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The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF
An anthology of weird, fantastic, supernatural, Dalit futurist, & magical realist fiction by writers from South Asia and the diaspora.
This book features a mix of original English short stories and works in translation, as well as a few comics/graphic narratives. Some are by well-known superstars of Dalit and Bahujan literature, others by emerging or newly-emerged authors. The list of writers includes:
Bama, Dalit feminist icon and author of the groundbreaking novel Karukku (1992). Her brand new story "Kurali" is about a group of villagers who put on a sound & light show for some ravenous ghosts. (Translated from the Tamil by Meena Kandasamy.)
Mimi Mondal, whose fiction has twice been nominated for the Nebula Award, who co-edited a Hugo-nominated and Locus Award-winning anthology on the work of Octavia Butler, and who has written adventures for Dungeons & Dragons. (She also interned at Blaft, once upon a long, long time ago...!)
Gautamiputra Kamble, Marathi-language author of Parivrajak, a fable about two wanderers on a journey to a forbidden mountain. (In translation by Sirus Libeiro.)
Gogu Shyamala, Telugu-language author of Father May Be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket, But.... (2012). Her new story is "The Mysterious Ladder." (In Translation by Divya Kalavala.)
P. A. Uthaman (1961-2008), Malayalam-language author of Chaoli, for which he posthumously won the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award for best novel in 2008. We'll be including his story "The River Didn't Know, Either", about a magical family heirloom. (In translation by Mridula Makkuni.)
Neerav Patel (1950-2019), founder of the Gujarati Dalit literary magazine Kalo Suraj ("Black Sun"). His story deals with caste oppression among the robots. (In translation by Gopika Jadeja.)
Tamilmagan, Tamil-language author of the science fiction novel Operation Nova and the collection Amila Devathaigal ("Acid Angels"). His story in this anthology is about a far-future Indian city where something very strange has happened to the agrarian class. (In translation by Nirmal Rajagopalan.)
Sumit Kumar, founder of the independent comics publisher Bakarmax, and creator of the graphic novels Amar Bari Tomar Bari Naxalbari and Kashmir ki Kahani.
Archita Mittra, whose work has been published or is forthcoming in Lightspeed, Locus Magazine, Reactor, and Strange Horizons, among other venues. She is an Ignyte Award finalist for Best Critic while her fiction and poetry have been nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Net prizes.
Goutam Mandal, a Bengali science fiction novelist and thriller writer who has also translated Japanese yokai stories into Bengali. (In translation by Ipsa S. and Pratiti Ketoki.)
V. Chandrashekar Rao
Sahej Rahal
Rahee Punyashloka
Kunal Lokhande
Subash Thebe Limbu
Nabi Haider Ali
Esther Larisa David
Snehashish Das
Hameedha Khan
Aswathy K. Raj
Gouri
Gitanjali Joshua
Prachi Singh
Shivani Kshirsagar
Yukti Narang
Sudarshan Devadoss & M.K. Abhilash
Yeswanth Mocharla
This book features a mix of original English short stories and works in translation, as well as a few comics/graphic narratives. Some are by well-known superstars of Dalit and Bahujan literature, others by emerging or newly-emerged authors. The list of writers includes:
Bama, Dalit feminist icon and author of the groundbreaking novel Karukku (1992). Her brand new story "Kurali" is about a group of villagers who put on a sound & light show for some ravenous ghosts. (Translated from the Tamil by Meena Kandasamy.)
Mimi Mondal, whose fiction has twice been nominated for the Nebula Award, who co-edited a Hugo-nominated and Locus Award-winning anthology on the work of Octavia Butler, and who has written adventures for Dungeons & Dragons. (She also interned at Blaft, once upon a long, long time ago...!)
Gautamiputra Kamble, Marathi-language author of Parivrajak, a fable about two wanderers on a journey to a forbidden mountain. (In translation by Sirus Libeiro.)
Gogu Shyamala, Telugu-language author of Father May Be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket, But.... (2012). Her new story is "The Mysterious Ladder." (In Translation by Divya Kalavala.)
P. A. Uthaman (1961-2008), Malayalam-language author of Chaoli, for which he posthumously won the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award for best novel in 2008. We'll be including his story "The River Didn't Know, Either", about a magical family heirloom. (In translation by Mridula Makkuni.)
