Feminist thriller set in a supernatural world

“I often used to hear people living in urban spaces talking about occult practices, tantriks. It is not something artificial, rather still exists very much in towns and villages. Accept it or not, but there are many people living even in cities who have approached tantriks,” says Taneja.

Published by Harper Collins India, the book, which is the sequel to Cult of Chaos, was launched recently. The book revolves around the protagonist, tantrik detective Anantya Tantrist, and how she battles against the villain Bhairava, a black tantrik. “I have given some twists to the usual perception of occult practices. Drifting away from the notion that those are performed by men, in my book, it’s a woman who performs black magic, and is a detective, does adventurous activities and action as well,” the author adds. “People are usually not accustomed to reading this kind of a book and I want to sneak in there. It’s a pop-culture thriller book, but it is equally funny,” she maintains.

Elaborating, Taneja quips that she is fascinated by how a reader often tries to find reality in her fictional writing. “Even for this book, I remember readers asking me whether I had met any tantrik or not, if I can suggest one, and more. So, these make me realise that my writing may be fictional but is closely associated to reality,” she points out. 

It was not easy for Taneja to convince a publisher. Before HarperCollins approved her book, she had approached few other publishing houses which rejected her manuscript. “It took some real effort to convince my editors. Because there are hardly any books on black magic as a theme. I had to explain them in detail what my writing is all about. Even the publishers made it clear that if the first book doesn’t work out then they wouldn’t publish the second one. But, I received lot of appreciation. And therefore, here comes the second one,” the author comments. 

We can’t help but ask her, does she believe in black magic? “I’m rather a curious researcher who gets extremely fascinated by magic and miracles but also a cynic who is constantly in quest of answers behind any logic,” she finishes.