@blaft@mastodon.social
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blaft

@blaft@mastodon.social

South Indian indie publishing house. Tamil pulp fiction, Urdu detective novels, & Nigerian soyayya in translation. Comics. Ladies with monster boyfriends. More.
https://blaft.com

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blaft, to random
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A few #KuzhaliManickavel stories have been moving into Indian languages recently. Novelist Hansda Sowvendra Shekar translated "Paavai" (from Manickavel's 1st collection, Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings) & published it in #Hindi in #VanmaliKatha last month, and Appadurai Muttulingam has a #Tamil translation of "The Statue Game" in #Andhimazhai.

https://www.andhimazhai.com/literature/short-stories/silai-vilaiyattu

Great to see this happening!

blaft, to random
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The last few audiobooks I've listened to have all featured white (UK/USian) readers who at some point in the narration do an Indian or Chinese or African-American vernacular accent for a character's voice. This is always offensive, or at best very cringe, even when you can tell the reader is trying valiantly not to do a caricature.

I wish audiobook producers wouldn't do this. Get an Asian or Af-Am reader to read the whole thing, or just the character parts, or at least just read it neutral.

blaft,
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@orionkidder It's put me off audiobooks entirely TBH! Unless it's like Jane Austen or something where I can be pretty confident I won't have a random Blaccent or Apu-from-the-Simpsons-voice jump out at me

blaft,
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@orionkidder My kid is currently really enjoying the Terry Pratchett readings by Indira Varma, who does a whole range of Scottish and Irish dialect. That doesn't bother me... though I suppose Scots might feel different

blaft,
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@orionkidder absolutely

blaft,
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@orionkidder Yeah, well put.

blaft, to random
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Mid-Day article on our upcoming Gujarati Pulp Fiction anthology, featuring many quotes from our illustrious translator:

https://www.mid-day.com/sunday-mid-day/article/apnu-pulp-fiction-ave-english-ma-23343275

blaft,
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I feel like this is worth a correction: Kanu Bhagdev absolutely does have a Wikipedia page (except, it's on Gujarati Wikipedia) https://gu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AA%95%E0%AA%A8%E0%AB%81_%E0%AA%AD%E0%AA%97%E0%AA%A6%E0%AB%87%E0%AA%B5

blaft, to random
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Put Rs. 2000 worth of books in your cart and get a free tote bag with art by Shyam!

Choose from 3 Tamil Pulp Fiction cover girls, Kollivay Pey (a fire-breathing Tamil demon), and Monster Date Night

https://www.blaft.com/collections/new-arrivals

Tamil Pulp Fiction Cyborg Girl Tote Bag
Kollivay Pey tote bag (fire-breathing demon)

blaft, to random
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blaft, to random
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Good morning! Do we have any followers who read Marathi? We're looking to learn more about MARATHI WOMEN WRITERS, in particular those who work in adventure, romance, horror, crime, and other genres that rarely get translated or win awards.

We've got a couple of translators exploring the possibility of doing a Marathi pulp fiction anthology. They have some cool stories lined up. But ALL the authors are men! Seems very hard to find women writing genre fic in this language. Any tips welcome!

blaft, to random
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blaft, to random
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In case you missed our Kickstarter:

Gujarati Pulp Fiction is now available for pre-order on our website.

Expected release: December 2024

https://www.blaft.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/the-blaft-anthology-of-gujarati-pulp-fiction

blaft, to random
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"Sometimes we are the mud. And sometimes we are a woman of colour sitting in South India, on an unseasonally hot day, in a city with a water shortage, writing about this mud. It’s just life, friends"

http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/stories-from-the-radio-the-heartbeat/

blaft, to random
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This postcard book's been out of print for a while, but we have 5 copies back in stock! HEROES, GUNDAS, VAMPS, AND GOOD GIRLS: 25 classic Hindi pulp fiction covers by Mustajab Ahmed Siddiqui, aka Shelle.
https://www.blaft.com/products/heroes-gundas-vamps-good-girls

Heroes, Gundas, Vamps & Good Girls: Hindi Pulp Cover Art by Shelle
Nasib Mera Dushman (Fate, My Enemy) by Ved Prakash Sharma, cover art by Shelle

blaft,
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@Deus Yasssss Crime & Detective was AMAZING! Go go Punjabi aunty! Here's a link to a great article on their photocomics by Kai Friese (published in the excellent South African zine Chimurenga) (includes a hilarious sample)

https://chimurengachronic.co.za/pulp/

@divya

misty, to random
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Book recommendation: I've been really enjoying @blaft's translated editions of pulp Urdu detective fiction. It's a really fun series - very over the top mysteries, pulp action, and an extremely fun detective/assistant dynamic. They've published four volumes in this series and the ebooks are only about $5 each.

https://www.blaft.com/products/poisoned-arrow-ebook

blaft,
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@misty So glad you're digging them!

blaft, to random
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See you this Sunday!

blaft, to random
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Although we won't be at London Book Fair this year, you can check out GHOSTS, MONSTERS, AND DEMONS OF INDIA at the Watkins Media stall, 2A41!

