanessa Molina, Richie Narvaez, Wi-Moto Nyoka and A.E. Santana.

This episode was hosted by Bea.

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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), Shilpa Varma 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.

Welcome back to LIVE AND SPOOKY x The Myth & Fiction Podcast!

This October, we’re giving you double the episodes with double the chills. Each week, we are spotlighting the newest Flame Tree horror fiction titles so you can celebrate and fully embrace the spooky season.

This week’s book star is Latin American Shared Stories. I know what you’re thinking, ‘that doesn’t sound like a horror anthology’, and you’re right, it’s not strictly horror. It’s a vibrant collection of speculative stories and fascinating essays highlighting the many voices, mythologies, folklore and storytelling prowess of authors from Latin American countries or writing in the traditions of the Latin American diaspora. But our die-hard horror fans shouldn’t panic, we’ve sifted through the collection and found the spookiest stories for you all. This is after all, October, and if not now when?

Featuring

‘Nacho’ by Daniel Olivas (06.11), narrated by V. Castro.

AND ‘Sucker’ by Alyssa Alessi (24.36), narrated by V. Castro.

This episode is hosted by Bea.

Latin American Shared Stories is now available to purchase on our website or from any good bookstores near you. The US on sale date is the 11th of November.

‘Nacho’ is ©2022 Daniel Olivas and was originally published in The Rumpus in 2022 but more recently appeared in Latin American Shared Stories (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025).

‘Sucker’ is ©2025 Alyssa Alessi and appeared in Latin American Shared Stories (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025)

#horrorfiction #newreleases #spookyseason

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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), Shilpa Varma 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.

If you caught Tuesday's episode, you’ll know that this week on the LIVE AND SPOOKY edition of the podcast, we’re spotlighting our anthology, Fever Dreams. A collection of horror short stories edited by Mark Morris that showcases some of the very best short fiction the genre has to offer.

In that episode, we included a note from the editor, Mark Morris and shared two brand new short stories along with insights from their authors.

Today’s bonus episode gives the rest of the anthology’s contributors a platform to share their thoughts and inspirations behind their work. We’ll also be revealing an exclusive discount code that will get you 30% off the anthology on our website!

A big thank you to all of the anthology contributors who sent in audio clips for the podcast: Mark Morris, Priya Sharma, Caolán Mac an Aircinn, Tracy Fahey, Philip Fracassi, Craig DiLouie, Kaaron Warren, Lucy A. Snyder, Chad Lutzke, Kay Chronister, Ryan Cole, Clay McLeod Chapman, Alan Baxter, Rob Francis, Tanya Pell and C.J. Leede.

This episode was hosted by Olivia.

#horrorfiction #newreleases #spookyseason

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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), Shilpa Varma 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.

Welcome back to the second week of our LIVE AND SPOOKY month of horror!

This October, we’re giving you double the episodes with double the chills. Each week, we are spotlighting the newest Flame Tree horror fiction titles so you can celebrate and fully embrace the spooky season.

And this week, we’ll be heading into a feast of horror. The two stories we will be featuring are from ‘Fever Dreams’, which is the sixth volume in our ABC of Horror series, edited by Mark Morris. The included stories are ‘Piglet’ by Priya Sharma, narrated by Amanda Benzecry (06.59) and ‘Forty Below’ by Caolán Mac an Aircinn, narrated by Nathan Chatelier (39.43).

Fever Dreams is now available for purchase on our website or from any good bookstores near you.

This episode is hosted by Olivia.

‘Piglet’ is ©2025 Priya Sharma and appeared in Fever Dreams (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025)

‘Forty Below’ is ©2025 Caolán Mac an Aircinn and appeared in Fever Dreams (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025)

#horrorfiction #newreleases #spookyseason

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

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), Shilpa Varma 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.

If you caught Tuesday’s episode, you’ll know that this week on the LIVE AND SPOOKY edition of the podcast, we’re spotlighting our anthology, This Way Lies Madness. A collection of short stories that presents fictional interpretations of madness with the hope of reinventing the over stigmatized representations of mental health in horror.

In that episode, we included a discussion between the editors, Lee Murray and Dave Jeffery, and shared two brand new short stories along with insights from their authors.

Today’s bonus episode gives the rest of the anthology’s contributors a platform to share their thoughts and inspirations behind their work. We’ll also be revealing an exclusive discount code that will get you 30% off the anthology on our website!

A big thank you to all of the anthology contributors who sent in audio clips for the podcast: Lee Murray, Dave Jeffery, Sara Larner, Sean Hogan, Emily Ruth Verona, Ryan Cole, Callum Rowland, Kayleigh Dobbs, Sayan J. Soselisa, Amanda Cecelia Lang, Alan Baxter, Stephen Volk, Ramsey Campbell, Alma Katsu, Marie O’ Regan, Grace Chan, L.E. Daniels and Sumiko Saulson.

Lee Murray in discussion with the book’s illustrator, Greg Chapman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-3hwbqGF_U&t=1s

This episode was hosted by Bea.

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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), Shilpa Varma 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.