Song of Kali by Dan Simmons is a horror novel about an American poet, Robert C. "Bobby" Luczak, his Indian-born wife Amrita, and their baby, Victoria, who become caught up in the violent cult of the goddess Kali in Calcutta, India. It vividly depicts the horrors of a city that Bobby wishes could be obliterated from the earth and the family's personal tragedy when Victoria is kidnapped and killed.

Robert C. "Bobby" Luczak, an obscure but promising American poet, is hired in June of 1977, by prestigious Harper's magazine to fly to Calcutta, India, collect a newly-found manuscript by the famed Bengali poet M. Das and if possible, interview him. Against his better judgment, Bobby takes along his Indian-born wife Amrita and their baby, Victoria. Das supposedly has been dead for years. Calcutta is a misadventure from the start. The Bengali Writers' Union stonewalls Bobby's attempts to meet Das, but a menacing-looking stranger, M. T. Krishna, befriends him, introduces him to a friend, Jayaprakesh Muktananandaji, and translates his life's story, including his initiation into the cult of the goddess Kali. Initiates must offer a corpse to Kali as a sacrifice and Muktananandaji claims that his is Das' and that it is resurrected by the goddess. When Bobby eventually meets Das, face-to-face, the poet, shockingly deformed by leprosy, confirms the story.

Bobby is too shocked by the violent and sexual nature of Das' manuscript to publish it, but promises to in order to get away. Concluding that Das wants to be released from his misery, Bobby smuggles to him in a hollow book with a loaded .45 pistol, which Das apparently during uses on Bobby in a coerced follow-up visit. Briefly imprisoned and drugged, Bobby barely escapes with his life, thanks to Krishna. In his absence, Victoria is kidnapped. Following a massive police search, Victoria is found, already dead. Fighting red tape, the grieving parents fly her home. Amrita throws herself into her career, while Bobby does nothing. They become estranged. Learning that Das is still alive, Bobby against his principles buys a Lugar, books a secret flight to Calcutta, and intends to kill everyone involved in Victoria's death, until he realizes that this would make him part of the Kali's darkness. He returns to Amrita, reconciles, and they move to Colorado to start a new life. He takes over as publisher of Other Voices and makes a go of it. Amrita gets pregnant again.