Rakesh Khanna
LightNews LightNews
banner
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Rakesh Khanna
@blaftrakesh.bsky.social
670 followers 450 following 920 posts
(any/all)
Books, ghosts, math, marine invertebrates. Co-founder & editor @blaft.bsky.social.

Author of Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738269/ghosts-monsters-and-demons-of-india-by-rakesh-khanna/
Posts Replies Media Videos
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
This anthology I edited has murder hornets, haunted mangroves, boys made of ice cream, and a demon that sends your corpse back home to tell the story of how it killed you:

www.blaft.com/collections/...
Bandigoat: A Collection of Strange & Horrible Tales
November 27, 2025 at 3:14 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
This article doesn't even get into how goofball the actual text of the Arthashastra is.

A lot of it's about dressing up in snake costumes and blowing clouds of smoke out of your nose, or pretending to see comets that aren't there.

www.indiatoday.in/education-to...
The Chanakya paradox: A myth so useful, we made it history Between history and legend lies the enigma of Chanakya, a man who may have shaped India's destiny, or never existed at all. But can itihaas and katha not co-exist?
November 14, 2025 at 1:59 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Received a return box from a book fair 2 years ago with ~12 copies of "Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India" that have slightly banged up covers. Nothing wrong with insides.

Selling em on the Blaft site for ₹300 (70% discount)! India only. Use code BATTLESCARREDGHOSTS at checkout.

www.blaft.com
Some copies of Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India with slightly bent/damaged covers
November 13, 2025 at 3:06 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Blaft latest releases and zines are back on the shelves at IDIOM BOOK SELLERS in Fort Kochi, Kerala!
Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India; The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF; Bandigoat: A Collection of Strange & Horrible Tales; Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man & Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings by Kuzhali Manickavel The Aayakudi Murders by Indra Soundar Rajan; The H2O Problem by Vidyun Sabhaney; Trouble in Portpettai; A Compendium of Lesser Sexy Owl Gods; How to Love Mathematical Objects; and other zines The Aayakudi Murders by Indra Soundar Rajan; You Go Man! Why Me? By Kuzhali Manickavel; The H2O Problem by Vidyun Sabhaney; Trouble in Portpettai by Avakkai & Chukka; Killer Echinoderms in Indian History by Virender Murkblob; A Compendium of Lesser Sexy Owl Gods; How to Love Mathematical Objects; and other zines
November 12, 2025 at 2:47 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Toooo realllll
Days of Blood and Starlight etc Children of Blood and Bone etc Court of Mist and fUry etc Reign of stars and fire
November 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
If you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it. @artofcoop.bsky.social
Coop's cover for the ESTUS GEARBOX compilation album. There's a tongue and an eyeball and a car and some snot
November 8, 2025 at 12:10 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Bought at the show. Age 11. Mom took me and the two other members of my 6th grade metal band. Mom was the cool kid, obvs
Black Sabbath - Born Again
November 3, 2025 at 11:03 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Prepping "Things We Found During the Autopsy" for reprint, checking the copyrights page, and thinking about the work that writers do
All other stories ©2008–2014 Kuzhali Manickavel. “How to Wear an Indian Village” was previously published at Wigleaf, 2009. “The Ash Eaters” was previously published at Everyday Genius, 2009. An earlier version of “The Twins” was published at The Missing Slate, 2013. An earlier version of “This is Us and This is Us Outside” was published at Out of Print, 2010. An earlier version of “Everyone Does Integral Calculus” was published at anderbo.com, 2010. An earlier version of “Jugni” was published in Versal 8, 2010. An earlier version of “The Underground Bird Sanctuary” was published in The Michigan Quarterly Review, 2011. “The Importance Of Having A Minty-Fresh Export-Quality Aadi Velli Special Non-Cola Cola In The Tropicool Icy-Land Urban Indian Slum” and an earlier version of “The Four Steps of Standard Plastination” were previously published at Hobart, 2009. An earlier version of “How Juniper Parsnip Saved Christmas Eve” was published in Christmas Stories, Scholastic, 2009. An earlier version of “Boys Like That” was published in Jaggery, 2013. “Kisi Shayar Something Something” was previously published in The Café Irreal #31, 2009. “You Can’t and You Don’t” was previously published at PANK, 2009. An earlier version of “This Old Man” was published in Going Down Swinging #28, 2008, and also appeared in Cutting Chai, 2010. “Discuss How India Will Become a Propserous and Secure Nation in the Next Five Years” was previously published in Noö Weekly, 2011. “Daily Future Life Predictions From The HotMalluAuntyWetSariSexBoobsDotComCenter Based In The Tropicool Icy-Land Urban Indian Slum” was previously published at Eyeshot, 2009. An earlier version of “Three Scenarios Leading To The Rape Of A Teenage Girl In The Tropicool Icy-Land Urban Indian Slum” was published as a chapbook by ml press, 2009. An earlier version of “A Basic Guide to Instigating Violence among Gentoo Penguins in the Tropicool Icy-Land Urban Indian Slum” was published at DIAGRAM, 2010.... etc etc
October 31, 2025 at 9:52 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
The Bandigoat lives!

