Reading caves

Reading Intruders felt like a breath of smoke-scented air after too many sanitized, eurocentric books. It’s as if Mohale Mashigo grabbed my usual U.S.-centric reading diet, flipped it upside down, and said: ‘Here, taste something wild, raw, and unapologetically African.’ It’s not a gentle ride — more like being dragged through myth, anger, humor, and history all at once — but it’s exactly the purge I didn’t know I needed. ► Genre: Speculative fiction, short stories — blends fantasy, science fiction, horror, magical realism. ► Themes: Power, belonging, gender, patriarchy, race, structural poverty, injustice, feminism, myth, memory, transformation. ► Author’s Age at Publication:  35 years old. ► Nationality of Author: South African, born in Soweto. ► Settings of the Stories: Primarily South African townships and cities—especially Bloemfontein, Soweto, Johannesburg—with mythic and rural spaces like the Karoo and urban ruins. ► Year of Publication: 2018 (first published Sep...