Today’s episode carries us East through two short stories. These stories are united by a powerful motif - water as memory. In both, water surmounts to more, it comes to represent the enduring presence of the natural world. Offset by human mortality and the quickening of time associated with growing up.

Featuring:

‘Waiting for Karaga’ by Amal Singh (00:55), narrated by Shilpa Varma. A touching short story, borrowed from our ‘Shadows on the Water’ collection, that narrates the relationship between a lake and a young girl.

‘The Fisher-boy Urashima’ by Basil Hall Chamberlain (20:18), narrated by Amanda Benzecry. Selected from our ‘Hidden Realms’ short story collection, this pick is a Japanese Fairy Tale that is in essence an exploration of morality.

Biographies:

Amal Singh is an author from Mumbai, India. His short fiction has been longlisted for the BSFA award, and has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous venues such as Clarkesworld, F&SF, Apex, Asimov’s, among others. His debut novel, The Garden of Delights, was published by Flame Tree Press in 2024.

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) was working in a bank in London when he dropped out and decided it was time to see the world. His first voyage took him to Japan, he settled there, first as an adviser to the government, then subsequently as literary scholar and translator.

Learn more about Shilpa Varma and her role at Flame Tree here.

Amanda Benzecry (voice actor) regularly narrates books for Audible, is on the panel for the RNIB and is a frequent contributor (both as a narrator and a writer) to TNF Soundings, providing audio material for the visually impaired.

This episode is hosted by Bea.

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‘Waiting for Karaga’ is ©2018 Amal Singh and was originally published in Truancy Magazine in 2018 and appeared in Shadows on the Water (Flame Tree Publishing, 2024).

‘The Fisher-boy Urashima’ by Basil Hall Chamberlain was first published as a chapbook by Kobunsha in 1886 and more recently appeared in Hidden Realms (Flame Tree Publishing, 2023).

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Music is an extract of Sunbeams by Allen Stroud, from his Fractal Series album, licensed courtesy of fpl-digital 2025.

This podcast is hosted and sometimes narrated by Beatrix Ambery (also audio editor), Olivia Jackson (also podcast coordinator) and Nick Wells (also producer).

Chosen from hundreds of wonderful tales, short stories such as these are selected by our short window open submission process, giving opportunities to writers of all levels of experience, culture and location. Look out for our submission announcements, and see the full list here: flametreepublishing.com/gothic-fantasy-book-series-list.html

Our full range of thematic short stories, epic tales, mythology and folklore titles are available at all good bookstores, online and in retail, and at flametreepublishing.com

Flame Tree Publishing, Independent Publisher of the Year 2024, British Fantasy Society. Beautiful Books, Timeless Storytelling, Fresh Perspectives.

The Flame Tree Myth and Fiction podcast is created and © copyright 2025 Flame Tree Publishing Ltd.