T.R. Napper's Blog

Every time I’m guest at a Comic-Con or equivalent, someone will walk past my desk, see my array of cyberpunk books, and ask me where they should begin.

My short answer is always this: anywhere you like. They are set in the same universe, but are all stand-alone.

Here’s my longer answer: what are you in the mood for, a short, sharp entry into the world, or a full length novel?

As of today (July 2026), I’d say: if you want a novella as an entry point, begin with This Machine Kills Billionaires. It...

Audible, eBook, and physical versions of This Machines Kills Billionaires are available everywhere.

United States

My agency has consolidated the US links all in one place. Click here for B&N, Kobo, Google, iBooks, Bookshop.org, Audible, and Libro.fm.

Amazon US

Australia

Amazon Oz

Kobo

Booktopia

United Kingdom

Amazon UK

Kobo

Everywhere

This Machine Kills Billionaires will be available in your national Amazon page, as it will for Kobo, and a bunch of sites I’d never heard of before. Seek and ye s...

Audible and eBook versions of This Machines Kills Billionaires can be preordered everywhere right now (and indeed the Audible was accidentally released early, and you can listen to it today).

Physical copies can currently only be preordered from Amazon US (not my choice, this is just how those bastards work). The paperback will be available for everyone from July 7.

United States

My agency has consolidated the US links all in one place. Click here for B&N, Kobo, Google, iBooks, Bookshop.org, Au...

I’ve got a surprise new release coming out. Let me tell you about it.

This Machine Kills Billionaires is a new collection, centred around my award-winning novella, The Hidden God.

The Hidden God first appeared in the prestigious Asimov’s Magazine, and has since won the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novella, the Ditmar Award for Best Novella, and been nominated for an Australasian Shadows Award (winner yet to be announced at the time of writing). It’s also on the shortlist for the Asimo...

I did an interview with the British Fantasy Society podcast in December last year which I had completely forgotten about until a few days ago, when it was published.

But you get it: December is a blur. You’re tired, you want the break to come, that magical period between Christmas and New Year, when time loses all meaning and no-one expects anything of you, and you can read on the couch and eat unwisely. That sweet spot, between watching Die Hard on Christmas Eve, and beginning the year anew on ...

 Ditmar Awards Voting is open. For the uninitiated, the Ditmars are the annual Australian peer-voted awards for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

What does peer-voted mean? Well, that you are either attending the National Convention (or have in recent years) or that you are ‘active in[image error] fandom’. What does the latter mean?

As I understand it: if you’ve been to a convention in Australia, or are in a discussion group (online or live), or interact regularly on social media, or are simply a fan of ...

Hit my target of 52 books read for the year. You know what? I love reading. Completely trite to say so, but there it is. Several times throughout 2025, while I was lying on my couch (a battered yet fiendishly comfortable decades-old from my student years) I would rest the book on my chest and think: this is the life.

I treat reading as part of my job as a writer – and financial penury aside – I’m truly fortunate to be a part of this profession.

Over the past few years I’ve ...

This year, Ghost of the Neon God won both Best Science Fiction Novella at the Aurealis Awards, and Best Novella at the Ditmars. The Aurealis is a juried award, and genuinely features the best of Australian SF. The Ditmars is by popular vote – and while these types of awards can be flawed – nonetheless reflects the acclaim of the local fan community.[image error]

Here’s the thing: it’s super rare to win both (I looked back over the last twenty 20 years and found perhaps four other examples). To do so means yo...

Art is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Let me show you why.

I write full time, which is another way of saying I’m broke. As such, I work several extra jobs (three, currently) to feed my writing habit. I’m lucky, insofar as most of those jobs are as a creative writing mentor, and I’ve always enjoyed teaching. I’m particularly fortunate to have one of those mentor positions with a program called ARRTS (Art for Recovery, Resilience, Teamwork and Skills).

I recently watched a thoughtful, interesting YouTube on ‘Writing Characters Who Are Weapons,’ by Tim Hickson. He’s a New Zealander who runs the channel HelloFutureMe, which deals with both writing as a craft and analysing pop culture. He’s got some great content, so I recommend you go and check it out. I’ve embedded the video in this article because he includes as one of his examples Lin Thi Vu from 36 Streets (2022), and The Escher Man (2024), which in turn compels my ego to share it with you.[image error]