India, July 19 -- Santanu Bhattacharya's novel Deviants is worth reading for many reasons; the first of these is the announcement of its queerness without excess or apology. It lures the reader with an enticing photograph of a shirtless man with shapely eyebrows and a stylish moustache, who looks secure in his sexuality, and holds a defiant gaze that is in keeping with the novel's title.

It is hard to create a book cover that is true to the spirit of the story, and does not engage in queerbaiting only to sell more copies. Model Llavi Tyagi, photographer Harsh Jani, and designer Amit Malhotra, and the publisher Westland Books must be applauded for a book cover that does not attempt to make the queerness of its protagonists palatable to co...