Preorder, postchaos
Chosen Spirits is out soon
Previously on Duck of Dystopia:
Economic crisis, travel tips from ISIS,
Wash hands, change pants, buy an MLA.
Warnings from Manmohan Singh, we’re all social distancing
Cancellation, consolation, practise namaste.
Ramnath Covid Tom Hanks, Putin Gogoi Yes Bank,
John Oliver owning Arnab, baking your endorphin cake,
Your forgotten Mastodon, upcoming panopticon,
Arnie’s little kitchen ponies, Venice canal dolphin fake!
Okay. New book!
Chosen Spirits, my new novel, is out next month. Here’s the cover.
The book is set in Delhi, around a decade from now, and is about two young people trying to live ‘normal’ lives in the city as it’s going to be.
It’s very different from anything I’ve ever written before, and easily the hardest writing process I’ve ever gone through, not least before the near future keeps changing with the present. And the present, to say the least, has been changing very fast of late, which means drastic and frequent rewriting
It’s only being published in India for now, by the good people at Simon and Schuster. The cover is by the brilliant Pia Alizé Hazarika.
I'll share the preorder link when it's ready, but I thought a newsletter cover preview would be nice.
Fiction, stranger than
A couple of reading lists for these deeply weird times:
Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar in the WP make a list of books where sci-fi/horror writers have imagined pandemics.
(and Lavie’s new book is out, get it)
Also, in Politico, a Literature for a Lockdown list.
I for one have no intention of reading or seeing anything pandemic-related apart from the news: what I want is escape.
Finally finished a stack of books I've been meaning to for years, though, most recently the final volume of NK Jemisin’s brilliant Broken Earth trilogy. Up next, finishing Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Virtue and Vengeance, then The Hidden Girl, Ken Liu’s new book of short stories (hope his TV deal is produced soon), a re-reread of Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s This is How You Lose The Time War, and Jade War, the second book in Fonda Lee’s Green Bone saga, and a massive KJ Charles multiple-book binge-read. Also eagerly awaiting The Empire of Gold, the third in SA Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy.
There’s a whole other TBR set from Twitter recommendations, currently led by - Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow, Victor LaValle’s The Changeling, Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, and Ryan O’Neill’s Their Brilliant Careers.
In Indian books, most curious about Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s Analog/Virtual, set in future Bangalore, and Kavita Krishnan's Fearless Freedom, a horrific dystopian novel, sorry, Indian non-fiction.
Also going to dive into this:
Recently finished the 9th collection of Brian K Vaughan/Fiona Staples’ Saga. It was devastating. I haven’t been following GNs at all except this one, but what an absolute epic it continues to be.
Film/Show things! One Bong Joon-Ho binge later, I have emerged, disturbed, and watched the second season of Altered Carbon, not as good as the first, and planning a rewatch of all of Bojack Horseman at some point, mostly from a good-god-how-do-they-make-these + now-I’m-sad-too POV. I also stopped having Friends comfort-play in the background while I 'worked' because I learned that was a common thing among the elderly.
An Indian show you might want to try is Afsos, starring Gulshan Devaiah and Ratnabali Bhattacharjee - just seen a few episodes so far, but it’s promising, funny, and unusual for India.
What I'm waiting for: Stranger Things 4 and The Boys S2.
The struggle is real
Completely apart from the pandemic, even after we return to a semblance of normality, it’s a particularly challenging time for writers, artists, and storytellers in every medium. It’s getting harder to break into any creative field every year, despite the existence of so many new media through which your voice can reach an audience.
I’d like to use this newsletter not just to talk about my own work, but also promote other creators, but it’s not always easy to know what’s out soon, so if you’d like a signal boost, do get in touch. Can’t promise perfect coverage, but will do my best.
Along with that, I’d also like to help out with questions/advice in this newsletter - I’d done a series of Q+A posts a few years ago, here, here and here - on a regular basis, so do write in.
For screenwriters: this guide to TV bibles, with 40 examples, is an absolute treasure. Don’t miss it.
Also, here is a duck I enjoyed:
Back in a bit
To support this newsletter, buy a book! In India, the US or the UK
Meanwhile, do join me on Twitter, FB or Instagram, or drop in at my website.
And I hope you'll share this newsletter with anyone you know who’s read my work, or might be interested in it, thank you.
Have some beautiful and strange abandoned East European brutalist monuments, I’m off.
