In the first Season 2 Special episode, Olivia journeys into fantasy worlds with acclaimed author Anna Smith Spark. Hailed as the Queen of Grimdark, Spark joins the podcast to explore her lyrical writing style, the role of motherhood in her work and the enduring importance of folklore in modern fiction. This conversation was recorded at the World Fantasy Convention over Halloween weekend.

Recently Anna Smith Spark’s books, A Sword of Gold and Ruin & its prequel A Sword of Bronze and Ashes have been released as special edition books with sprayed edges, custom end papers and delicately foiled covers. Both are masterpieces of folk horror and high fantasy that follow Kanda as she and her children fight against the darkness that threatens their world.

Biography

Anna Smith Spark is a critically acclaimed, multi-award short-listed grimdark epic fantasy novelist. She writes lyrical prose-poetry about war, love, landscapes, and war. Her writing has been described as ‘a masterwork’ by Nightmarish Conjurings, ‘an experience like no other series in fantasy’ by Grimdark Magazine, ‘literary Game of Thrones’ by the Sunday Times, and ‘howls like early Moorcock, converses like the best of Le Guin’ by the Daily Mail. Her favourite authors are Mary Renault, R Scott Bakker and M. John Harrison.

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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.

Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one…or felt one?

Well today you’re in for a haunting. One story embraces the supernatural, it encourages the belief in things that cannot be explained, and the other sides with the sceptics amongst you, poking fun at the ghost story tradition. We’ll let you decide where you sit on the spectrum of superstition.

Featuring

‘Only Bella’ by Kurt Hunt (01.25), read by Nick. A beautifully written piece about a young woman who haunts a man night after night. We’ve also experimented a little with sound design in this reading.

‘A Ghost Story’ by Mark Twain (14.22), read by Bea. Twain takes everything we expect from a classic haunting and twists it into something absurd.

Biographies

Kurt Hunt was formed in the swamps and abandoned gravel pits of post-industrial Michigan. Tolkien and Alexander seeded his life-long love of genre, Le Guin and Zelazny expanded it, but he’s convinced that we’re currently living in the best and most transformative era of science fiction and fantasy. His short fiction has been published at Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, PodCastle, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, Kaleidotrope, and more. He is also a co-author of Archipelago, a collaborative serial fantasy adventure.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri. Twain’s name is synonymous with his American classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain was a very influential author whose works are timeless pieces that are still being taught today in classrooms to students of all ages.

‘Only Bella’ is ©2018 Kurt Hunt and appeared in Lost Souls (Flame Tree Publishing, 2018).

‘A Ghost Story’ by Mark Twain was first published in ‘Sketches New and Old’ (1875), but more recently appeared in Haunted House Short Stories (Flame Tree Publishing, 2019).

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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.

In today’s episode we’re giving you a sneak peek at something that hasn’t been published yet, our upcoming Witchcraft collection. Out on the 20th of January, this anthology explores what it means to be a ‘witch’, including the rediscovery and reclaiming of that power, its links to nature and witchcraft mythology from around the world.

Featuring

‘What Bones Remember’ by Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu (04.14), read by Amanda Benzecry. An atmospheric, folk horror story that offers a fresh spin on Baba Yaga, a witch-like character from Slavic folklore. Find this one Beyond & Within’s Witchcraft.

‘The Witch’, was found in ‘Russian Folk-Tales’ by W. R. S. Ralston (37.58) before it appeared in Witches, Wizards, Seers & Healers Myths & Tales, read by Bea. A more traditional portrayal of a witch, seen in the likes of popular fairytales.

Biographies

Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu is a medical practitioner and author with hands-on research experience, having served as co-author on two peer-reviewed publications: ‘Are Cape Peninsula baboons raiding their way to obesity and type II diabetes?’ (2023) and ‘Advancements in Marburg (MARV) Virus Vaccine Research’ (2024). Her recent book Forgive, Love, and You: A Guide to Unburdening the Heart was published in 2025. You can find her on X/Twitter @shortbread00.

William Ralston Shedden-Ralston (1828–1889) was a British scholar of Russia and translator of Russian. He published translations of Ivan Andreevich Krylov’s and Ivan Turgenev’s works,as well as Songs of the Russian People as Illustrative of Slavonic Mythology and Russian Social Life (1872) and, of relevance to this volume: Russian Folk Tales (1873).

‘What Bones Remember’ is ©2026 Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu and appeared in Witchcraft (Flame Tree Publishing, 2026).

‘The Witch’ from Russia was first published in ‘Russian Folk-Tales’ by W. R. S. Ralston in 1873, but more recently appeared in Witches, Wizards, Seers & Healers Myths & Tales (Flame Tree Publishing, 2020).

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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.