Stellar Smoke

A hypnotically original and lush speculative novel from award-winning author Tanaïs about technology, sex, spirituality, family secrets, and the mother–daughter bond across generations—ultimately blurring the boundary between past and present, human and machine.

Qamar is a musician living in a futuristic metropolitan city. Struggling to pay rent and heartbroken after a terrible breakup, she decides to return to the island ashram of her childhood. It’s time to finally settle the rift she has with her estranged mother, Veda—a brilliant scientist, actress, and one of the leaders of a now-dissolved cult called the Endless Temple.

But when Qamar arrives, the land is as verdant as she remembers, but neglected, and, most troubling, there are no signs of her mother or sister. Behind a retina scan–locked door, Qamar encounters a machine consciousness—VEDA (Virtual Experiences, Dreams and Afterlife)—that her mother made in the image of herself. VEDA is her mother’s last opus, an artificial intelligence that allows her to finally tell her daughter the story of her life. The descent into VEDA’s technoscape forces Qamar to confront the taboos and tragedies of their past, while bracing herself for the wild, unexpected possibilities that await.Tanaïs (née Tanwi Nandini Islam) is a multidisciplinary artist, novelist, memoirist, and perfumer. They are the author of In Sensorium: Notes for My People, which won the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction, and offers an alternative history of South Asia through the lens of scent. Their critically acclaimed queer coming-of-age debut novel, Bright Lines, was a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, and the Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize. They studied at Vassar College and Brooklyn College, and founded the independent artisan perfume house Studio Tanaïs. Their writing and perfumes have been featured in Vogue, Vogue India, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, The Cut, The Nation, and more. They live in New York City with their husband, Mojo.