Kevin Rigathi
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formerlykevin.bsky.social
Kevin Rigathi
@formerlykevin.bsky.social
360 followers 66 following 15 posts
Kenyan SFF writer. Podcaster. Artist.

https://willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/2021/10/08/the-two-prophets/

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Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
“Mushrooms Grow in the Dark” by @formerlykevin.bsky.social in Ojuju Magazine’s Halloween Issue

When ancient stone pillars begin to collapse across the world, they unearth that these monuments may have served a far darker purpose than history admits.

🔗 ojujumagazine.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/m...
Promotional graphic for “Mushrooms Grow in the Dark” by Kevin Rigathi, featured in Ojugu Magazine's Halloween Issue and shared by Will This Be A Problem? The background features a warm, brown texture with subtle, mushroom-like patterns. The title text is in teal and red, with the author’s name in green. Below is an illustrated cover showing a glowing, monstrous baby figure with outstretched hands and green eyes, set against a dark, earthy backdrop. Halloween-themed pumpkins decorate the bottom corners. WTBAP’s logo appears at the top, while the website link is displayed at the bottom. Excerpt graphic for “Mushrooms Grow in the Dark” by Kevin Rigathi, published in Ojugu Magazine’s Halloween Issue and shared by Will This Be A Problem? The background features a warm, brown texture with abstract storm-cloud effects and subtle mushroom illustrations. Halloween-themed pumpkins decorate the bottom corners. WTBAP’s logo appears at the top, while Ojuju Magazine’s website link is displayed at the bottom. The excerpt reads: When I was a child, my cousins delighted in scaring me. They were older, with claims to secret knowledge that they, unlike the adults, would share with me. Once, during a visit, they told me something about our neighbour. The man would die, they said, because his compound was rotten with mushrooms. If you saw mushrooms in such numbers in a home, death always followed. Everyone, according to them, knew this. They were playing with me, of course. Teasing in the time-honoured tradition of older cousins. Yet, our neighbour died the following week when they were gone and could not take back their words, and the story calcified into a kind of truth in my young mind. In the face of this creature, my mind dug up this old story and named the thing Obuoba. Mushroom. Because of its skin. Because it broke things down and absorbed them. Because it had been growing all this time, in the dark. Because it was a harbinger of death.
November 3, 2025 at 10:29 AM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
I wrote a horror short story for Halloween.

Stonehenge, Kenya's Lothagam North, Ethiopia's Tiya Megaliths, the Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs... these pillar sites, and all others around the world, are connected by a terrifying secret.

Find out what it is in:

"Mushrooms Grow In The Dark"
Mushrooms Grow in the Dark
Kevin Rigathi Roadblocks are up all over Salisbury. Multiple choke points, and they’re turning everyone back, locals, tourists, and they’re extra unfriendly with the press. Get this, we have milita…
ojujumagazine.wordpress.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:26 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
I have a new horror story in Ojuju Magazine's Halloween Issue.

Check out "Mushrooms Grow in the Dark"

Learn the terrifying truth connecting all pillar sites around the world, from Stonehenge to Kenya's Lothgam North to the Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs

ojujumagazine.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/m...
Mushrooms Grow in the Dark
Kevin Rigathi Roadblocks are up all over Salisbury. Multiple choke points, and they’re turning everyone back, locals, tourists, and they’re extra unfriendly with the press. Get this, we have milita…
ojujumagazine.wordpress.com
October 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine Issue 2 is now out.

For your fix of African horror, sci-fi, and fantasy.

willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/will-this-be...
Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine Issue 2
Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine : Issue 2. This edition features speculative fiction from Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and the USA.
willthisbeaproblem.co.ke
July 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
We're excited to announce that Issue 2 of Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine is now live and free to read on our website!

This issue brings back familiar voices alongside striking debuts, showcasing speculative fiction in its different forms:

willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/will-this-be...
Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine Issue 2
Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine : Issue 2. This edition features speculative fiction from Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and the USA.
willthisbeaproblem.co.ke
July 15, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
Our first SFF Quiz Night is calling, and your brainpower deserves a proper stage. This one's for all bookworms, bibliophiles and film buffs.

