What do you think?
Rate this book
Neon Leviathan
A collection of stories about the outsiders – the criminals, the soldiers, the addicts, the mathematicians, the gamblers and the cage fighters, the refugees and the rebels. From the battlefield to alternate realities to the mean streets of the dark city, we walk in the shoes of those who struggle to survive in a neon-saturated, tech-noir future.
Twelve hard-edged stories from the dark, often violent, sometimes strange heart of cyberpunk, this collection – as with all the best science fiction – is an exploration of who were are now. In the tradition of Dashiell Hammett, Philip K Dick, and David Mitchell, Neon Leviathan is a remarkable debut collection from a breakout new author.
Twelve hard-edged stories from the dark, often violent, sometimes strange heart of cyberpunk, this collection – as with all the best science fiction – is an exploration of who were are now. In the tradition of Dashiell Hammett, Philip K Dick, and David Mitchell, Neon Leviathan is a remarkable debut collection from a breakout new author.
364 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 2020
120 people are currently reading
1633 people want to read
About the author
T.R. Napper
36 books240 followersT. R. Napper is a multi-award-winning author. His honours include the prestigious Australian Aurealis four times. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Grimdark Magazine, and numerous others. Napper received a creative writing doctorate for his thesis: The Dark Century, 1946 - 2046. Noir, Cyberpunk, and Asian Modernity (yes, he is a Doctor of Cyberpunk).
Before turning to writing, T. R. Napper was a diplomat and aid worker, delivering humanitarian programs throughout Southeast Asia for a decade. During this period he was a resident of the Old Quarter in Hanoi for several years, the setting for his acclaimed debut novel, 36 Streets.
These days he has returned to his home country of Australia, where, in addition to his writing, he runs art therapy programs for people with disabilities.
Before turning to writing, T. R. Napper was a diplomat and aid worker, delivering humanitarian programs throughout Southeast Asia for a decade. During this period he was a resident of the Old Quarter in Hanoi for several years, the setting for his acclaimed debut novel, 36 Streets.
These days he has returned to his home country of Australia, where, in addition to his writing, he runs art therapy programs for people with disabilities.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
January 27, 2020
I received a review copy of Neon Leviathan in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to T.R. Napper and Grimdark Magazine.
From my Goodreads profile, you will see that I write for Grimdark Magazine. However, I have nothing to do with this release and I've treated this novel as I would if it was from any other publisher. I knew nothing about the author T.R. Napper and I wasn't that familiar with the grim-side end of cyberpunk but hell, I jumped headfirst into this deep daunting apocalyptically presented future and dived in to see what was waiting for me there.
"The sea is vast and eternal. It has no malice, but it does have raw, unimaginable power. It is indifferent to human suffering."
This is a short story collection featuring twelves tales. They are all by the same author and all set in the same world. They don't take place in order yet they all take place approaching or just after 2090. Neon Leviathan is brutal cyberpunk character-focused futuristic fantasy that is harrowing and haunting. Honestly, it's not far away from our current reality however grim and horrible it seems. It's violent, sweary, and full of honourable heroes who get fucked and leaders who seem to be winners because they have the confidence yet no competence.
"The incident was yet another reason why I never understood the world. A bully can ply his trade for years, breaking down his peers psychologically and physically; turning the years of adolescence into a long, drawn out form of torture that some kids take a lifetime to get over. But you break that bully’s jaw with a cricket bat, and you’re the bad guy."
The main underlining important event is that there has been a war where China has been fighting against a Vietnamese and Australian coalition. The rest of the world, for all we know, doesn't exist anymore.
The short stories are mostly between 20-30 pages. There are 12 in total. Favourites of mine included the opener Flame Trees, Opium for Ezra (which is a mindfuck!), Jack's Fine Dining and also The Line (featuring George - the only player who frequents two of the stories).
The two finest entries are towards the end of the presentation. Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang which I found out in the afterwards is a Writers of the Future award-winning story. It's incredible. All I'll say is you would not mess with Lynn! There are 12 stories here. 9 of them have been posted elsewhere before in short story collections including those presented by Interzone, Asimov's, Galaxy's of the Edge, and Writers of the Future. The finest entry by a country mile is exclusive and it's by far the longest tale in the release. The Weight of the Air, the Weight of the Earth. It's around 100 pages or so and really makes you question reality, and possibilities and control and had dystopian elements rivaling those featured in 1984. In this story there was one section in particular that I really related to that has happened to me recently #now... not 100 years in the future. The tales are full of lots of cyberpunk gadgets and gizmos but these stories are presenting events that are more about humans than they are about technology. About how humans, certain people at least, mostly our leaders will do all the can for complete control.
Neon Leviathan is brutal, often rude, crude, with Aussie slang included occasionally. The good guys often get fucked. These tales seemed really well researched from all directions talking about Chinese Emperors to mentioning comic book issues of Batman. The author is a future talent guaranteed. His finest outing, as mentioned, was the longest story here so Napper, give us a full-length novel, sir. Recommend!
From my Goodreads profile, you will see that I write for Grimdark Magazine. However, I have nothing to do with this release and I've treated this novel as I would if it was from any other publisher. I knew nothing about the author T.R. Napper and I wasn't that familiar with the grim-side end of cyberpunk but hell, I jumped headfirst into this deep daunting apocalyptically presented future and dived in to see what was waiting for me there.
"The sea is vast and eternal. It has no malice, but it does have raw, unimaginable power. It is indifferent to human suffering."
This is a short story collection featuring twelves tales. They are all by the same author and all set in the same world. They don't take place in order yet they all take place approaching or just after 2090. Neon Leviathan is brutal cyberpunk character-focused futuristic fantasy that is harrowing and haunting. Honestly, it's not far away from our current reality however grim and horrible it seems. It's violent, sweary, and full of honourable heroes who get fucked and leaders who seem to be winners because they have the confidence yet no competence.
"The incident was yet another reason why I never understood the world. A bully can ply his trade for years, breaking down his peers psychologically and physically; turning the years of adolescence into a long, drawn out form of torture that some kids take a lifetime to get over. But you break that bully’s jaw with a cricket bat, and you’re the bad guy."
The main underlining important event is that there has been a war where China has been fighting against a Vietnamese and Australian coalition. The rest of the world, for all we know, doesn't exist anymore.