7 tales of weird fiction & horror by @kuzhalimanickavel.bsky.social, @emelkrishnan.bsky.social, Jugal Mody, Miriam Kumaradoss-Hohauser, Lungmying Lepcha, and Rashmi Ruth Devadasan

www.blaft.com/products/ban...
Bandigoat -- a glowing extradimensional rat-goat hybrid on a cloudy black background
October 31, 2025 at 6:17 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
If you see this, quote with a robot that isn't from Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, or Transformers
Tala-Pattachitra by Pachanana Moharana showing an alien robot, purportedly from the 1947 Nayagarh landing, on a segue-like device. From THE OBLITERARY JOURNAL Vol. 1
October 31, 2025 at 6:15 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
I like this one pretty well. They put on one of the best and grungiest live shows I have ever seen.
Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun
October 30, 2025 at 4:41 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Not to say protesting and other sorts of resistance aren't valuable, but my hunch is this is the one that works best.

If you're an investor, check your portfolios & pull your money.
BDS Boycott List: Chevron, HP, Carrefour, AA, XBOX, Caltex, Texaco, Reebok, Dell, Teva, Disney, Sodastream, RE/MAX, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Expedia, Siemens, Airbnb, Booking.com, Cisco, Macdonald's, Coca Cola, Papa John's, Domino,s Pizza Hut, ZARA, WiX
October 28, 2025 at 12:21 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
A crate!?! That's a whole lotta jack o'lanterns' worth

Need to source some of these babies
Very large pumpkins
October 26, 2025 at 7:51 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
We may possibly have had an ulterior motive for hosting a group pumpkin carving session
Poosnikai vedai roasted with salt & chili powder #bestsnakes
October 26, 2025 at 7:19 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
I have just found several lists of Indian speculative fiction writers that refer to Kuzhali Manickavel as "The Most Esoteric Writer in India" 😆

Super proud to be her publisher!
Monster Complex: Kuzhali Manickavel The most esoteric writer in India, Manicka­vel writes short fiction and chapbooks. She pens strange, quirky fiction that moves between fantasy and surrealism. Her books include short story collections Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them have Wings and Things We Found During the Autopsy.
October 23, 2025 at 1:50 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Hallo, I'm editor & occasional writer w/ Blaft Publications in Chennai. BANDIGOAT, our new anthology of weird horror fiction, is releasing on Saturday!

www.blaft.com/collections/...

