Flame Tree Fiction

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.

Topics: Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories, short fiction

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

Topics: Gothic Fantasy, creepy stories, Short Stories

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.

Topics: Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories, short fiction

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

Topics: Gothic Fantasy, creepy stories, Short Stories, killers,, crime,, detective fiction

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!

Topics: Gothic Fantasy, Short Stories

UPDATE: 2015 SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SUBMITTED. 2016 SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN.

Topics: flame tree 451, Short Stories, sf and fantasy

Another creepy story from Robert E. Howard, this one from Weird Tales, February 1928. Howard wrote a series of supernatural stories, heavily influenced by Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen and H Rider Haggard. 

Topics: Short Stories

Robert E. Howards creepy tale of dark adventure is probably one of his best. Alongside Conan, Howard’s stable of awkward, courageous and determined heroes also includes Bran Mak Morn a Pictish King whose landscape is riven with ancient threat, uber-musclar battles and the mutterings of supernatural beings. Bran Mak Morn distinguishes himself by his intelligence and craftiness, ruling in much the same way as Kings of ancient Babylonian city states. Indeed Howard’s other stories cover a pre-Summerian landscape, with images and sources drawn from the golden crucible, that source of all ancient civilisations, Mesopotamia.

Topics: Short Stories

Topics: creepy stories, Short Stories, sf fiction

From Weird Tales October 1937, here's a story of immense power, written by a master of weird fiction—a tale of a revolting horror in the cellar of an old house in New England.

Topics: creepy stories, Short Stories