The short stories are mostly between 20-30 pages. There are 12 in total. Favourites of mine included the opener Flame Trees, Opium for Ezra (which is a mindfuck!), Jack's Fine Dining and also The Line (featuring George - the only player who frequents two of the stories).
The two finest entries are towards the end of the presentation. Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang which I found out in the afterwards is a Writers of the Future award-winning story. It's incredible. All I'll say is you would not mess with Lynn! There are 12 stories here. 9 of them have been posted elsewhere before in short story collections including those presented by Interzone, Asimov's, Galaxy's of the Edge, and Writers of the Future. The finest entry by a country mile is exclusive and it's by far the longest tale in the release. The Weight of the Air, the Weight of the Earth. It's around 100 pages or so and really makes you question reality, and possibilities and control and had dystopian elements rivaling those featured in 1984. In this story there was one section in particular that I really related to that has happened to me recently #now... not 100 years in the future. The tales are full of lots of cyberpunk gadgets and gizmos but these stories are presenting events that are more about humans than they are about technology. About how humans, certain people at least, mostly our leaders will do all the can for complete control.
Neon Leviathan is brutal, often rude, crude, with Aussie slang included occasionally. The good guys often get fucked. These tales seemed really well researched from all directions talking about Chinese Emperors to mentioning comic book issues of Batman. The author is a future talent guaranteed. His finest outing, as mentioned, was the longest story here so Napper, give us a full-length novel, sir. Recommend!
January 27, 2020
Brilliant. Frightening - genuinely mentally unpleasant, my brain itched as I read it. As Adrian Tchaikovsky says in his introduction, it's rare for people to write well and deeply about the aftermath of violence, about its effect on the perpetrator, but Napper does this so, so well. A kind of visceral, internal horror. The story 'Opium for Ezra', in particular, still nags at me, I have no idea which thread was the illusion which was real, both are horrible, disgusting, shameful, and that sums up war and violence and how absurd and shameful it is - it can't be real, people doing this, reduced to this. Perhaps the trope -what's real, what's VR? Is the killing in the game or in reality, and does that matter? - is unfairly unoriginal, but the writing is superb, the grimness of it, the way it's embodied, is superbly handled. Memory, the blurring of boundaries between reality, delusion, deliberate falsification; the attempt to erase or bury; the outsourcing of memory, of experience, of self, to tech …. this isn't sff now, it's here in our daily lives, and we need to think about it. And Neon Leviathan asks us about it. There are stories here that are just … bonkers ('An Advanced Guide to Successful Price-Fixing in Extra-Terrestrial Betting Markets' … as you might guess from the name, 'gozo', 'nasty' and 'literally WTF?' kind of cover it). There are stories here that are beautiful, lyrical, sorrowful ('Flame Trees', 'Dark on a Darkling Earth'). Strongly recommended. I want very much to have a long conversation the author about many sad and haunted things.
February 9, 2020
I was given this ARC of Neon Leviathan by the editor of Grimdark Magazine, for whom I write some reviews under my own name for his magazine blog. I am publishing this review under my own brand, and my affiliation with Grimdark Magazine as an unpaid reviewer has not impacted my opinions of this book.
Neon Leviathan, a journey into the ruthless future that deeply reflected our own society today, just with the technology of 70 years ahead of us. It is sinister, disturbing and full of atrocities that inhabit every grim dark book.
‘This business we have chosen—it’s always personal.’
This volume is a collection of 12 short stories, set between 50 and 70 years in the future in a land that at first sounds different to our own, but soon feels very similar to what we live in today. Within Neon Leviathan, Australia and Vietnam have teamed up to fight against the empire of China. Every story is unrelated to the next with completely new characters and situations in each. This really kept me on my toes and I was constantly looking forward to see what Napper came up with next.
The advantage of lots of short stories is that there is always something new happening and rarely a chance for the plot to slow down. The disadvantage of short stories that aren’t linked is having to re-focus on new characters and scenarios, however Napper has an easy going prose and doesn’t leave the reader in the lurch.
‘The sea is vast and eternal. It has no malice, but it does have raw, unimaginable power. It is indifferent to human suffering.’
T.R. Napper definitely has a strong suit for characters. Each of our PoVs felt unique with a strong voice. Their actions and lives, though so far in the future, felt realistic and authentic to me, with each story playing out being believable which only added to the horror of some of them. Napper isn’t afraid to write about the dark side of this Cyberpunk land. There are themes that are tackled such as A.I and Virtual Reality as well as governmental management of politics and war crimes.
There are some excellent subtle uses of technology here, with retina displays and memory removers. To me, these stories included less extreme futuristic technology such as Blade Runner which allowed for a much more relatable story. Don’t worry though, there is lots of Sci-fi brilliance within them.
‘She decided the weight of betrayal, cowardice, and self-loathing were all the same, more or less. They were the weight of air, they were the weight of the world.’
What I found myself wishing for was a character that I was able to feel develop. Napper definitely writes character’s well so it would have been good to have seen how he wrote a character across an entire book. There is one remarkably longer story within Neon Leviathan which allowed me to see the beginning of this, which turned out to be my favourite story within it. There was depth and emotion as well as reference to the character’s past which helped paint the civilisation Napper has created.
‘You’re not real.’
4/5 - A good cyberpunk read that was full of subtle Sci-fi features that allowed me to stay grounded in the stories. A good advertisement for grimdark short stories in a cyberpunk world. It isn’t usually my thing, but I enjoyed it. If you like well-rounded characters, batman references and a world that is cruel and real, this is for you. Neon Leviathan is released 15th February.
Neon Leviathan, a journey into the ruthless future that deeply reflected our own society today, just with the technology of 70 years ahead of us. It is sinister, disturbing and full of atrocities that inhabit every grim dark book.
‘This business we have chosen—it’s always personal.’
This volume is a collection of 12 short stories, set between 50 and 70 years in the future in a land that at first sounds different to our own, but soon feels very similar to what we live in today. Within Neon Leviathan, Australia and Vietnam have teamed up to fight against the empire of China. Every story is unrelated to the next with completely new characters and situations in each. This really kept me on my toes and I was constantly looking forward to see what Napper came up with next.