https://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/en-gb/exhibitor-details.watkins%20media.org-4ad2e0cb-4e71-40dd-8ea5-8d56bc1330d3.html#/

Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India by Rakesh Khanna & J. Furcifer Bhairav (Indian Edition)
Faru Fureta Faru Fureta means “reef monster” in Dhivehi, a language spoken in the Maldives and on remote Minicoy Island, the southernmost point of the Lakshadweep Archipelago. The Faru Fureta is a large, slimy, toad-like creature that can stand as tall as a tree. While on land, though, it usually prefers to crawl about on all fours. It has a huge, wide mouth full of teeth like crystal daggers, each one larger than a man’s hand. This monster has a nasty smell, like sea sponges and corals that have been sitting in the sun for a while. The Faru Fureta sometimes comes ashore in the dead of night, calling out a person’s name in a human voice. In the darkness, the monster makes itself look like a shadowy human form. It beckons the person to follow as it walks to the beach. It leads them to the edge of the water. Then it drags them into the surf and eats them. Despite being fearsome and bloodthirsty, Faru Furetas are quite cowardly and easy to fool. One way to scare a Faru Fureta away is to noisily crunch breadfruit chips. It will think you are crunching bones. This will convince the monster that you are much more dangerous than it, so it will hightail it back into the water.
Nipong Among the Adi, Mising, and several other tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Nipong is a female spirit that causes miscarriage, labor trouble, and painful periods. She is also called Niji-Nipong. She is a descendant of the sylvan demon Robo (see Wiyu). Nipong usually targets women, but can also cause illness or bad luck for men. She is one of the most feared of all evil spirits—so much so that whenever a different malevolent spirit is being propitiated, an additional offering is made to Nipong, as well. Whenever a woman is having a difficult pregnancy or labor, her husband or relatives sacrifice animals to Nipong. When Nipong possesses a woman, she will raise both hands to her hair, clutch it tightly, and begin to scream incessantly. The spirit of any woman who dies while pregnant or in childbirth travels to the realm of Nipong, a world which lies parallel to the world of the living. There she becomes a Niji-Nipong. These female ghosts manifest themselves in marshes, along the banks of streams, or wherever wild plantains grow. A Niji-Nipong can take the form of a small animal, such as a mole shrew, gecko, frog, bat, or small bird. The spotted owlet in particular is feared as an embodiment of Nipong. It is said to be very unlucky to hear its screech. When travellers in the forest hear this sound, they are supposed to remove some article of clothing or ornament that they have received as a gift, and get rid of it.

blaft, (edited ) to random
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Reprints of Kuzhali Manickavel's THINGS WE FOUND DURING THE AUTOPSY are in and it's back in stock on our website!

https://www.blaft.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/things-we-found-during-the-autopsy

Manickavel's second collection of short fiction includes stories about apocalyptic floods, tiny skeletons that erupt out of blisters, dragons decaying in kitchen cupboards, kleptomaniac penguins, middle school angst, a hike up the steps to Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple, and many other scintillating and edifying topics.

Pick up a copy now!

blaft,
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Check out the book trailer (from 9 years ago 🤯) RIP Ananthanayagi and Kasthuri

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjajUXh4LYE

blaft, to random
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#introductions

We're a small publishing house based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. We started in 2008. We do translations of lesser-known Indian folklore and pulp fiction and graphic novels and weird horror fiction and quirky books about young women with monster boyfriends.

Our books are available worldwide! (We're currently working on making it a little easier for international customers to purchase from our site!)

http://blaft.com/

Kumari Loves a Monster
image/jpeg
Mizo Myths by Cherrie Lalnunziri Chhangte

toridas_, to random
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Fans of ! Please share your favourite bat facts 🦇 CC: @loren @futurebird can you please boost for wider reach? 🙏🏽 I wanna see people going batshit over bats.

blaft,
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@toridas_ @loren @futurebird
There's a giant colony of 250,000 Mexcian free-tailed bats that lives under a freeway in California
https://yolobasin.org/battalkandwalks/

blaft, (edited ) to 13thFloor
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#Ebooks are available from the Blaft website, from Smashwords, or from the muchtoolarge retailers. Can we interest you in a #Tamil supernatural #thriller in English #translation? #Mythology from the state of #Mizoram on India's border with Myanmar? Bonkers slipstream short fiction from Kuzhali Manickavel? An encyclopedia of #ghosts and #cryptids?

https://www.blaft.com/collections/ebooks

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/blaft/newest#published

blaft,
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@zdl To my knowledge this is the very first order on our webstore from China (maybe others have tried and not gotten through!) and I had no idea they were requiring this. We'll ask and try to figure out the logic!

blaft,
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@zdl Definitely sounds rough and we will investigate. (The currency display thing is a known issue... I guess it hasn't seemed like a huge deal for us because it's so common as an Indian to have to do conversions from $ or £ while shopping online. But agree it would be easier if it showed the price in local currency. Will look into it.)

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