In this week’s episode of Flame Tree’s Myth & Fiction podcast, we are again visiting the horror genre but this time we are honing in on how the human mind and often madness can connect itself to the supernatural. Essentially, two short stories that populate the subgenre of psychological horror.

Featuring:

‘He Will Hear Us Coming’ by Anna Ziegelhof (00.38), narrated by Amanda Benzecry. A story about a young woman’s homecoming from a mental institution and her quest to discover the truth about the ghost that haunts her. Published within our 2020 collection, Footsteps in the Dark.

& ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ by Edgar Allen Poe (22:37), narrated by Nick. A classic short story that follows a man driven to insanity and eventually confession by the sound of his victim’s forever beating heart. This story was first published in 1843 but can be found in our collection titled American Gothic Short Stories.

Biographies:

Anna Ziegelhof is originally from Germany, but now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she works in tech by day and writes short fiction by night. She is the author of several horror and science fiction short stories, such as ‘Dimenso-Yarn Ad Copy Draft’ (Shoreline of Infinity), ‘The Night Guard’ (Close the Gate anthology), ‘Hello, Funny Horse’ (Crimson Streets), ‘Little Grey Weirdos’ (The Future Fire), and ‘My Little Danger-Stranger’ (Daily Science Fiction).

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an influential author, poet, editor and literary critic that wrote during the American Romantic Movement. His better-known works include his poems ‘The Raven’ and ‘Annabel Lee’, and the short stories ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’.

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.

‘He Will Hear Us Coming’ is © 2020 Anna Ziegelhof and appeared in Footsteps in the Dark (Flame Tree Publishing, 2020).

‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ was first published in The Pioneer, 1843 and more recently in American Gothic (Flame Tree Publishing, 2019).

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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.