The advantage of lots of short stories is that there is always something new happening and rarely a chance for the plot to slow down. The disadvantage of short stories that aren’t linked is having to re-focus on new characters and scenarios, however Napper has an easy going prose and doesn’t leave the reader in the lurch.
‘The sea is vast and eternal. It has no malice, but it does have raw, unimaginable power. It is indifferent to human suffering.’
T.R. Napper definitely has a strong suit for characters. Each of our PoVs felt unique with a strong voice. Their actions and lives, though so far in the future, felt realistic and authentic to me, with each story playing out being believable which only added to the horror of some of them. Napper isn’t afraid to write about the dark side of this Cyberpunk land. There are themes that are tackled such as A.I and Virtual Reality as well as governmental management of politics and war crimes.
There are some excellent subtle uses of technology here, with retina displays and memory removers. To me, these stories included less extreme futuristic technology such as Blade Runner which allowed for a much more relatable story. Don’t worry though, there is lots of Sci-fi brilliance within them.
‘She decided the weight of betrayal, cowardice, and self-loathing were all the same, more or less. They were the weight of air, they were the weight of the world.’
What I found myself wishing for was a character that I was able to feel develop. Napper definitely writes character’s well so it would have been good to have seen how he wrote a character across an entire book. There is one remarkably longer story within Neon Leviathan which allowed me to see the beginning of this, which turned out to be my favourite story within it. There was depth and emotion as well as reference to the character’s past which helped paint the civilisation Napper has created.
‘You’re not real.’
4/5 - A good cyberpunk read that was full of subtle Sci-fi features that allowed me to stay grounded in the stories. A good advertisement for grimdark short stories in a cyberpunk world. It isn’t usually my thing, but I enjoyed it. If you like well-rounded characters, batman references and a world that is cruel and real, this is for you. Neon Leviathan is released 15th February.
January 30, 2020
9/10
Sometimes you just happen to log in to Twitter at exactly the right time. That was the case a few weeks ago when I hopped on and saw a tweet from James of Grimdark Magazine. He was touting this new SF book that he was reading and asked if any bloggers would be interested in checking it out. The first thing that grabbed me was the incredibly cool cover. It spurred me to reach out to James to get a little more info about the book. Once I was satisfied that it was something that definitely would be of interest, Adrian from GDM was gracious enough to provide me an advance copy of NEON LEVIATHAN by T.R. Napper in exchange for an honest review.
NEON LEVIATHAN is a collection of 12 Cyberpunk stories that all take place in the same world, but at varying chronologies and introducing different characters each time. All of the stories are separate and self-contained, yet they also fit together to formulate an overall tale about a future world gone haywire. The majority of the stories take place roughly (give or take 10-20 years) around the year 2090. During this time Vietnam and Australia have formed a military coalition and are engaged in a brutal war with the kingdom of China. It is really an all-out chaotic situation and we aren't initially sure why this is taking place, but as the stories are told, things get a bit more clear shall we say.
There's also quite a good deal of amazing ideas within these stories, very reminiscent of the likes of William Gibson and Richard K. Morgan. I couldn't help but draw parallels as I was moving through each chapter, but that's not to say that Napper just took these authors' themes and ran with them. This is a universe that is very well thought out, original, and some of the stories totally blew my mind. Suffice it to say I'd be hard-pressed to come up with another book that rivals NEON LEVIATHAN when it comes to mind-blowing concepts, shocking storylines, and insane futuristic drugs and technology.
Within the 12 chapters of this book, you will come across stories that run the gamut of unrelenting SF goodness. One is about a character who is forced to undergo "memory reassignment surgery" because their PTSD from the war is so intense that they have become a violent threat to the public and the local authorities. You'll also read about a man who is addicted to selling his memories for profit to a business that resells those same memories to the ruling class. He ultimately sells so many of his most significant memories that it threatens any chance that he has of reconnecting with his estranged wife and daughter, which is what he wants more than anything. Problem is he can't remember much of what life was like when he was part of their lives.
Then there's the story of a commander of the Vietnam/Australian forces who isn't sure whether or not his team is being stalked by an assassin as they are about to carry out a vital mission against the Chinese forces. As he becomes more and more paranoid, it's not clear whether or not these are delusions brought on by his addiction to a drug called Ice Seven or whether his troop is really being hunted by a stealthy executioner.
I had an enormous amount of fun reading NEON LEVIATHAN. It's a book that I had no idea I needed to read until I fully immersed myself in it. A word of warning, this book is not for the faint of heart as there is very profane language, uber-violence, and pretty seedy people doing really bad things to themselves and others. It's definitely a grownup book with some very grim subject matter. That being said, it's also a book that delivers some amazingly cool moments of Cyberpunk bliss and really fantastic world-building to boot.
If you are searching for a read that harkens back to some of the great Cyberpunk works of our time, then you should definitely pick up a copy of NEON LEVIATHAN by T.R. Napper. It will horrify you at times, make you laugh at others, but always succeeds in entertaining you in the process. I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to read more from this author. Just as a heads-up, this book will be released on February 15th, 2020 but you can preorder it on Amazon right now. I would recommend doing so because this is a wild ride that you are not going to want to miss!
Sometimes you just happen to log in to Twitter at exactly the right time. That was the case a few weeks ago when I hopped on and saw a tweet from James of Grimdark Magazine. He was touting this new SF book that he was reading and asked if any bloggers would be interested in checking it out. The first thing that grabbed me was the incredibly cool cover. It spurred me to reach out to James to get a little more info about the book. Once I was satisfied that it was something that definitely would be of interest, Adrian from GDM was gracious enough to provide me an advance copy of NEON LEVIATHAN by T.R. Napper in exchange for an honest review.
NEON LEVIATHAN is a collection of 12 Cyberpunk stories that all take place in the same world, but at varying chronologies and introducing different characters each time. All of the stories are separate and self-contained, yet they also fit together to formulate an overall tale about a future world gone haywire. The majority of the stories take place roughly (give or take 10-20 years) around the year 2090. During this time Vietnam and Australia have formed a military coalition and are engaged in a brutal war with the kingdom of China. It is really an all-out chaotic situation and we aren't initially sure why this is taking place, but as the stories are told, things get a bit more clear shall we say.
