Flame Tree Fiction

Often, the best way to understand a text is to understand the context in which it was written. A central part of this involves the story of the writers themselves. As such, learning about their lives, or what led to their writing of a text, can be very important in fully appreciating what they wrote. In our new editions of essential Gothic, Sci-Fi and Dark Fantasy books, we have included biographies of the authors so you can learn more about them and see how their life may have affected the tales they told. We thought, for this week’s blog, we would pick out singular moments in each author’s life that highlight the influence their background might have had on their work…

We are delighted to present the authors featured in our upcoming Lost Souls and Robots & Artificial Intelligence anthologies, the latest books in the series of Gothic Fantasy short story collections. Once again, our call for submissions was met with a good response: with over 1200 stories to read, and only around 3% of those chosen for publication in the anthologies, it has been tough to narrow down the final selection. Nevertheless, we’re excited about the final results, due for publication this September. In the usual mix of classic and new fiction, Lost Souls hosts an array of restless, drifting or trapped spirits searching for connection and existence in this plane, or another. And, presenting lost souls of its own kind, Robots & Artificial Intelligence delves into the world of advanced technology, with tales that cast light (and doubt) on what it means to be human in realities and futures not so different from our own.

Adapted from an earlier play by Dyson and Nyman, Ghost Stories focuses on the tale of Professor Goodman (played by Nyman himself). Goodman works as an investigator and as an exposer of fake and fraudulent psychics. The film begins its main plotline when Goodman receives a mysterious package from a famed psychic investigator who is looking for closure about three cases he cannot explain.

In the first part of this Q&A, authors featured in our new Alien Invasion anthology spoke about the inspirations behind their story. Today, we hear from them about their writing methods and the other Alien Invasion-themed stories that have really stuck with them the most. Like the previous books in the series, the new stories in this anthology will be accompanied by classic fiction from the genre: as well as the seminal work The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, short stories and novel extracts from Voltaire, Jonathan Swift, A. Merritt and more will make an appearance – you can see the full list of included authors here, in what promises to be an exciting line-up of otherworldly creations!