Samit Basu's Blog: Newsletter!, page 2

Chosen Spirits: responses.

"It brings Orwellian dystopia and satire closer home with click-bait headlines that you may have read last week, its vision of technological surveillance is as soul-chilling as it is brilliant; and the violence without being graphic is relentless on your peripheral vision; but it also gives you mostly incorruptible, frequently idealistic, incredibly soft-hearted people, it gives you the kindness of strangers, and it gives you the hope of resistance." - Scroll.



" Brilliantly written, structurally inventive, completely immersive. " - K J Charles



"Chosen Spirits, set not far into the future is utterly persuasive in its construction, scathing in its cynicism and is laced with social commentary." -Open Magazine



“It’s less speculative fiction and more caustic investigation of the times we live in. Set in an India just a decade from now, Chosen Spirits is about a world where technology and religious bigotry combine with near-total corporate control over the lives and bodies of citizens… a novel of ideas. There are so many conversations, sharply observed mannerisms, tics. It reads like a sci-fi social satire, a comedy of manners.” - +Interview in Mint



“An odd balm for nerves: an “anti-dystopian” book… uncomfortably close to reality… uncannily prophetic” +Interview in The Hindu Weekend



“Even the things that feel radically different at first glance are, upon reflection, not so distant from us after all… Dissent and your rights will evaporate, ask too many questions and even your own family might ‘unperson’ you, a la Orwell.” - +Interview in FirstPost



“Chosen Spirits is not interested in being a flight of fantasy. The novel talks about issues that are critically important to us in present-day India and keeps reminding the reader that the past can’t be buried, no matter how much anyone tries.” +Interview in Dear Reader



"...look into the near future, with plenty of humour, aided by unflinchingly honest mirrors held up to India’s upper middle class." - +Interview in The Hindu Metro Plus



"If we keep going the way we are, we're bound to land in an algorithmic nightmare filled Hindu Rashtra. Maybe we could all use Samit Basu's brilliant words as an antidote, a reminder of why we erupted into a full spring revolution." - Essay in Six Impossible Things


For more: https://samitbasu.com/2020/05/12/chos...

Chosen Spirits hardback now available

Chosen Spirits hardback now available on Amazon Ind! Smell-of-books people, it’s time.

Chosen Spirits international edition temporarily unavailable

thanks to a Kindle store glitch.

Apologies, will post when its back online. The Indian edition is fine.

Chosen Spirits – Responses

“It brings Orwellian dystopia and satire closer home with click-bait headlines that you may have read last week, its vision of technological surveillance is as soul-chilling as it is brilliant; and the violence without being graphic is relentless on your peripheral vision; but it also gives you mostly incorruptible, frequently idealistic, incredibly soft-hearted people, it gives you the kindness of strangers, and it gives you the hope of resistance.” – Scroll.



” Brilliantly written, structurally inventive, completely immersive. ” – K J Charles



“Chosen Spirits, set not far into the future is utterly persuasive in its construction, scathing in its cynicism and is laced with social commentary.” –Open Magazine



“It’s less speculative fiction and more caustic investigation of the times we live in. Set in an India just a decade from now, Chosen Spirits is about a world where technology and religious bigotry combine with near-total corporate control over the lives and bodies of citizens… a novel of ideas. There are so many conversations, sharply observed mannerisms, tics. It reads like a sci-fi social satire, a comedy of manners.” – +Interview in Mint



“An odd balm for nerves: an “anti-dystopian” book… uncomfortably close to reality… uncannily prophetic” +Interview in The Hindu Weekend



“Even the things that feel radically different at first glance are, upon reflection, not so distant from us after all… Dissent and your rights will evaporate, ask too many questions and even your own family might ‘unperson’ you, a la Orwell.” – +Interview in FirstPost



“Chosen Spirits is not interested in being a flight of fantasy. The novel talks about issues that are critically important to us in present-day India and keeps reminding the reader that the past can’t be buried, no matter how much anyone tries.” +Interview in Dear Reader



“…look into the near future, with plenty of humour, aided by unflinchingly honest mirrors held up to India’s upper middle class.” – +Interview in The Hindu Metro Plus



“If we keep going the way we are, we’re bound to land in an algorithmic nightmare filled Hindu Rashtra. Maybe we could all use Samit Basu’s brilliant words as an antidote, a reminder of why we erupted into a full spring revolution.” – Essay in Six Impossible Things



Books on Toast interview with Anuya Jakatdar









Jonathan Strahan’s Coode Street Podcast with Indrapramit Das



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[image error]US Kindle store



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Chosen Spirits Responses: Round One

“It brings Orwellian dystopia and satire closer home with click-bait headlines that you may have read last week, its vision of technological surveillance is as soul-chilling as it is brilliant; and the violence without being graphic is relentless on your peripheral vision; but it also gives you mostly incorruptible, frequently idealistic, incredibly soft-hearted people, it gives you the kindness of strangers, and it gives you the hope of resistance.” – Scroll.



” Brilliantly written, structurally inventive, completely immersive. ” – K J Charles



Interview in The Hindu Weekend



Interview in FirstPost



Interview in Dear Reader



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[image error]US Kindle store



[image error]UK Kindle store



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Chosen Spirits ebook out worldwide

Very happy to announce that Chosen Spirits, the near-future anti-dystopian Delhi novel I’ve been rewriting frantically for the last four years, is now out on the Kindle store worldwide.

If you’re in India, it’s here. Published by Simon and Schuster, special introductory price for this launch, so get it quick, unless you’d prefer to buy the hardback after the lockdown ends.

If you’re elsewhere in the world, this is for you:

It’s the international ebook cover, also by the super-gifted Pia Alize Hazarika.

Do get at your Kindle store in the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, Australia. It should be in all the other Amazon stores too, so if your local link isn’t here please do run a search.

About the book:

She’d decided, that night, that she wouldn’t leave. That she would stay in India, in Delhi, and belong as hard as she could.

Joey is a Reality Controller, in charge of the livestream of a charismatic and problematic celebrity in smog-choked, water-short, ever-transforming Delhi – a city on the brink of revolution, under the shadow of multiple realities and catastrophes – at the end of the 2020s.

When Joey impulsively rescues a childhood friend, Rudra, from his new-elite family and the comfortable, horrific life they have chosen for him, she sets into motion a chain of events — a company takeover, a sex scandal, a series of betrayals — that disintegrates not just their public and private selves, but the invisible walls that divide the city around them.

To find the lives they need, Joey and Rudra must reckon with people and forces beyond their understanding, in a world where trust is impossible, popularity is conformity, and every wall has eyes.

A brief interview is out in Mid-Day

For updates on Chosen Spirits and more work coming soon, please subscribe to my newsletter, Duck of Dystopia.

If you’ve liked any of my previous work…

The world as it is now is obviously not the greatest place to release an ebook into, and it’s been very tough times for publishing in general. It’s also become incredibly easy for books to get lost in the whirlwind that is the present-day news cycle. So I’d really consider this a huge favour : If you like the book, please tell your friends. And please consider leaving a review. Word of mouth has really been the primary reason I’m still lucky enough to have a writing career after almost two decades of doing this, and it’s become absolutely essential now.

Thanks,

Samit.

Protected: DoD exclusive: Chosen Spirits / Chapter One

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Not another reading list

New Duck of Dystopia issue. A delay, some distractions and a duck.

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