There's also quite a good deal of amazing ideas within these stories, very reminiscent of the likes of William Gibson and Richard K. Morgan. I couldn't help but draw parallels as I was moving through each chapter, but that's not to say that Napper just took these authors' themes and ran with them. This is a universe that is very well thought out, original, and some of the stories totally blew my mind. Suffice it to say I'd be hard-pressed to come up with another book that rivals NEON LEVIATHAN when it comes to mind-blowing concepts, shocking storylines, and insane futuristic drugs and technology.
Within the 12 chapters of this book, you will come across stories that run the gamut of unrelenting SF goodness. One is about a character who is forced to undergo "memory reassignment surgery" because their PTSD from the war is so intense that they have become a violent threat to the public and the local authorities. You'll also read about a man who is addicted to selling his memories for profit to a business that resells those same memories to the ruling class. He ultimately sells so many of his most significant memories that it threatens any chance that he has of reconnecting with his estranged wife and daughter, which is what he wants more than anything. Problem is he can't remember much of what life was like when he was part of their lives.
Then there's the story of a commander of the Vietnam/Australian forces who isn't sure whether or not his team is being stalked by an assassin as they are about to carry out a vital mission against the Chinese forces. As he becomes more and more paranoid, it's not clear whether or not these are delusions brought on by his addiction to a drug called Ice Seven or whether his troop is really being hunted by a stealthy executioner.
I had an enormous amount of fun reading NEON LEVIATHAN. It's a book that I had no idea I needed to read until I fully immersed myself in it. A word of warning, this book is not for the faint of heart as there is very profane language, uber-violence, and pretty seedy people doing really bad things to themselves and others. It's definitely a grownup book with some very grim subject matter. That being said, it's also a book that delivers some amazingly cool moments of Cyberpunk bliss and really fantastic world-building to boot.
If you are searching for a read that harkens back to some of the great Cyberpunk works of our time, then you should definitely pick up a copy of NEON LEVIATHAN by T.R. Napper. It will horrify you at times, make you laugh at others, but always succeeds in entertaining you in the process. I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to read more from this author. Just as a heads-up, this book will be released on February 15th, 2020 but you can preorder it on Amazon right now. I would recommend doing so because this is a wild ride that you are not going to want to miss!
January 26, 2020
First, the Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this eARC by the publisher of Grimdark Magazine. Though I often contribute unpaid reviews for the GdM blog, this fact does not influence my opinion of this particular book. I am publishing this review on my own personal sites, independent of Grimdark Magazine.
Then, the review: Oh now, that was something special that doesn't come along very often. What we have here are 12 stories set along various years of a not-to-far future of our own world, mostly in this futures version of Australia, during and after a huge war with the conflict between China and an alliance including Vietnam and Australia. Of other countries, we are given little, but that there is no more America.
This grim future is scary as it is plausible, as the 12 tales give us insight into the minds, such as they are, of those that survive during these times. There are drugs aplenty and tech that improves not only on ways to kill, but perfects the methods of mind alteration and government controls. The biggest challenge through these stories is telling what is "real" and what isn't.
And it's such fun! Well, fun as only a mind fuq really is amusing, that is. The fun parts are making connections between stories, and trying to piece together a future history that is told in small chunks, with only limited perspectives to give views on the greater scale of things. At least, what their perceptions of these realities are.
I couldn't help but compare these stories to those that I've read by Philip K. Dick, as it's pretty obvious he was a big influence on the author. The author confirms this in his introduction, unsurprisingly. While Napper keeps to a focus of themes centered around the "history" he's created and the people involved in it, we can see how Dick's style helped to shape his narrative.
If you're looking for a space romp with high adventure and Baby Yoda, look elsewhere. But if you want a challenging study in a brutal society coping with advanced technology and its consequences, this is the perfect little dystopia. Just keep in mind that reading it might just affect your political rating.
Then, the review: Oh now, that was something special that doesn't come along very often. What we have here are 12 stories set along various years of a not-to-far future of our own world, mostly in this futures version of Australia, during and after a huge war with the conflict between China and an alliance including Vietnam and Australia. Of other countries, we are given little, but that there is no more America.
This grim future is scary as it is plausible, as the 12 tales give us insight into the minds, such as they are, of those that survive during these times. There are drugs aplenty and tech that improves not only on ways to kill, but perfects the methods of mind alteration and government controls. The biggest challenge through these stories is telling what is "real" and what isn't.
And it's such fun! Well, fun as only a mind fuq really is amusing, that is. The fun parts are making connections between stories, and trying to piece together a future history that is told in small chunks, with only limited perspectives to give views on the greater scale of things. At least, what their perceptions of these realities are.
I couldn't help but compare these stories to those that I've read by Philip K. Dick, as it's pretty obvious he was a big influence on the author. The author confirms this in his introduction, unsurprisingly. While Napper keeps to a focus of themes centered around the "history" he's created and the people involved in it, we can see how Dick's style helped to shape his narrative.
If you're looking for a space romp with high adventure and Baby Yoda, look elsewhere. But if you want a challenging study in a brutal society coping with advanced technology and its consequences, this is the perfect little dystopia. Just keep in mind that reading it might just affect your political rating.
November 5, 2023
T.R Napper is on a hell of a roll.
36 Streets, winner of an armload of awards, is one of Australian SF's best novels, and it's a real treat to be able to explore the Napperverse further in Neon Leviathan.
Like 36 Streets this is Cyberpunk-y as hell, with most of the stories full of heat, sweat, hardscrabble lives and normal people trying to make it in a tough and largely uncaring future.
There's a lovely Aussie feel to many of Napper's stories that really appeals to me, beyond 'hey, that's my town!'. (Although some of the stories are set in Melbourne, and he clearly knows my city well) His characters ring true, in both their humanity and their essential Aussie-ness. Their voices are very distinct, lending each story its own tone. Napper has a gift for a fine turn of phrase too, and allied with his narrative skills, well, it's a pretty strong combination.
Among the 12 stories in this collection there are some real standouts. For my money the story of a gambler being extorted by an inter-dimensional bookie is one of the most memorable - it's a hell of piece of writing and months after reading it it's still vivid in my memory. There's also a very memorable story about rich people's teeth, and a real trip of a VR story largely set in a fearsome mega-tank.