Neerav Patel (1950-2019), founder of the Gujarati Dalit literary magazine Kalo Suraj ("Black Sun"). His story deals with caste oppression among the robots. (In translation by Gopika Jadeja.)
Tamilmagan, Tamil-language author of the science fiction novel Operation Nova and the collection Amila Devathaigal ("Acid Angels"). His story in this anthology is about a far-future Indian city where something very strange has happened to the agrarian class. (In translation by Nirmal Rajagopalan.)
Sumit Kumar, founder of the independent comics publisher Bakarmax, and creator of the graphic novels Amar Bari Tomar Bari Naxalbari and Kashmir ki Kahani.
Archita Mittra, whose work has been published or is forthcoming in Lightspeed, Locus Magazine, Reactor, and Strange Horizons, among other venues. She is an Ignyte Award finalist for Best Critic while her fiction and poetry have been nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Net prizes.
Goutam Mandal, a Bengali science fiction novelist and thriller writer who has also translated Japanese yokai stories into Bengali. (In translation by Ipsa S. and Pratiti Ketoki.)
V. Chandrashekar Rao
Sahej Rahal
Rahee Punyashloka
Kunal Lokhande
Subash Thebe Limbu
Nabi Haider Ali
Esther Larisa David
Snehashish Das
Hameedha Khan
Aswathy K. Raj
Gouri
Gitanjali Joshua
Prachi Singh
Shivani Kshirsagar
Yukti Narang
Sudarshan Devadoss & M.K. Abhilash
Yeswanth Mocharla
450 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 2024
18 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 23, 2025
I generally avoid reading sci-fi and fantasy from South Asian writers because their work is *so* uninspired. The problem, however, isn’t a lack of creativity or pizzazz, it’s that the publishing industry is gatekept by savarnas. And so naturally, the most mediocre authors get published thanks to their caste and connections.
That’s why this collection of anti-caste speculative fiction from Blaft Publications made me cry. It is everything I’ve ever wanted to read from the subcontinent, and is also so, so cool, omg (I mean, saripunk and a zombie apocalypse in Madras, c’mon!!!). I discovered authors I’d never heard of before — a lot of them writing in regional languages that were translated into English for this anthology. And the stories were rich and diverse (several queer ones to boot), set in futuristic landscapes and contexts that were nonetheless familiar for being South Asian.
That’s why this collection of anti-caste speculative fiction from Blaft Publications made me cry. It is everything I’ve ever wanted to read from the subcontinent, and is also so, so cool, omg (I mean, saripunk and a zombie apocalypse in Madras, c’mon!!!). I discovered authors I’d never heard of before — a lot of them writing in regional languages that were translated into English for this anthology. And the stories were rich and diverse (several queer ones to boot), set in futuristic landscapes and contexts that were nonetheless familiar for being South Asian.
September 7, 2025
A nice collection of SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Folktale, etc., stories, including graphic novels, from India, offering perspectives from writers outside of the more comfortable social circles. Some were written in English, but many are translated from a variety of Indian languages. I most enjoyed the Horror-tinged stories, including the girls-fight-zombies story "Meen Matters".
I may read more of these "Blaft" collections. I would prefer smaller books with fewer stories each, though, because it is a bit uncomfortable to hold such a thick book.
I may read more of these "Blaft" collections. I would prefer smaller books with fewer stories each, though, because it is a bit uncomfortable to hold such a thick book.
July 18, 2025
-What's Your Caste, By the Way?-
Review of 'The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF'
Quote Alert
"𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞.(𝐈 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬. 𝐈 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬. 𝐍𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞.) 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨, 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐮𝐧𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭? 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰."
How do you give a bitter tablet? By wrapping it up in swathes of sweetness. But what is the sweetness is bitter too? What if bitterness is the exact thing you need? Unmasked, untainted bitterness. Truth always is. Nobody called it a boiled sweet. Hence, The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste serves us a futuristic India with the ever present caste. A deep throbbing bracket inside a religion that claims itself to be all-encompassing, caste is a bitter pill we all need to swallow.
An anthology of weird, fantastic, supernatural, Dalit futurist, & magical realist fiction by writers from South Asia and the diaspora, 'The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF' features a mix of original English short stories and works in translation, as well as several graphic narratives.