📍 Athena Lounge, Hurlingham | 📅 25th July | 🕒 5–10 PM

Prizes? Epic
Drinks? Sorted
DJ? Ready
Entry? Free

Register team: willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/rsvp/
Poster for our first-ever SFF quiz night presented by WTBAP
July 11, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
Our first newsletter is live on Substack with WTBAP updates and yes, early access to Issue 2 of our magazine.

If you've already subscribed, check your mail. If you haven't, subscribe now and get the exclusives instantly!

willthisbeaproblem.substack.com/p/early-access…
Foreword from Olivia on Issue 2 of WTBAP? The Magazine
July 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
My story "If Memory Serves" is now available online!

In a world where memories are commodities that can be permanently taken from a person and sold to another, what does this mean for culture, relationships, identity... or even your own reality.

willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/2025/04/27/i...
If Memory Serves
No Memory For Sisyphus Human rights are constantly evolving. The more we learn, the clearer these rights become to us. Usually, our understanding of human rights comes from ethical discussions, but so...
willthisbeaproblem.co.ke
July 2, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
hararereview.bsky.social
Will This Be A Problem? Issue V. Edited by Olivia Kidula and Somto Ehezue. 💙📚 #AfricanSFF
Will This Be A Problem? Issue V. Edited by Olivia Kidula and Somto Ehezue.
308 pp. Published January 4, 2025. Love African SFF! I’m a huge fan. The finished quality isn’t always even, and I confess I often get grumpy about editing quality (I’m not proud of this)—but there…
hararereview.wordpress.com
March 12, 2025 at 7:32 AM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V paperback now up for international sales on Lulu Bookstore

www.lulu.com/shop/somto-i...
March 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
This is how I'm walking everywhere at home now and one day, im going to forget and do it in public. Thanks Kendrick.

"Ayy, I'm trippin', I'm slidin', I'm ridin' through the back like, Baow!"
February 14, 2025 at 10:59 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
In my story, "If Memory Serves," tech designed to extract traumatic memories evolves, & a breakthrough allows any memory to be extracted & implanted in another mind.

As memories become commodities, new forms of privilege & oppression arise, reshaping culture, relationships & individual realities.
February 14, 2025 at 10:48 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Will This Be A Problem? Issue V is out! My story "If Memory Serves" is featured in this anthology.

Check it out
February 2, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
WTBAP? THE ANTHOLOGY ISSUE V is finally out! Edited by @dontcallmeliv.bsky.social & @somtoihezue.bsky.social, available on the Shilitza website, Kobo, Amazon, and wherever books are sold. 16 hauntingly beautiful stories from all over Africa and the African diaspora ✨

www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/...
Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology : Issue V (ebook)
From across the African continent and its diaspora, Will This Be A Problem? Issue V brings together a powerful collection of stories that blend the fantastical with the deeply real. These tales explor...
shilitzapublishing.com
February 2, 2025 at 11:27 AM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V ebook up for sale.

Shilitza Publishing
Lulu Bookstore
Amazon

And more

willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/issue-5/
Issue 5
Buy Now
willthisbeaproblem.co.ke
January 31, 2025 at 10:48 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: ISSUE V - Book Launch LIVE STREAM

www.youtube.com/live/6Sp2F1R...
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January 31, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
We're beyond ecstatic that one of the stories from our FIRST mag issue—The Future Ancients by Mwenya Chikwa—has been featured on this list. There are lots of other great recs in here, including 3 writers who appear in our upcoming anthology: Shingai Kagunda, Albert Nkereuweum, & Gabrielle E Harry!
reactorsff.bsky.social Reactor Magazine @reactorsff.bsky.social · Jan 16
2024 was an incredible year for African SFF short fiction. Author @wtalabi.bsky.social (Convergence Problems, Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon) highlights ten (plus a few more) outstanding examples:

reactormag.com/the-best-afr...
Ten(ish) of the Best African Speculative Short Fiction Stories of 2024 - Reactor
2024 was a good year for African Speculative Fiction.
reactormag.com
January 16, 2025 at 7:03 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Join us for Will This Be A Problem? ISSUE V launch on Jan 31! Celebrate 10 years of WTBAP with cocktails, conversation & more.

