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Flame Tree Fiction

Gillian Whitaker

Recent Posts

Gothic Fantasy | Successful Submissions | Black Sci-Fi

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

We’re pleased to announce the authors included in our upcoming anthology: Black Sci-Fi Short Stories! Earlier this year, we opened for submissions on this theme in order to focus on an area of science fiction that has not received the full attention it deserves. The book, due to be published in April 2021 (UK) and June 2021 (US), combines new stories with early speculative and proto-science fiction by Black writers of an older tradition. Alex Award-winning novelist Temi Oh provides the foreword, alongside an introduction by Sandra M. Grayson, author of Visions of the Third Millennium: Black Science Fiction Novelists Write the Future (2003). With invaluable promotion and editorial support from Tia Ross and the Black Writers Collective, we’re delighted to have chosen the stories below for inclusion:

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories, dark fantasy, Science Fiction, anthologies, scifi, black sci-fi

Strange Lands | Author Q&A | Favourite Tales & Writing Practices

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Escape into fantastic worlds: from tales of space to mythical islands, underwater realms and alternate realities, our latest anthology Strange Lands is packed with imaginative storytelling. Sitting alongside the likes of Jules Verne, Edith Nesbit, H.G. Wells, George MacDonald and more, a selection of modern authors offer up works dealing with exploration and survival in fascinatingly alien settings. In last week’s Q&A, authors from the book spoke a little about their stories. Get your gift ideas and reading lists ready, as they return here with story recommendations in the genre, plus tips on getting writing ideas down!

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Short Stories, short fiction, Science Fiction, scifi

Strange Lands | Author Q&A | Story Inspirations

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Strange Lands is one of our latest anthologies to combine new stories and modern authors with classic fiction on the theme. Ranging from tales about space, fantasy lands and lost worlds to underground and underwater homes, this collection brings together all manner of imaginative settings and fantastic voyages. Here to give us a little flavour of what’s in store in the book are the authors themselves, revealing the various inspirations behind their story!

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Short Stories, short fiction, Science Fiction

Lovecraft Mythos | Author Q&A | Favourite Tales & Writing Practices

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Lovecraft Mythos is our latest anthology to collate classic fiction with new stories from modern authors. Out now, the book includes key tales by Lovecraft alongside a selection of gripping work from his contemporaries through to writers of the present day! As well as a host of talented modern authors, the collection features Frank Belknap Long, Fritz Leiber, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and more, in a fascinating demonstration of the Mythos’s enduring legacy. In the first part of this Q&A, authors spoke about the inspiration behind their stories in the book; now, they recommend favourites from the genre, as well as revealing the processes behind their own fiction…

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, H.P. Lovecraft, Short Stories, gothic horror, horror, Horror Fiction

Lovecraft Mythos | Author Q&A | Story Inspirations

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Today is publication day in the US for our much-anticipated anthology Lovecraft Mythos! As a companion volume to our earlier book on Lovecraft’s works, this collection looks at the broader fictional universe invited by the Mythos, collating stories from Lovecraft’s contemporaries as well as modern authors. The Mythos has a rich legacy of talented horror writers, and we’re excited to include entirely new stories alongside tales by Lovecraft himself, as well as the likes of Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, August Derleth, Ramsey Campbell and Victor LaValle. For a taste of what’s included, see below, where authors from the book share with us the various inspirations behind their Lovecraft Mythos contribution!

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, H.P. Lovecraft, Short Stories, gothic horror, short fiction, Horror Fiction

Bodies in the Library | Author Q&A | Favourite Tales & Writing Practices

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Bodies in the Library is available to buy now, and consists of a healthy mix of classic authors and new tales of atmospheric mansions, mysterious deaths and suspicious characters! Among all the intrigue you’ll find amateur detectives, experienced PIs, ghosts, straight-up horror and even a dash of science fiction. The anthology’s modern authors shed light on the inspirations behind their tales in last week’s blog; this week they offer reading recommendations and insight into their own writing processes:

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories, gothic horror, short fiction, detective fiction, Detective Mysteries, mystery

Bodies in the Library | Author Q&A | Story Inspirations

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Out nowBodies in the Library is one of our latest short story anthologies to combine classic stories with new fiction from modern authors. Paired with tales from Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Anna Katharine Green and more, the new stories abound in mysterious deaths, skeletons in the closet, locked-room crimes, and bookish locations! In the first part of this Author Q&A, some of the authors tell us a little about the inspirations behind their stories in the book...

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, gothic horror, thriller, Horror Fiction

Footsteps in the Dark | Author Q&A | Favourite Tales & Writing Practices

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Last week, authors from our new Footsteps in the Dark short story collection spoke a little about the inspirations behind their contributions to the book. Today, they offer insight into their writing processes and provide reading and watching recommendations for others on the hunt for atmospheric stories in this genre. In keeping with the rest of the books in this series, Footsteps in the Dark consists of classic fiction as well as modern fiction, including such greats as Bram Stoker, Edith Wharton, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Gertrude Atherton, Robert Louis Stevenson, E.F. Benson, M.R. James and many more… If the author suggestions below give you appetite for speculative fiction be sure to check out the tales in Footsteps in the Dark, link at the bottom of this page!

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories, horror, Horror Fiction, anthologies

Footsteps in the Dark | Author Q&A | Story Inspirations

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

Today is publication day in the US and Canada for the latest anthologies in our popular Gothic Fantasy series: Footsteps in the Dark and Bodies in the Library. To mark the occasion, we’re kicking off with a series of Author Q&A blogs with authors from both anthologies. First up, Footsteps in the Dark: this suitably atmospheric anthology combines new tales with classic fiction from the genre, and the modern authors are here to discuss the inspiration behind their stories in the book. From supernatural happenings to murders in the shadows – see below for a sneak preview of the sort of content to be found in Footsteps in the Dark!

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Topics: Gothic Fantasy, gothic horror

Gothic Fantasy | Successful Submissions | Strange Lands

Posted by Gillian Whitaker

We’re pleased to announce the list of authors chosen for inclusion in Strange Lands Short Stories! Available from October 2020 in the UK, and November in the US/Canada, this is the latest title in our Gothic Fantasy anthology series. This new collection similarly casts stories by modern authors alongside early classic fiction on the theme. Our call for submissions was met with a fantastic response, so we have been kept busy over the last few months honing down a selection of tales of other worlds, daring adventure and rich imagination. We’re excited to share the results with you now – many thanks again to all who submitted and congratulations to the below:

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Topics: gothic and fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories, dark fantasy, anthologies

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