One of the most hard-hitting works here is a comic Spacewali. After first Gaganyan was successful, the astronauts fight over who would do the dishes. As is the norm, the woman is entrusted with the task of wiping down the spaceship. They are soon sent a help from the earth, who encourages her own daughter to take up her job later.
My favourites were ' A demon that sits on your chest' by Gouri and 'God's Garden's by Goutam Mandal, translated from Bengali by Ipsa S. and Pratiti Ketoki. In former, a Pey who's only visible to the protagonist is a stand-in for the horrors of caste. In latter, God is saddened by the treatment of the people he loved.
In 'So it was Foretold' Mimi Mondal writes: 'In the old country when they massacred all my people, I survived because I was wife to a young man, one of theirs. I had taken his last name- the name of his forefathers who had enslaved and degraded mine, pronounced us untouchable.'
In Yukti Narang's 'The Kitchen Glob', a mysterious entitiy eats whatever there's to eat. A blow upon the consumerism, it can be interpreted in multiple ways.
In a distant future, an alien, his wormy head adorned with a U- shaped tilak, asks another 'Aap Naam Ke Piche Kya Lagate Hain?' (What's your surname?)
Review of 'The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF'
Quote Alert
"𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞.(𝐈 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬. 𝐈 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬. 𝐍𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞.) 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨, 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐮𝐧𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭? 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰."
How do you give a bitter tablet? By wrapping it up in swathes of sweetness. But what is the sweetness is bitter too? What if bitterness is the exact thing you need? Unmasked, untainted bitterness. Truth always is. Nobody called it a boiled sweet. Hence, The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste serves us a futuristic India with the ever present caste. A deep throbbing bracket inside a religion that claims itself to be all-encompassing, caste is a bitter pill we all need to swallow.
An anthology of weird, fantastic, supernatural, Dalit futurist, & magical realist fiction by writers from South Asia and the diaspora, 'The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF' features a mix of original English short stories and works in translation, as well as several graphic narratives.
One of the most hard-hitting works here is a comic Spacewali. After first Gaganyan was successful, the astronauts fight over who would do the dishes. As is the norm, the woman is entrusted with the task of wiping down the spaceship. They are soon sent a help from the earth, who encourages her own daughter to take up her job later.
My favourites were ' A demon that sits on your chest' by Gouri and 'God's Garden's by Goutam Mandal, translated from Bengali by Ipsa S. and Pratiti Ketoki. In former, a Pey who's only visible to the protagonist is a stand-in for the horrors of caste. In latter, God is saddened by the treatment of the people he loved.
In 'So it was Foretold' Mimi Mondal writes: 'In the old country when they massacred all my people, I survived because I was wife to a young man, one of theirs. I had taken his last name- the name of his forefathers who had enslaved and degraded mine, pronounced us untouchable.'
In Yukti Narang's 'The Kitchen Glob', a mysterious entitiy eats whatever there's to eat. A blow upon the consumerism, it can be interpreted in multiple ways.
In a distant future, an alien, his wormy head adorned with a U- shaped tilak, asks another 'Aap Naam Ke Piche Kya Lagate Hain?' (What's your surname?)
August 19, 2025
4.5 stars! This was soo good in parts!
Really well thought through collection of stories mostly - sci fi and fantasy. I'm so glad to read this really good work after my disappointment in BLAFT over Tamil Pulp Fiction!
My favourite was Meen Matters by Rashmi Ruth Devadasan. Those bad ass girls dealing with zombies , embracing themselves with confidence and attitude was everything I would like to read and see.
The ones that were really good - Korali by Bama, God's Garden by Goutam Mandal, So it was foretold by Mimi Mondal, In the extreme silence of the Agraharam by Aswathy K Raj, Looly Cooly by Yeshwantpur Mocharla, The kitchen glob by Yukti Narang ( even if it felt very Fernando Sorrentino) , The Last Radio play by Chandrashekar Rao, Happily Ever After by Archita Mittra, The River Didn't know either by P.A Uthaman, Chamyldom by Tamilmagan, Spacewali by Sumit Kumar, The House is never clean by Shivani Kshir Sagar, Melonhead by Nabi H Ali,Sand Stone Shatter by Prachi Singh, Switch by Gitanjali Joshua.
