Anantya in Business Std, DNA, Telegraph….

Bits more of coverage for Cult of Chaos. Business Standard and DNA ran a preview of my book launch with an interview. DC Books Editors added it into their Editor’s Picks. While this is what Telegraph had to say.

The Telegraph, 5 April

While this was sinking in, She The People, a fabulous website on women achievers, approached me to do an interview.

Female authors in India mostly write about other women and their realistic struggles and you rarely find science fiction novels or  murder-mysteries written by women.  One woman to break the mould, follow her passion (and some of ours) and put some life into science fiction writing is Shweta Taneja, who recently wrote India’s first tantric-detective novel: ‘Cult of Chaos’ with a woman protagonist- Anantya Tantrist.

Read the complete interview here.

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The blog BooksAllAroundMe suggests a method to read Cult of Chaos and Anantya’s journey:

All in all if you have to read the book, the mind needs to be ready to accept the absolutely unexpected. It’ll throw a reader’s mind off gear with it’s charismatic story telling and an even effective story line. The book scores and relies heavily on ideas which might sound old and obsolete but that is where the boldness steps in and creates an aura of dominance and darkness. Everything is in equal measure and the scales of good v/s bad have been tipped to the hilt. It’s not everyday you come across stories out of the blue and this is one wonder which can leave you gasping for breath. It’s a deep dark temptation with it’s own set of secrets ready to pounce and devour the eager minds. A book with winner tagged in its own rights.If spice is what you were missing in your life get the book and traverse one of the most treacherous and over exciting path of tantrism and dark magic. Let chaos descend on earth and rule your hearts. 

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Over at Goodreads, here’s what readers are saying:

“Its a part pot boiler, part feminist, part fantasy and just pure fun.”Sonali at Goodreads

“Anantya is a revolution in Indian fiction. She’s a tantric, and is pretty unapologetic of everything she does. She has casual sex, smokes beedis, has a foul mouth and a dirty mind too. In which universe would you have imagined that someone like that would be the heroine in an Indian novel? But she’s indeed the prime attraction of this book, you really take this journey along with her (the first-person narrative helping tremendously) and you really root for her. Her fearlessness is something I think will inspire a lot of young girls.” –  Uday at Goodreads

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Okay, off to jumping up and down with glee now. If you’d like to pick up the book, order from Amazon or Flipkart.

Interviews in Economic Times, Business Standard

Isn’t this quite cool? I didn’t know that business dailies would show interest in picking up this story for their magazine sections. So the same interview, conducted by this really sweet lady from PTI, was carried over at two of the major financial dailies: Economic Times and Business Standard.

Here’s the interview in its full glory. Won’t say I am not itching to tweak a byte or two, but I guess editing can always change the meaning a bit. As a journalist, I understand that more than anyone else.


Shweta Taneja’s new book ‘Cult of Chaos’ delves into Delhi’s underbelly

NEW DELHI: The terrible, scary and horrific side of society is explored in a new book, billed as the country’s first tantrik detective novel, which also talks about the key issue of women’s safety.

Author-graphic novelist Shweta Taneja’s ” Cult of Chaos” is based in the supernatural underworld of Delhi.

Even though this is a fantasy fiction, and I could’ve made everything up, I wanted to stay a layer away from the real. That’s the reason that I set up the world of ‘Cult of Chaos’ in contemporary Delhi, a real city, weaving supernatural elements and creatures within its bowels,” she says.

“The species in the book’s world, as well as the tantrik magic that Anantya (the protagonist) wields, has been created after extensive research on tantrism, the occult and Shakta traditions in the country. I’ve delved deep into the folklores, folktales and the rituals of sorcery in villages,” Taneja told PTI.

Anantya Tantrist, a 23-year-old, is a completely inverted model of an ideal woman.

“She smokes beedis, walks in Delhi at night, alone, has sex with all kinds of creatures, is fearless, has chosen a profession which is violent and bloody, and she doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of her. So the book is also about her reaction to the regressive tantrik society she belongs to and the abuse she has faced in her past,” the Bangalore-based author says.

“Even though the species and the creatures I’ve mentioned in the book are make-believe, the violence, the power-play, the abuse, the unfairness they suffer, is not. The feelings, the emotions, the reactions the book reflects are all real,” she says.

Anantya emerged from Taneja’s first attempt of a novel, a revenge fantasy saga where a young girl is abused and seeks vengeance from those who’ve wronged her. That book never materialised but Anantya stayed as the author explored the possibility of combining two of her favourite genres – fantasy and detective.

According to Taneja, some of the scenes in the book, published by HarperCollins India, were inspired by incidents in real life.

“There were so many scenes in the book I wrote, where I wove incidents I’d just read in the newspaper, something a crass politician had said when yet another woman got raped; someone who had been demonised because of the way they looked or their surname.”

Taneja also touches the issue of women’s safety in her book saying women have to struggle for their safety in every corner of this country.

“But no walls, no government, no men, no police, no institution or clothes can protect us from violence. What can make a difference is if all of us, women and girls, go outdoors, claim public spaces, again and again, fearlessly, in spite of the violence,” she says.

“We need to own the spaces, only then can we be safe. Be fearless and walk alone at night as a woman. Something that I’ve tried in fiction with Anantya, who chooses a profession that takes her out at night, alone,” she claims.

Taneja has earlier written a novel “The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong” and graphic novels “Krishna: Defender of Dharma” and “The Skull Rosary”.

“I deliberately experiment with different stories and storytelling devices. Not only age groups, or styles, I also love experimenting with mediums. I’ve worked with various mediums in my short history as a fiction writer: be it graphic novels, comics, short stories, novels, collaborative stories, or even games,” she says.

But she “itches to touch dark, gloomy tales that see the raw, terrible, disgusting, scary and horrific sides of all of us”.

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Reviews for GHOK, 16-23 Sep

Sometimes ponder-worthy, sometimes wine-worthy. Reviews for The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong are beginning to pour in. This is just my way to share and track for myself all the goody thoughts I am getting. If you wouldn’t like to hear other opinions and instead, read it yourself, head to read bits of the book on Google Books.

IN NEWS

“A crisp, mysterious tale, the novel unravels a web of mystery, deceit, hoaxes and supernatural events.” – Business Standard

“A breezy mystery that should appeal to its target audience.” – The New Indian Express

Ghost Hunters of Kurseong

BY READERS 

“Hey I have started reading your book and I am really enjoying it. I must say that your writing style is really nice and engaging. The whole description of Kurseong makes me feel I am vacationing in hills. If you get what I am trying to say. Ruskin Bond books does that to me” –Ruchi Budhiraja Warikoo on Facebook

“Ghost Hunters is a brilliant debut in a space that Indian writers in English have for too long ignored.” – Kanishka Lahiri on Flipkart.com

“This book brings me back to the days of children’s adventure stories of which i have read several in school.” – Ashwani Sharma on Flipkart.com

That’s it for now! If you would like to buy a copy, head to Flipkart or Amazon.