Tanaïs Writes Their Drafts At Night and Revises During the Day

Tanaïs’s novel Stellar Smoke explores themes of grief, artificial intelligence, and human connection through the story of a musician interacting with her deceased mother, who exists as a machine consciousness.

The book’s origins trace back to the 1980s, when the author, as a young child, watched cartoons like Jem and the Holograms.

The show’s premise—a young woman named Jerrica transforming into a rock star named Jem with the help of Synergy, an artificial intelligence based on her late mother—left a lasting impression on Tanaïs.

This childhood experience planted a seed that later developed into the novel’s central themes.

The book is not a critique of AI but rather a reflection on human relationships and emotional dependence.

Tanaïs describes the writing process as relentless, noting that the emotional weight of such themes makes writing feel harder than even difficult conversations.