The ones that just slipped below damn good - Hallucination Steam by Sahej Rahal ( the prose was tedious even when the content was probably the bestest), Yangdang Phongma by Subash Limbu (nice picture,) R.V Society by Rahee Punyashloka ( great ideas - would have preferred to read them as shorts), Parivrajak by Gautamiputra Kamble ( beautiful so beautiful but, can't place why it didn't land perfectly), Pruning Neurons by Esther David (soo good till it flops weakly in the end )
The ones that didn't work
Death of a giant in a godless country by Snehashish Das - It actually had a great plotline, the entire idol section was brilliant - the giant section didn't work for me
Robot S/C 5 by Neerav Patel - Didn't belong at all in this fine collection of writing - Firstly a copy of Asimov, secondly so in your face and poorly written .
Really well thought through collection of stories mostly - sci fi and fantasy. I'm so glad to read this really good work after my disappointment in BLAFT over Tamil Pulp Fiction!
My favourite was Meen Matters by Rashmi Ruth Devadasan. Those bad ass girls dealing with zombies , embracing themselves with confidence and attitude was everything I would like to read and see.
The ones that were really good - Korali by Bama, God's Garden by Goutam Mandal, So it was foretold by Mimi Mondal, In the extreme silence of the Agraharam by Aswathy K Raj, Looly Cooly by Yeshwantpur Mocharla, The kitchen glob by Yukti Narang ( even if it felt very Fernando Sorrentino) , The Last Radio play by Chandrashekar Rao, Happily Ever After by Archita Mittra, The River Didn't know either by P.A Uthaman, Chamyldom by Tamilmagan, Spacewali by Sumit Kumar, The House is never clean by Shivani Kshir Sagar, Melonhead by Nabi H Ali,Sand Stone Shatter by Prachi Singh, Switch by Gitanjali Joshua.
The ones that just slipped below damn good - Hallucination Steam by Sahej Rahal ( the prose was tedious even when the content was probably the bestest), Yangdang Phongma by Subash Limbu (nice picture,) R.V Society by Rahee Punyashloka ( great ideas - would have preferred to read them as shorts), Parivrajak by Gautamiputra Kamble ( beautiful so beautiful but, can't place why it didn't land perfectly), Pruning Neurons by Esther David (soo good till it flops weakly in the end )
The ones that didn't work
Death of a giant in a godless country by Snehashish Das - It actually had a great plotline, the entire idol section was brilliant - the giant section didn't work for me
Robot S/C 5 by Neerav Patel - Didn't belong at all in this fine collection of writing - Firstly a copy of Asimov, secondly so in your face and poorly written .
November 25, 2025
Wonderful set of stories. So diverse and sometimes sad but sometimes really really inspiring:
My favourites: (but I really did like reading all of em)
Yangdang Phongma
Pruning Neurons
Looly Cooly
Meen Matters - SO GOOD
Melonhead
The R. V. Society for Promotion of Underground Sci-Fi Writers
Sand Stone Shatter
My favourites: (but I really did like reading all of em)
Yangdang Phongma
Pruning Neurons
Looly Cooly
Meen Matters - SO GOOD
Melonhead
The R. V. Society for Promotion of Underground Sci-Fi Writers
Sand Stone Shatter
January 19, 2025
As I'm reading each story, I'm liking this book more & more!! Blaft Publications, R.T. Samuel, Rakesh K. sir, Rashmi R.D ma'am and all of my coauthors created this book with love & care!! 👑👍 Absolute Peak!! Important Book!! 👍👊🫶👑🫡✨️🎖 5/5 👍
September 15, 2025
One of the best anthology of Sci-Fi stories I have ever read!
March 12, 2025
Whole greater than sum of its parts.
Standout stories: Meen Matters, The Last Radio Play, Hallucination Stream, The R.V. Society for Promotion of Underground Sci-Fi Writings, So It Was Foretold, Happily Ever After, The House is Never Clean, Parivrajak.
Standout stories: Meen Matters, The Last Radio Play, Hallucination Stream, The R.V. Society for Promotion of Underground Sci-Fi Writings, So It Was Foretold, Happily Ever After, The House is Never Clean, Parivrajak.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews