Flame Tree Fiction

In anticipation of the release of our Lost Worlds anthology, we got in touch with some of the authors behind the new short stories in order to hear about the inspiration behind their contribution, as well as their thoughts on the genre and the writing process itself. In the first of 2 blogs this week, the responses below provide a tantalising glimpse into a few of the chosen tales: mysterious lands and intrepid explorers soon to be unleashed into the book world… 

Following on from our recent blog on the successful submissions for Supernatural Horror and Lost Worlds, we proudly present the selected short stories for this year’s Time Travel and Heroic Fantasy anthologies. They join our growing range of deluxe hardcover themed anthologies, which can be found here.

With nearly 2000 submissions across the four anthologies, this year’s selection process was a truly difficult but enjoyable task. Past and future intertwine in the Time Travel volume, which gathers together the best of today’s fresh talent alongside a selection of the ‘timeless’ short fiction that helped form the genre. Meanwhile, majestic mythical beasts abound in the Heroic Fantasy collection, with adventures in sorcery, swordplay, and fantastical lands also bringing original tales from contemporary authors together with classic storytelling.

We're delighted to announce the full list of successful submissions for the first two of our 2017 Gothic Fantasy deluxe anthologies: Lost Worlds and Supernatural Horror. These join our growing collection of popular hardcover anthologies, which so far include the titles: Dystopia Utopia, Swords & Steam, Crime & Mystery, Murder Mayhem, Horror, Ghosts, and Science Fiction. 

We received an overwhelmingly positive response to our call for submissions this year, making narrowing down the final selection a difficult but immensely rewarding process. The Supernatural Horror volume, which attracted over 900 submissions alone, brings an array of nightmarish monsters, sinister happenings and creepy tales, while Lost Worlds carries with it the thrill of unexplored lands and mysterious civilisations. We are proud to be publishing this selection of exciting contemporary writers alongside works by iconic authors that have helped shape and inspire these genres.

UPDATE: SUBMISSIONS are now CLOSED for Lost Worlds, Supernatural Horror, Time Travel & Heroic Fantasy. Thanks to everyone who submitted.

Continuing the successful format of our Gothic Fantasy deluxe hardcover anthologies, we’re delighted to add a further two new titles to the series: Dystopia Utopia, and Swords & Steam. These join this year's Crime & Mystery and Murder Mayhem collections, and last year’s editions on Horror, Ghosts and Science Fiction, and bring to the series the worlds of alternate realities, steampunk, historical fantasy and perfect or imperfect societies. Once again combining classic tales with new fiction, we include such greats as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Rudyard Kipling, Mary Shelley and Jules Verne, whose expertly crafted stories helped shape the genres as we know them today, and continue to inspire the modern authors we are excited to be able to publish alongside them. Yet again, our call for submissions was met with a fantastic response, which made the final selection a tough but enjoyable job.

UPDATE: SUBMISSIONS are now CLOSED for Swords & Steam and Dystopia Utopia. Thanks to everyone who submitted. 

Author of ‘Rip Van Winkle’ (1819) and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ (1820), Washington Irving (1783–1859) holds a great place in the canon of American short story writers. A leading author of early American gothic horror alongside Poe and Hawthorne, he was also a witty commentator and prominent literary figure in the New York public eye. Writing during a period when literary communities and publications were beginning to sprout up all over, Irving incorporated his keen knowledge of human society and relationships into his work. The dialogues between and within art forms that were happening at this time helped fuel various literary movements into existence, where writers would communicate openly, shaping each other’s works and accelerating the development of their ideas and careers. In this post we’ll be taking a look at the emergence and impact of these literary communities, and Irving’s place in this larger process. We’ll also explore some of Irving’s inspired marketing techniques and see how we have him to thank for bringing the words ‘Gotham’ and ‘Knickerbocker’ into common usage!