My story, "If Memory Serves" is featured in the anthology.

📍 Athena Lounge, Olive Gardens Hotel, Hurlingham
⏰ 5–9 PM EAT | Live stream available!
January 16, 2025 at 12:45 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Reading the news nowadays feels like someone fed the simulation sci fi books (and included too much dystopia). But seriously, so much is going on, some usually big news doesn't even register anymore. What do you mean google just casually kicked off the countdown to the age of quantum computing!?
Google’s breakthrough Willow chip means we'll get useful quantum computers sooner than some people feared
Experts caution that revolutionary quantum computing is still likely years away.
fortune.com
December 11, 2024 at 4:19 PM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
This week, 10 years ago, I published 'A War of Harmony,' an urban fantasy with some ideas exploring symmetry. This morning, as if called by some unseen thread, inspiration had a new idea in the same world waiting for me. I love it when that happens.

While I dive in, read the original here:
A War of Harmony
Recently, I have become taken with an idea. It started as a joke, but day by day, I feel that there is truth in it—some undeniable quality that I cannot resist. Yes, there is something here. — The Dia...
willthisbeaproblem.co.ke
December 11, 2024 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
"Orgasms are taboo, an excess of pleasure discouraged."

Read "Nonchalant" by Cheryl S Ntumy, from Issue IV of Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology:

willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/2020/04/09/n...

#africansff
A pull quote from Cheryl S. Ntumy's short story "Nonchalant", published in Issue IV of Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology. "I'm not allowed to work (it triggers my condition), and she only works when she feels like it, so often our days are spent lying on the carpet, watching old films and making lazy love until my drugs wear off and I get too excited. Sex is supposed to be relaxing. Orgasms are taboo, an excess of pleasure discouraged."
November 19, 2024 at 6:49 AM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
"To get to Okanowach, several things have to happen at once."

Read "A Guide To Okanowach" by Florence Onyango here: willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/2024/11/05/a...
A pull quote from Florence Onyango's "A Guide To Okanowach", available in Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine: Issue 1. The text is imposed over a blue background, with a man on the left, a giant in the middle and a woman on the right. "To get to Okanowach, several things have to happen at once. One, it has to be on a moonless night. Two, there has to be an overcast sky. Third, you have to get there by midnight sharp. Fourth and most important of all, you must know how to haul the voices that whisper beneath whistling winds, for Okanowach is fluid, and the voices alone know how to get there. Five, you must use an ostrich’s feather to trap the specific voices that will guide you to Okanowach; if you use any other feather, you might trap some maleficent resonance."
November 13, 2024 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
"Masika was a child of death."

Motion Sickness - Franscine Machinda (Kenya)
willthisbeaproblem.co.ke/2024/11/05/m... #africansffh
A pull quote from Franscine Machinda's "Motion Sickness", available in Will This Be A Problem? The Magazine: Issue 1. The white text is imposed over a blue background, with a man on the left, a giant in the middle and a woman on the right. "Masika was a child of death. She had been cut from her mother’s belly only minutes after her death, and as a result, her eyelids remained shut for the first three weeks of her life. Later, she would jest about how those had been the best weeks of her entire life."
November 13, 2024 at 10:24 AM
formerlykevin.bsky.social
Me (once again) running to learn a whole new skill knowing I have story and podcast episode (months) behind schedule.
November 12, 2024 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Kevin Rigathi
willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social
What we are REALLY excited to share is our upcoming release! Edited by @somtoihezue.bsky.social & @dontcallmeliv.bsky.social, Issue V contains 16 original stories of fantasy, science fiction, surrealism and horror by African authors and authors of African descent living in the Diaspora ✨
November 8, 2024 at 4:32 PM