The Sauútiverse

This week, Olivia sits down with two brilliant authors, Eugen Bacon and Cheryl S. Ntumy, to explore The Sauútiverse. If you caught our Sauúti Terrors episode a few weeks ago, you’ve already had a glimpse into the universe they helped build, but this time, we go deeper. Together, they unpack the imagination, themes, and creative vision behind their richly layered Afrofuturist universe.To learn more about The Sauútiverse pick up a copy of ‘Sauúti Terrors’ or visit sauuti.com . If you are interested in hearing a story from Sauúti Terrors, written by Eugen Bacon, our podcast episode featuring her story ‘The Rawness of you’ is available to listen to on The Myth & Fiction Podcast. And if you are looking to hear some of Cheryl S. Ntumy’s work, her story ‘The Wedding Dress’ is featured in our podcast episode, Not Just Any Dress.To learn more about Flame Tree and our upcoming projects subscribe to the Fiction Newsletter or follow us on Social Media. The Myth & Fiction Podcast returns on Tuesday, 2 June, with a new episode exploring The Valkyries, one of our upcoming Myths, Gods & Immortals titles, published alongside Odysseus.BiographiesCheryl S. Ntumy is a Ghanaian writer of speculative fiction, romance and YA. She is part of the Sauútiverse Collective, which created a shared universe for Afrocentric speculative fiction, and Petlo Literary Arts, a creative writing organisation in Botswana.Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author. She’s a Solstice, British Fantasy, Locus, Ignyte and Foreword Indies Award winner, a twice World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award finalist, and a finalist in multiple awards. Eugen is an Otherwise Fellow, and was also announced in the honor list for ‘doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction’.This episode is hosted by Olivia......................................................................................................................................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), Shilpa Varma 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.htmlOur 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, Best Indie Press 2024 & 2025 (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.