The Great Achilles

Everyone knows Achilles - the golden warrior, the rage of the Greeks, the heel that doomed him. But nobody talks about Achilles the toddler, the little boy who was scared of water. Both stories in this episode will help listeners consider Achilles, the man, not just his life but what he left behind… 

Featuring: 

‘How Achilles Grew Up’ by Kenzie Lappin (02.17), read by Nathan Chatelier. A story that looks beyond the Achilles of marble statues and towards the deep emotion of his story. This can be found in our Myths, Gods & Immortals book, Achilles. 

‘Odysseus Sails to Seek the Son of Achilles’ (21.41), read by Bea. Chronologically connected to the above, this is an example of a traditional Greek mythology text, fully immersed in ancient politics, battles and grief. Borrowed from our book,  Greek Myths & Tales.

Biographies:

Kenzie Lappin has written for several publications, such as Cosmic Horror Monthly, Brigids Gate Press, Apex Magazine, WordFire Press, Air And Nothingness Press, and more. She loves science fiction, fantasy and mythology. Check her out on Twitter at @KenzieLappin. She loves science fiction, fantasy, and a mixture of both. She has always had a fascination with mythology.

‘Odysseus Sails to Seek the Son of Achilles’ is part of a wider collection of Greek mythology, sourced and contributed to by a myriad of authors, editors and translators. A full list of contributors can be found in Greek Myths & Tales. However, this narrative was likely derived from one of Homer’s epic poems. Little is known about Homer’s life, but he is thought to have been born sometime between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries.

Nathan Chatelier is a British voiceover artist with almost fifty audiobooks recorded alongside thousands of other projects, from videogames to the Mean Girls West End trailer. Check out his demos.

This episode was hosted by Shilpa Varma. To find out more about our writer-in-residence and her role at Flame Tree, click here. 

‘How Achilles Grew Up’ is ©2025 Kenzie Lappin and appeared in Achilles (Flame Tree Publishing, 2025).

‘Odysseus Sails to Seek the Son of Achilles’ appeared in Greek Myths & Tales (Flame Tree Publishing, 2018).

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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.