This is cyberpunk, so of course there's vein of bleak running through these stories, but there is also hope and humour too, so they don't feel one-note or endlessly pessimistic like some other visions of the dark future can (hello, Black Mirror!).
In short, this is a real winner of a collection. Get a copy. It's well worth your time.
Five hard-as-nails underworld denizens out of five.
36 Streets, winner of an armload of awards, is one of Australian SF's best novels, and it's a real treat to be able to explore the Napperverse further in Neon Leviathan.
Like 36 Streets this is Cyberpunk-y as hell, with most of the stories full of heat, sweat, hardscrabble lives and normal people trying to make it in a tough and largely uncaring future.
There's a lovely Aussie feel to many of Napper's stories that really appeals to me, beyond 'hey, that's my town!'. (Although some of the stories are set in Melbourne, and he clearly knows my city well) His characters ring true, in both their humanity and their essential Aussie-ness. Their voices are very distinct, lending each story its own tone. Napper has a gift for a fine turn of phrase too, and allied with his narrative skills, well, it's a pretty strong combination.
Among the 12 stories in this collection there are some real standouts. For my money the story of a gambler being extorted by an inter-dimensional bookie is one of the most memorable - it's a hell of piece of writing and months after reading it it's still vivid in my memory. There's also a very memorable story about rich people's teeth, and a real trip of a VR story largely set in a fearsome mega-tank.
This is cyberpunk, so of course there's vein of bleak running through these stories, but there is also hope and humour too, so they don't feel one-note or endlessly pessimistic like some other visions of the dark future can (hello, Black Mirror!).
In short, this is a real winner of a collection. Get a copy. It's well worth your time.
Five hard-as-nails underworld denizens out of five.
January 31, 2020
Cyberpunk remains one of the most enduring new genres of science fiction, having been created during the Reaganite/Thatcher era with an idea that computers as well as corrupt looter capitalism would eventually proliferate beyond all control. Indeed, there's a solid argument that cyberpunk is no longer a science fiction genre because so much of what it predicted has come to pass.
The video games WATCH_DOGS and WATCH_DOGS 2 take place in the present-day of Chicago and San Fransisco while otherwise being classic cyberpunk tales of hackers versus the evil rich. There's still cyberpunk tales in the near and far future, though, like the BBC's BLACK MIRROR and ALTERED CARBON (now on Netflix).
In simple terms, cyberpunk is a dystopian form of science fiction where technology has not made humanity's problems any better, only created new ones. It is not a Luddite or anti-technology genre, quite the opposite as it often fetishizes advancements in tech, but it believes the problems inherent to society are a result of human nature. It is greed, classicism, apathy, and selfishness that make up humanity's problems. So, when you create a device that can cure cancer, a corporation is very likely to make sure only the very rich can use it as we see in the movie ELYSIUM.
NEON LEVIATHAN is a short story collection by T.R. Napper set in Australia during as well as after a brutal three way war between the Land Down Under, Vietnam, and China. In the future, memories can be harvested and sold like commodities. They can also be altered at will. Life has taken on the cheapness of a video game and it is very easy to become confused about the nature of what is real or not given so many things can affect your understanding of what's going on.
Each of the stories deals with a wide variety of antiheroes ranging from criminals to academics to professional soldiers. Almost all of them are fatally flawed to some degree and quite a few of them are clinically insane (or are they?). One of my favorite stories in the book deals with a mathematician who makes all of his money via gambling.
He then thinks an alien debt collector has come to threaten him for lost winnings but can't be certain because he's severely mentally ill and off his meds. Trying to figure out what was real, what was not, and whether any of that had any importance to the central character helped make it one of the best stories within.
The Australia envisioned by T.R. Napper is a place that is on the outside of a global economic boom where people are still as likely to become destitute as they are in our world (if not more so). They make poor decisions in hopes of staying ahead of the expenses of living while often getting themselves even further in debt. The satire is well done as it's clear none of this is our hero's fault (well, maybe for believing they could get ahead of things in the first place). Many of these stories end horribly for the protagonists and have a kind of horror movie twist to them, which I rather liked. Looter capitalism can be like a horror movie if it sinks its fangs into you.
If I had any complaints about the book, it is the fact that this is probably a work that best should be read in chunks instead of one story after another. The neon-filled, rain-soaked streets of Australia is a place that can sometime bleed over into each of the stories. It's a place that should be read in-between other more optimistic fiction because it can get depressing reading one fool after another being destroyed by new technology, like if you read Lovecraft's heroes getting eaten in fifteen stories straight. A few of the stories do have happy endings, though, and are welcome respites from the gloomy grimdark world of the future.
9/10
The video games WATCH_DOGS and WATCH_DOGS 2 take place in the present-day of Chicago and San Fransisco while otherwise being classic cyberpunk tales of hackers versus the evil rich. There's still cyberpunk tales in the near and far future, though, like the BBC's BLACK MIRROR and ALTERED CARBON (now on Netflix).
In simple terms, cyberpunk is a dystopian form of science fiction where technology has not made humanity's problems any better, only created new ones. It is not a Luddite or anti-technology genre, quite the opposite as it often fetishizes advancements in tech, but it believes the problems inherent to society are a result of human nature. It is greed, classicism, apathy, and selfishness that make up humanity's problems. So, when you create a device that can cure cancer, a corporation is very likely to make sure only the very rich can use it as we see in the movie ELYSIUM.
NEON LEVIATHAN is a short story collection by T.R. Napper set in Australia during as well as after a brutal three way war between the Land Down Under, Vietnam, and China. In the future, memories can be harvested and sold like commodities. They can also be altered at will. Life has taken on the cheapness of a video game and it is very easy to become confused about the nature of what is real or not given so many things can affect your understanding of what's going on.
Each of the stories deals with a wide variety of antiheroes ranging from criminals to academics to professional soldiers. Almost all of them are fatally flawed to some degree and quite a few of them are clinically insane (or are they?). One of my favorite stories in the book deals with a mathematician who makes all of his money via gambling.
He then thinks an alien debt collector has come to threaten him for lost winnings but can't be certain because he's severely mentally ill and off his meds. Trying to figure out what was real, what was not, and whether any of that had any importance to the central character helped make it one of the best stories within.
