Flame Tree acquires new Bacon anthology
UK-based publisher Flame Tree Publishing has acquired world rights to Sauuti Terrors, two speculative fiction anthologies co-edited by Eugen Bacon, Stephen Embleton and Cheryl S Ntumy, in a deal brokered by Bieke van Aggelen of the African Literary Agency.
The anthologies bring together African and African diaspora writers in a “powerful and haunting anthology of short stories from the groundbreaking Sauútiverse, a shared Afrocentric world or universe,” said the publisher. “Sauúti Terrors tells of the doomed, the damned, the shunned, the cunning, the destroyers, the noxious, and more, in the worlds of the living, the in-between and the dead.”
Bacon is an African Australian author. Her work has been recognised with Solstice, British Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus and Foreword Indies awards, and nominated for World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson and Philip K Dick awards, as well as the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. She is an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Tasmania, and a 2024 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence.
She said, “In this collaboration, we wanted to understand the psychology of fear and also reflect our apocalyptic world. Writing horror can be cautionary, as in, this is how bad things can get if we don’t change now. We put together an anthology of stories set across the Sauútiverse and framing stories that tackle themes of climatic action, wretched leadership, racism, social injustice and more.”
Flame Tree publisher Nick Wells said, “It’s our pleasure to bring to the world these two Sauúti Terrors anthologies that are a perfect fit for Beyond and Within, where we showcase the short stories of diverse and inclusive voices in speculative fiction.”
Flame Tree plans to publish the first anthology in January 2026 and the second in January 2027.
Pictured: Eugen Bacon. Photo credit: Peter W Allen.
Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions
