“They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.” Joey is a Reality Controller in near-future Delhi. Her job is to supervise the multimedia multi-reality livestreams of Indi, one of South Asia’s fastest rising online celebrities—who also happens to be her college ex. Joey’s job gives her considerable culture power, but she’s too caught up in day-to-day crisis handling to see this, or to figure out what she wants from her life. Rudra is a recluse estranged from his wealthy and powerful family, now living in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood. When his father’s death pulls him back into his family’s orbit, an impulsive job offer from Joey becomes his only escape from the life he never wanted. But as Joey and Rudra become enmeshed in multiple conspiracies, their lives start to spin out of control—complicated by dysfunctional relationships, corporate loyalty, and the never-ending pressures of surveillance capitalism. When a bigger picture begins to unfold, they must each decide how to do the right thing in a world where simply maintaining the status quo feels like an accomplishment. Ultimately, resistance will not—cannot—take the same shape for these two very different people.
Author
Samit Basu is an Indian novelist best known for his fantasy and science fiction work Samit's most recent novel, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, was published by Tordotcom in the US and Canada in Oct 2023. His previous novel, the anti-dystopian near-future The City Inside (Tordotcom, '22) was on the Washington Post and Book Riot best SFF of 2022 lists and earlier shortlisted for the 2020 JCB Prize (India) as Chosen Spirits. Samit's first novel, The Simoqin Prophecies, published by Penguin India in 2003, when Samit was 23, was the first book in the bestselling Gameworld Trilogy and marked the beginning of Indian English fantasy writing. The other books in the trilogy are The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations. Samit’s US/UK debut, the superhero novel Turbulence was published in the UK in 2012 and in the US in 2013 to rave reviews. It won Wired‘s Goldenbot Award as one of the books of 2012 and was superheronovels.com’s Book of the Year for 2013. Samit has also written children's books, published short stories for adults and younger readers in Indian and international anthologies, and has been a columnist and essayist in several leading Indian and international publications. Samit also works as a screenwriter and director. His debut film, House Arrest, was released as part of Netflix’s International Originals in 2019, and was one of Netflix’s top 5 most viewed Indian films that year. He wrote the film and co-directed it with Shashanka Ghosh. Samit’s work in comics ranges from historical romance to zombie comedy, and includes diverse collaborators, from Girl With All The Gifts/X-Men writer MR Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran. Samit was born in Calcutta, educated in Calcutta and London, and currently works between Delhi and Kolkata. He runs a newsletter, Duck of Dystopia (samit.substack.com) and can be found on social media at @samitbasu, and at samitbasu.com