The Australia envisioned by T.R. Napper is a place that is on the outside of a global economic boom where people are still as likely to become destitute as they are in our world (if not more so). They make poor decisions in hopes of staying ahead of the expenses of living while often getting themselves even further in debt. The satire is well done as it's clear none of this is our hero's fault (well, maybe for believing they could get ahead of things in the first place). Many of these stories end horribly for the protagonists and have a kind of horror movie twist to them, which I rather liked. Looter capitalism can be like a horror movie if it sinks its fangs into you.
If I had any complaints about the book, it is the fact that this is probably a work that best should be read in chunks instead of one story after another. The neon-filled, rain-soaked streets of Australia is a place that can sometime bleed over into each of the stories. It's a place that should be read in-between other more optimistic fiction because it can get depressing reading one fool after another being destroyed by new technology, like if you read Lovecraft's heroes getting eaten in fifteen stories straight. A few of the stories do have happy endings, though, and are welcome respites from the gloomy grimdark world of the future.
9/10
February 14, 2022
https://www.bookwormblues.net/2022/02...
I first ran across T.R. Napper when I was editing the most recent edition of Grimdark Magazine. I was editing his story and was absolutely blown away by every part of it. The story itself, the execution, the way Napper uses words like a sledgehammer. I’ve never seen someone use prose so carefully, so each word not only carried its own weight, but so fundamentally impacted how I read and enjoyed the story. I knew this was an author I could read over and over again, and so I took myself to Amazon to buy his books.
I ended up picking up Neon Leviathan and starting it right away, and then pre-ordering his book 36 Streets, which I will start soon.
What really intrigued me about Napper, and the reason why I tracked down more of his work, was really the prose. He’s almost a lyrical writer in the fact that some of his turns of phrase just sing. His writing feels poetic and rich, without ever really dipping into poetry. He makes each word count. There were quite a few times when I was editing his story when I just had to sit back and admire how he was using words. His writing is a unique blend of aggressive and beautiful, and it just worked for me on a fundamental level. I’ve seen a few people compare his prose to Richard K. Morgan, and I think that is probably a good one. Morgan’s writing always strike me a similar way: visceral, with a hint of raw beauty in the most unexpected places.
And that spark of his, that gift he has for an eloquent, visceral turn of phrase was not unique to that story I edited for Grimdark Magazine, but it’s a trait of Napper’s entire body of work. It’s one of the many elements of Neon Leviathan that sets this author head and shoulders above the rest. He not only knows how to tell an interesting story, he also knows how to connect it to his readers.
Set against a rich near(ish)-future world, Neon Leviathan tell twelve different stories, most of them set around the year 2090. These stories are loose and unconnected, and yet there’s an overarching narrative arc that each one helps sustain as well. This was another element of Neon Leviathan I enjoyed. I went in expecting a loose collection of stories with a unifying theme. I did not expect stories that not only stand alone, but also work together.
This is, I’m learning, one of Napper’s best skills. He works on multiple levels, and often times I don’t quite understand the genius of what he’s doing until an “ah ha” moment comes along that is so profound, I have to put the book down and walk away for a while just to absorb it.
The unifying theme in Neon Leviathan is that of a world on the brink. Things have progressed, and everything is out of control, from people to their private lives, to the political and global situation, to the relationship between humanity and technology. There’s a lot happening on numerous different levels from war to personal strife, and, through twelve different stories told through twelve different perspectives, we get to explore different dimensions of life in this world.
This is really where those layers I mentioned come to play, because each story works on several levels. There’s the surface level, entertaining story, but that entertainment is often buoyed by some hefty ideas that Napper explores from numerous different angles. The relationship between humanity and technology is a complicated one with some surprising fallout, and Napper really gets in there and explores that space with visceral prose and interesting characters. Stories that feel real and possible. I often left a story surprised, not just by how much I enjoyed it, but how much it gave me to think about.
The characters we read about here are the outsiders, which was an interesting and effective choice. The everyman, the washed-up has-been, the criminals who navigate the societal underbelly, those who operate best with gray morality. It allowed Napper to give me a feel for more of the average person, the average life, the ways we all choose to survive. These are the people who interest me, and the stories I tend to connect with. More, it allowed Napper to play with some interesting ideas with a bit more liberty than he might have otherwise been able to use. One of my particular favorites, was a person who got a memory reassignment surgery to deal with some extreme PTSD as a result of fighting in the war. Interesting story on the surface with a lot of hefty supporting themes. I love stuff like that.
I’m a sucker for cyberpunk and near-future SciFi, I will admit. The really, really good ones will not just entertain you, but show you a future that feels like a possibility, and that’s what Napper did with Neon Leviathan. He told stories that work on so many different levels. He explored a futurescape that was so thoughtfully wrought, it felt real. Through his stories, we see a landscape of dark possibility, and using his stunning prose as a vehicle, he brought it to life.
Neon Leviathan was a lot of fun, but I was also almost overwhelmed by the author’s attention to detail, his ability to craft the perfect sentence for the perfect moment, his marriage of beauty and pain, his unflinching desire to go spelunking down the dark cave of “What if”. Mostly, what impresses me about Napper is his ingenuity and his cunning use of layers. I was never just reading a story, rather I was exploring an idea and Napper was the perfect guide.
Neon Leviathan really knocked my socks off. Napper is an author to watch.
I first ran across T.R. Napper when I was editing the most recent edition of Grimdark Magazine. I was editing his story and was absolutely blown away by every part of it. The story itself, the execution, the way Napper uses words like a sledgehammer. I’ve never seen someone use prose so carefully, so each word not only carried its own weight, but so fundamentally impacted how I read and enjoyed the story. I knew this was an author I could read over and over again, and so I took myself to Amazon to buy his books.
I ended up picking up Neon Leviathan and starting it right away, and then pre-ordering his book 36 Streets, which I will start soon.
What really intrigued me about Napper, and the reason why I tracked down more of his work, was really the prose. He’s almost a lyrical writer in the fact that some of his turns of phrase just sing. His writing feels poetic and rich, without ever really dipping into poetry. He makes each word count. There were quite a few times when I was editing his story when I just had to sit back and admire how he was using words. His writing is a unique blend of aggressive and beautiful, and it just worked for me on a fundamental level. I’ve seen a few people compare his prose to Richard K. Morgan, and I think that is probably a good one. Morgan’s writing always strike me a similar way: visceral, with a hint of raw beauty in the most unexpected places.