I've also edited Tamil & Gujarati pulp fiction in English translation, anti-caste SF, & a book of Indian ghostlore
Bandigoat: A Collection of Strange & Horrible Stories. The front cover shows a glowing green extrandimensional goat-rat hybrid. Author list: Kuzhali Manickavel, M L Krishnan, Srividya Tadepalli, Lungmying Lepcha, Jugal Mody, Miriam Kumaradoss-Hohauser, & Rashmi Ruth Devadasan. Edited by Rakesh Khanna The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF. Front cover shows an illustration by Priyanka Paul: "Babasaheb in the Future". R T Samuel, Rakesh Khanna, Rashmi Ruth Devadasan, eds. The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction. Front cover by Nabi H Ali. Selected and translated by Vishwambhari S Parmar, edited by Rakesh Khanna Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India by J Furcifer Bhairav and Rakesh Khanna (Watkins international edition)
October 22, 2025 at 11:48 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Watching the total impunity for the perpetrators of this shit just gives the bleakest feeling
Tweet from Quds News: The Palestinian ministry of Health reported earlier today that 45 Palestinian bodies have been released by Israel. All had their hands and legs cuffed. "Some were blindfolded. Some had gunshot wounds, while others have been run over by tanks." Nasser Hospital said.
October 17, 2025 at 6:23 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Chennai! Come to our Bandigoat book launch / pumpkin carving party on Saturday Oct 25th!
Bandigoat release party. Saturday Oct 25 Kannadi cupboard, Tambaram. Image shows a goat-rat with shades and a disco ball Kuzhali Manickavel, Sridya Tadepalli, Rashmi Ruth Devadasan in conversation with Anjali Alappat Jackolanterns
October 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
The bookstore was full of cheery looking stuff yesterday
"Pestilence", "War", "Death" by Laura Thalassa "King of Greed", "King of Sloth", "King of Pride" by Ana Huang "God of Fury" "God of War" "God of Ruin" by Rina Kent
October 9, 2025 at 1:29 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Map of Texas showing location of Norment
October 7, 2025 at 11:53 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Good morning new followers! I'm an editor & occasional author w/ @blaft.bsky.social. We have 2 new titles out this month (weird horror antho + anti-caste stories translated from Marathi). Check out our work:

www.blaft.com/collections/...

Free Palestine 🇵🇸, fight bigotry 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✊🏽, support indie creators
Bandigoat: A Collection of Strange & Horrible Tales The Seekers by Gautamiputra Kamble
October 6, 2025 at 2:41 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
When I was researching my book Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India, I learned of a 1000-year-old myth about Roman tech being used to build killer robots to guard the Buddha's remains in Pataliputra, and a Hungarian folklorist read my book & got excited about it, & she managed to dig up a🧵(1/3)
Romanised Pali manuscript of the Lokapannati Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India p. 60 Bhoota Vahana Yanta Bhoota Vahana Yanta means “spirit movement machine.” The term is used for several varieties of robot drone assassins and sword-wielding machine- men mentioned in the Lokapannati, a Pali-language text written between 1000 and 1200 CE by Saddhammaghosa of Thaton, but concerning events that took place much earlier, around 500 to 200 BCE. According to the story, robots were first invented by engineers of the early Roman Republic. These robots were used for commerce, in agriculture, as a police force, and as executioners. The secret of how to build these spirit-engines was fiercely protected. If any engineer dared to take the designs out of the city, one of his own executioner robots would come after him and kill him. At that time, in Pataliputra (then in the kingdom of Magadha, now Patna in the state of Bihar), there lived a young man who had heard of the Romans’ magical androids. He became so determined to learn the secrets of their manufacture and share them with the people of Magadha that he arranged his own death. Then, on his deathbed, he vowed to be reincarnated as a Roman. This indeed took place. In his new life, the man grew up to join the Roman guild of engineers. He even married the daughter of the Master Robot-Maker, and had a son by her. Once he learned the secrets of the Bhoota Vahana Yanta, the man resolved to transfer the information back to Pataliputra. But he was well aware that now, since he was a member of the guild, he would be killed as soon as he left. So he cut a gash in his thigh, inserted the plans in his flesh, and sewed the wound back up.
October 5, 2025 at 1:21 PM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Final touches on the front matter & copyright notices & acknowledgements! Off to print this weekend! Our first translation from Marathi, very different from anything I've ever edited before. An experience.

Pre-order: www.blaft.com/products/the...
The Seekers by Gautamiputra Kamble - Translated from the Marathi by Sirus J Libeiro
October 3, 2025 at 7:28 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
I really wish @hindustan-times.bsky.social and other Indian news sites would stop running disinfo for the US right wing. Why choose this headline when there are conflicting reports?

www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/u...
Some users claim he donated to Democratic campaigns, sharing screenshots of alleged donation receipts. However, HT.com has not been able to independently verify these claims.
September 29, 2025 at 2:06 AM
blaftrakesh.bsky.social
Palakkad, Kerala!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakshi_%28sculpture%29
September 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM