Flame Tree Fiction

The eerie depths of the sea form the theme of our latest short story anthology: Pirates & Ghosts. With the publication date sailing into view, we turned to the authors to hear what inspired their stories in the collection, in the same way that the Agents & Spies discussed their story inspirations here. Completing this year’s set of short story anthologies, Pirates & Ghosts promises a haunting mix of adventure, monsters and mystery – and the responses below help give a glimpse of what’s in store!

The authors from our upcoming Agents & Spies short story anthology are back this week, answering questions this time on the tales of deadly espionage they love best, and the ways in which they set pen to paper for their own work. With the anthology’s release date nearly upon us, it’s been fascinating to find out more about the authors behind the stories that we chose!

October brings the release of two fresh books in our Gothic Fantasy anthology series: Agents & Spies, and Pirates & Ghosts. Following the tradition of the last 4 books in the series, we decided to ask the authors about the inspiration behind their story, as well as quizzing them about their own writing methods, and their favourite tales from the genre. The Agents & Spies anthology promises a stealthy mix of espionage, duplicitous dealings and secret liaisons: below, the authors divulge details about their contributions.

This final instalment in our current Author Q&A series offers a selection of further responses from the Time Travel anthology authors (see their Part 1 answers here). Just as time travel takes many diverse forms in fiction, so too do the answers below, as they tell us their preferred time travelling tales and we find out the various ways that they approach the task of writing. With these authors at the helm, the anthology looks set to be an exciting voyage of the science fiction kind, encompassing modern takes on the genre alongside the political reflection and atmospheric eras afforded by classic time travel narratives by the likes of H.G. Wells, Edward Bellamy, Mark Twain, Edward Page Mitchell and other greats. 

Past, present and future merge into a glorious blend of adventure, aspiration, and paradox in our new Time Travel short story anthology, available to order here. To celebrate its release, we asked the contemporary authors about their work: below, we discover what led to the creation of some of the stories included, while Part 2 of the Q&A covers the authors’ preferred writing methods, and their thoughts on the genre. This is the last collection of tales formed from our early 2017 call for submissions, and as with the previous Q&As for Supernatural Horror, Lost Worlds, and Heroic Fantasy, we’re delighted to have this deeper insight into the stories that we chose.

Swift on the heels of Part 1 of the Heroic Fantasy Author Q&A, the anthology's authors this time reveal the methods behind their writing, as well as their favourite influential tales. Their writing will feature alongside that of the genre's original greats – Robert E. Howard, A. Merritt, Howard Pyle, Clark Ashton Smith, Geoffrey Chaucer and more – in a collection of stories where the intrepid perform daring feats, majestic mythical beings roam wild and free, and imaginative lands bewitch the reader. The selection of responses below suggests this volume is well on track to be yet another compelling addition to our ever-growing Gothic Fantasy anthology series.

As the publication date for Heroic Fantasy inches nearer, our Q&A with the anthology’s short story authors offers a taster of what to expect in the book. In the style of the Q&As for Lost Worlds and Supernatural Horror, authors from the Heroic Fantasy volume also respond to questions relating to their selected story, the genre as a whole, and their own writing methods. First up, they reveal what led to the writing of the included stories: scintillating tales where courage, sorcery, swordplay and fantastical creatures abound.

Following on from the first part of our Q&A with the Supernatural Horror authors (which can be read here), this post looks at their favourite tales and own writing methods. The selection of responses below sheds light on the authors behind the tales – tales that collectively promise a veritable feast of brooding atmosphere, nightmarish monsters and unsettling circumstances, alongside a number of notable stories from the genre by classic authors like M.R. James, Ambrose Bierce, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Wilkie Collins, H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe… and more.

This week, it's the turn of our Supernatural Horror authors to face questions on their selected stories, influences and writing practices. In this first part of the Q&A, some of the authors summarise how inspirations played a part in the composition of their sinister tales. With the anthology shortly available to buy through our website, the below responses offer us a sneak peak of what’s in store! 

Concluding our Q&A with the new Lost Worlds authors, we quizzed them about their writing methods, as well as their own favourite stories from the genre. Conan Doyle's The Lost World was, understandably, a popular choice, and we're very happy to say extracts of this influential tale are included in the collection, alongside works too by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert E. Howard, H. Rider Haggard, and other greats.