And that spark of his, that gift he has for an eloquent, visceral turn of phrase was not unique to that story I edited for Grimdark Magazine, but it’s a trait of Napper’s entire body of work. It’s one of the many elements of Neon Leviathan that sets this author head and shoulders above the rest. He not only knows how to tell an interesting story, he also knows how to connect it to his readers.
Set against a rich near(ish)-future world, Neon Leviathan tell twelve different stories, most of them set around the year 2090. These stories are loose and unconnected, and yet there’s an overarching narrative arc that each one helps sustain as well. This was another element of Neon Leviathan I enjoyed. I went in expecting a loose collection of stories with a unifying theme. I did not expect stories that not only stand alone, but also work together.
This is, I’m learning, one of Napper’s best skills. He works on multiple levels, and often times I don’t quite understand the genius of what he’s doing until an “ah ha” moment comes along that is so profound, I have to put the book down and walk away for a while just to absorb it.
The unifying theme in Neon Leviathan is that of a world on the brink. Things have progressed, and everything is out of control, from people to their private lives, to the political and global situation, to the relationship between humanity and technology. There’s a lot happening on numerous different levels from war to personal strife, and, through twelve different stories told through twelve different perspectives, we get to explore different dimensions of life in this world.
This is really where those layers I mentioned come to play, because each story works on several levels. There’s the surface level, entertaining story, but that entertainment is often buoyed by some hefty ideas that Napper explores from numerous different angles. The relationship between humanity and technology is a complicated one with some surprising fallout, and Napper really gets in there and explores that space with visceral prose and interesting characters. Stories that feel real and possible. I often left a story surprised, not just by how much I enjoyed it, but how much it gave me to think about.
The characters we read about here are the outsiders, which was an interesting and effective choice. The everyman, the washed-up has-been, the criminals who navigate the societal underbelly, those who operate best with gray morality. It allowed Napper to give me a feel for more of the average person, the average life, the ways we all choose to survive. These are the people who interest me, and the stories I tend to connect with. More, it allowed Napper to play with some interesting ideas with a bit more liberty than he might have otherwise been able to use. One of my particular favorites, was a person who got a memory reassignment surgery to deal with some extreme PTSD as a result of fighting in the war. Interesting story on the surface with a lot of hefty supporting themes. I love stuff like that.
I’m a sucker for cyberpunk and near-future SciFi, I will admit. The really, really good ones will not just entertain you, but show you a future that feels like a possibility, and that’s what Napper did with Neon Leviathan. He told stories that work on so many different levels. He explored a futurescape that was so thoughtfully wrought, it felt real. Through his stories, we see a landscape of dark possibility, and using his stunning prose as a vehicle, he brought it to life.
Neon Leviathan was a lot of fun, but I was also almost overwhelmed by the author’s attention to detail, his ability to craft the perfect sentence for the perfect moment, his marriage of beauty and pain, his unflinching desire to go spelunking down the dark cave of “What if”. Mostly, what impresses me about Napper is his ingenuity and his cunning use of layers. I was never just reading a story, rather I was exploring an idea and Napper was the perfect guide.
Neon Leviathan really knocked my socks off. Napper is an author to watch.
February 21, 2020
Cyberpunk reimagined from an angle we haven't seen before. Wildly imaginative, starkly realised, and deeply human.
April 12, 2020
This is a 5-star review only because a 6-star review isn't possible. Read this collection. It is fantastic.
The author takes on the future from an Asian/Australian perspective. China has risen and is slowly eating up the region. Social ratings are in play as are bio-warfare and computer warfare.
One of the stories is the novella-length "The Weight of the Air, The Weight of the World" that echoes George Orwell and Philip K Dick. The story eventually revolves around the nature of memory when the government has the ability to change it, and how such a power might be abused.
This novella is on my Hugo nomination shortlist for 2021.
The author takes on class issues, race, immigration, and concepts around individual liberty. The perspectives run a broad range as do the narratives. One story involves the difficulties around separating virtual reality from actual reality; lethal consequences ensue when one is mistaken for the other.
This collection is a tour-de-force for any sci-fi fan.
The author takes on the future from an Asian/Australian perspective. China has risen and is slowly eating up the region. Social ratings are in play as are bio-warfare and computer warfare.
One of the stories is the novella-length "The Weight of the Air, The Weight of the World" that echoes George Orwell and Philip K Dick. The story eventually revolves around the nature of memory when the government has the ability to change it, and how such a power might be abused.
This novella is on my Hugo nomination shortlist for 2021.
The author takes on class issues, race, immigration, and concepts around individual liberty. The perspectives run a broad range as do the narratives. One story involves the difficulties around separating virtual reality from actual reality; lethal consequences ensue when one is mistaken for the other.
This collection is a tour-de-force for any sci-fi fan.
July 5, 2020
I ended up loving this book. It's the second five star rating I've given this year. Almost put it down because the first story was poorly edited. It might have been something with encoding. I counted 20 spots that had an underbar connecting two words. The rest of the stories didn't have that same defect. Not sure what was up.
It took me lots of new places. Loved the settings. The stories were nice and personal. Nice and bleak. Gave me lots of good ideas. I would definitely read another book by Napper.
Oh, random thing I remembered, why did everybody smoke and cook meat? Every time someone smokes, he mentions something about cost or getting a permit, and yet they still do it. If you can only cook meat with a permit, why would you even do it? You're most likely going to ruin it because you don't know how to cook it.
It took me lots of new places. Loved the settings. The stories were nice and personal. Nice and bleak. Gave me lots of good ideas. I would definitely read another book by Napper.
Oh, random thing I remembered, why did everybody smoke and cook meat? Every time someone smokes, he mentions something about cost or getting a permit, and yet they still do it. If you can only cook meat with a permit, why would you even do it? You're most likely going to ruin it because you don't know how to cook it.
July 9, 2020
"Everything is memory, save the thin edge of the present."
I was kindly given an eArc of this book by Adrian at Grimdark Magazine. This in now way affects my review of the book.
