Flame Tree Myth & Fiction
Thrill to the adventures of the past and visions of the future. Featuring science fiction, fantasy, horror and the supernatural, short stories, ancient tales, myth and folklore from our short story submissions, with author interviews and occasional special features about publishing and writing. Flame Tree is independent, and encourages the comprehensive understanding of all people, and all cultures.
Episodes
In our August Special episode Olivia delves into the horror genre with the guidance of award winning authors and editors, Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan.
Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan were the editors of Flame Tree’s Folk Horror. A collection of stories that covers a wide range of mythologies and dark corners from around the world. Five of its short stories were selected from open submissions and the remaining twelve were commissioned f...
A creator god, a trickster folk hero, a wily spider and a heroic symbol of resistance, Anansi is a fascinating figure within West African folklore. This episode contains both an original folkloric story and a modern depiction of Anansi from our Myths, Gods & Immortals series.
Featuring:
‘The Secrets of Jamestown Lighthouse’ by Benjamin Cyril Arthur (01.15), read by Cheryl S. Ntumy. In this story we’ve got a gang of kids who are ...
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), na...
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...
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
Shil...
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 Linfor...
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 ...
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. Borr...
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 ...
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 abo...
This week’s episode brings us two strange stories from the sea. The sea offers the perfect setting for short stories: it’s dramatic, vast and by extension mysterious. We only know a fraction of what actually lives in its depths. No wonder then, that it captured the imagination of the authors featured in this episode.
Featuring:
‘Over the Side’ by W.W. Jacobs (00.46), narrated by Olivia. This story was first published in 1905 and des...
This week, we're slipping into something magical - two stories bound by a common thread: enchanted dresses. One bringing life, the other death. Together, you could say they weave a pattern of love, loss, and transformation.
Featuring:
‘The Wedding Dress’ by Cheryl S. Ntumy (00.51), narrated by the author herself, has been selected from her collection Black Friday - a stunning anthology of speculative stories from Ghana, Botswana...
On this week’s episode of the Flame Tree Myth & Fiction Podcast, we feature two powerful short stories linked by their discussions of motherhood - but don’t be mistaken, these stories are anything but sweet.
Featuring:
‘Pegasus’ by Danai Christopoulou (00.50), narrated by Amanda Benzecry. A narrative that follows the famed pegasus, through its creation, violent birth and its resulting vow of revenge. This story can be found in M...
The first of our monthly specials! In this week’s episode, Olivia revisits her conversation with the editors of The Open Heart & Short Stories by Catherine Wells, Patrick Parrinder and Emelyne Godfrey. Recorded at The London Book Fair, this episode is full of insights and revelations about the often overlooked authorial work of H.G. Wells’s wife.
The Open Heart is one of the latest books to come out in our Beyond & Within se...
In this week’s episode of Flame Tree’s Myth & Fiction podcast, we are again visiting the horror genre but this time we are honing in on how the human mind and often madness can connect itself to the supernatural. Essentially, two short stories that populate the subgenre of psychological horror.
Featuring:
‘He Will Hear Us Coming’ by Anna Ziegelhof (00.38), narrated by Amanda Benzecry. A story about a young woman’s homecoming from...
In this episode of Flame Tree’s Myth & Fiction podcast, we have two chilling horror short stories to share with you. Both deliver eerie apparitions of the dead and embrace the traditional tropes of Gothic literature.
Featuring:
‘A Vine on a House’ by Ambrose Bierce (00.44), narrated by Bea. A story about a decaying manor house overrun by a supernatural vine. First gifted to us in 1905, this story can appropriately be found in ou...
The first story episode of Flame Tree’s Myth & Fiction podcast! Contained within are two tales that speak to anxieties prompted by artificial intelligence and advancements in technology.
Featuring:
‘The Dancing Partner’ by Jerome K. Jerome (00.52), narrated by Olivia. A story about a toy maker who creates a clockwork dance partner for a group of girls who are unsatisfied with the men who frequent their society balls. First publi...
Introducing the new podcast from Flame Tree, highlighting the stories, myths and authors featuring in the coming months.
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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 Amber...
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