Standard Operating Devotion: A Novel of Gods, Monkeys, and the Algorithm

By Veracity Vibes

What happens when an AI steals your voice? You find a new one in the throat of a monkey.

Ishaan was the voice of a generation-until a machine learned to do it better. Displaced by an algorithm and silenced by the modern world, he retreats to the ancient, chaotic heart of Vrindavan, India. He isn't looking for God; he's looking for a paycheck.

Hired by the "Primate Harmonisation Cell" to emulate the calls of langurs and scare away the town's marauding macaque population, Ishaan finds himself caught in a bizarre tug-of-war between a desperate bureaucracy, a social media-obsessed public, and the monkeys who truly own the streets.

But in a town where the line between a meme and a miracle is razor-thin, Ishaan's "performance" triggers something he never intended. When the state attempts to legislate a miracle and the crowds demand a new deity, Ishaan must decide: is it better to be a ghost in the machine, or a god in a cage?

Standard Operating Devotion is a bitingly funny, deeply atmospheric work of contemporary fiction. Perfect for fans of the sharp cultural satire of The White Tiger and the surrealist wit of George Saunders, it explores what remains of the human spirit in an age of artificial intelligence and viral devotion.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GF16WFND
• ISBN13: 9798242577657
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"