A review by jw2869
Intruders: Short Stories by Mohale Mashigo

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is a series of short stories set in South Africa that fall in the speculative fiction genre. They tell the stories of ordinary people who are seen as outsiders or intruders and are put in extraordinary or fantastical situations. The stories bring the people we'd like to dismiss, demean, or ignore to center stage. A common thread across the stories are people who go through impossible odds to reclaim themselves and their sense of belonging. The more I sit with this and read interviews the author has done (like this one https://journals.openedition.org/ces/...) the more I like this collection. Though it had an uneven start I was invested in the stories by the midpoint. I especially liked the untitled I, ii, and iii, Ghost Strain N, On the Run and the High Heel Killer. That intro conversation about Afrofuturism not being for Africans shook the table and I'm excited to talk about it with others.