Chosen Spirits
Chosen Spirits by Samit Basu is a near-future science fiction novel set in a Delhi of the late 2020s, a city struggling with heat, water shortages, mob violence, and pervasive digital surveillance. It follows Joey, a Reality Controller who stage-manages the livestreamed life of celebrity influencer Indi, and Rudra, a young man fleeing the expectations of his wealthy family. Their intersecting stories map the economics of attention, image, and power in a hyper-connected society.
Rather than a spectacular dystopia, Basu offers what critics have called an anti-dystopian vision: an extrapolation of contemporary India rendered in intimate, human-scale detail. The novel was shortlisted for the 2020 JCB Prize for Literature.
The book was later revised, expanded, and published internationally in 2022 under the title The City Inside. Readers who enjoy grounded speculative fiction rooted in South Asian settings will find it essential.
A Reality Controller who produces and manages the immersive livestreams of a rising online celebrity, navigating the pressures of the attention economy.
A recluse estranged from his wealthy, powerful family who is pulled back into their world after his father's death.
A hugely popular livestreaming star and Joey's former partner whose public image she is paid to control.