The Flame Tree Beyond and Within short story collections bring together tales of myth and imagination by modern and contemporary writers, carefully selected by anthologists, and sometimes featuring short stories from a single author. Overall, the series presents a wide range of diverse and inclusive voices with myth, folkloric-inflected short fiction, and an emphasis on the supernatural, science fiction, the mysterious and the speculative. The books themselves are gorgeous, with foiled covers, printed edges and published only in hardcover editions, offering a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Introduction excerpt by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane:

“When we handed in our previous anthology to Flame Tree, the well-received Beyond & Within – Folk Horror, and started to think about the next one, the subject matter was right there staring us in the face. After all, we’d been reading a fair amount of witch tales for that book. Folk Horror and Witchcraft go hand in hand when you think about it, in fact two of the three ‘unholy trinity’ movies that coined the term back in the ’60s and ’70s revolve around the subject – Witchfinder General (Michael Reeves, 1968) and Blood on Satan’s Claw (Piers Haggard, 1971) – draw their inspiration from the real life historical witch trials and persecution of women, not to mention the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches – effectively a witch-hunting manual). A topic that was itself reframed by Matilda Joslyn Gage’s 1893 book Women, Church and State, to show how the hunts and trials had been used to police female sexuality, women’s bodies and reproduction… As always, we’ve tried to gather together a varied mix of writers to illustrate just what can be done with the theme of witches and witchcraft.”

Apotropaic by Ally Wilkes

Stranded by Eliza Chan

Murder Ballads by Moonlight by Angela Slatter

The Smokeless Fire by Mark Chadbourn

Wedding Planner by Muriel Gray

What Bones Remember by Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu

Jackie’s Dust by Alison Moore

Oro, Plata, Mata by Gabriella Buba

The Witch of Withered Hill by David Barnett

Catharsis by Aveline Fletcher

Remembrance by Helen Grant

A Woman Grown by Lisa L. Hannett

The Stone Boat by Melissa Bobe

Kittycat by Amanda Mason

The Tallow Feast by Damien Kelly

Flame Water Turns by Eugen Bacon

Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane are the award-winning authors and editors of many books. Together they have co-edited anthologies such as The British Fantasy Society: A Celebration, A  Carnivàle  of Horror: Dark Tales from the Fairground, Hellbound Hearts, The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, Exit Wounds, Wonderland (a Shirley Jackson Award finalist), Cursed, Twice Cursed, The Other Side of Never and Folk Horror, featuring authors such as Neil Gaiman, Joanne Harris, Dean Koontz, Catriona Ward and Stephen King. They have also been involved in organizing conventions for twenty years, co-chairing ChillerCon in Scarborough in May 2022. Find out more at their sites shadow-writer.co.uk and marieoregan.net.