I've always thought the generations born in the 20th century are a little unlucky in some respects - born late enough to taste the beginnings of the tech revolution; born too soon to experience the eutopia of its potential fully realised.
Neon Leviathan, along with Black Mirror before it, has made me completely reconsider such a notion.
Of course, there have been loads of books predicting a dystopian future in which technological advancement has caused societal devolution, but it just feels so much more relevant, plausible and terrifying here. George Orwell predicted a future we pretty much have much of the technology available for. Whilst some of it is scarily closer to reality than we would have desired, there's no real worry that it's going to become a complete reality. Neon Leviathan gives us a future that could gradually come to fruition before the chance to notice it happening.
A cyberpunk future of on-retina displays, neural implants, exo-memory, coloured blips to denote community and political standing. So much potential for improving oneself, the community, the experience of life. Yet T. R. Napper gives us a noir, cynical exploration of a dark, grim, stifling and controlling society, devoid of privacy or any real choice, that feels completely realistic and plausible. This makes the book more anxiety-inducing than any slasher or monster story.
The book's publisher, Grimdark Magazine, should give you a clue that it isn't a barrel of laughs, despite plenty of lighter and warmer moments. The chapter 'A Strange Loop' really hit me for its depressing plausibility; a man caught in a downward spiral, having sold his most important memories to a memory franchise. Having become obsessed with betting on weather patterns 'on-retina' (basically a display seen through your own eyes) he loses his wife and child. Attempts to get them back are further reduced as he becomes more detached from reality and more of his memories become property of the franchise, his growing bank account serving as no route to happiness.
The book takes place in the last two or three decades of the 21st century behind a backdrop of a Vietnam and Australia at war with China, America no longer existent. Each chapter is a separate story, all building together to give you a bigger picture of the overall world. Although each should generally be read as its own story, there are references scattered throughout and it does pay to make a note of the dates to see the world descend from something closer to familiarity to what could be described as a somewhat post-apocalyptic future in 2193.
Being highly critical, one of the book's strengths is also one of its weaknesses. The jumping from time periods and characters does successfully help build this big picture of a well-thought out world and society, but it can affect the flow. Because of the 'stop-start' nature of the book, I didn't always get that 'one more page' feeling and I sometimes had to remind myself what year each chapter was set in. A couple of the longer chapters (especially Dark on a Darkling Earth) show that Napper is skilled in developing a longer narrative as well as a short story, which had me yearning for more development of any of the characters or storylines. Perhaps a full novel therefore may be something he looks at in future now the foundations of the world are all in place. I couldn't really decrease the score for this though, as there was no attempt to disguise the fact from the outset that this is a collection, not one story.
This does however have the advantage of making the book easier to pick up for a few minutes at a time, reading a story and then coming back to it later which is a good thing when pushed for reading time especially.
I haven't read a lot of cyberpunk to compare this to. Having watched and enjoyed Black Mirror, this would certainly appeal to readers/watchers of technologically dystopian futures. Above all else, it really made me think. For a book to change your outlook on life is a huge achievement. I almost had the bravery to label it the 1984 of this generation; I genuinely feel this will be seen as a really important work in time to come and the potential for 'Napper' to eventually be spoken in the same sentence as 'Gibson, Dick, Leguin, Huxley, Wells.'
I was kindly given an eArc of this book by Adrian at Grimdark Magazine. This in now way affects my review of the book.
I've always thought the generations born in the 20th century are a little unlucky in some respects - born late enough to taste the beginnings of the tech revolution; born too soon to experience the eutopia of its potential fully realised.
Neon Leviathan, along with Black Mirror before it, has made me completely reconsider such a notion.
Of course, there have been loads of books predicting a dystopian future in which technological advancement has caused societal devolution, but it just feels so much more relevant, plausible and terrifying here. George Orwell predicted a future we pretty much have much of the technology available for. Whilst some of it is scarily closer to reality than we would have desired, there's no real worry that it's going to become a complete reality. Neon Leviathan gives us a future that could gradually come to fruition before the chance to notice it happening.
A cyberpunk future of on-retina displays, neural implants, exo-memory, coloured blips to denote community and political standing. So much potential for improving oneself, the community, the experience of life. Yet T. R. Napper gives us a noir, cynical exploration of a dark, grim, stifling and controlling society, devoid of privacy or any real choice, that feels completely realistic and plausible. This makes the book more anxiety-inducing than any slasher or monster story.
The book's publisher, Grimdark Magazine, should give you a clue that it isn't a barrel of laughs, despite plenty of lighter and warmer moments. The chapter 'A Strange Loop' really hit me for its depressing plausibility; a man caught in a downward spiral, having sold his most important memories to a memory franchise. Having become obsessed with betting on weather patterns 'on-retina' (basically a display seen through your own eyes) he loses his wife and child. Attempts to get them back are further reduced as he becomes more detached from reality and more of his memories become property of the franchise, his growing bank account serving as no route to happiness.
The book takes place in the last two or three decades of the 21st century behind a backdrop of a Vietnam and Australia at war with China, America no longer existent. Each chapter is a separate story, all building together to give you a bigger picture of the overall world. Although each should generally be read as its own story, there are references scattered throughout and it does pay to make a note of the dates to see the world descend from something closer to familiarity to what could be described as a somewhat post-apocalyptic future in 2193.
Being highly critical, one of the book's strengths is also one of its weaknesses. The jumping from time periods and characters does successfully help build this big picture of a well-thought out world and society, but it can affect the flow. Because of the 'stop-start' nature of the book, I didn't always get that 'one more page' feeling and I sometimes had to remind myself what year each chapter was set in. A couple of the longer chapters (especially Dark on a Darkling Earth) show that Napper is skilled in developing a longer narrative as well as a short story, which had me yearning for more development of any of the characters or storylines. Perhaps a full novel therefore may be something he looks at in future now the foundations of the world are all in place. I couldn't really decrease the score for this though, as there was no attempt to disguise the fact from the outset that this is a collection, not one story.
This does however have the advantage of making the book easier to pick up for a few minutes at a time, reading a story and then coming back to it later which is a good thing when pushed for reading time especially.
I haven't read a lot of cyberpunk to compare this to. Having watched and enjoyed Black Mirror, this would certainly appeal to readers/watchers of technologically dystopian futures. Above all else, it really made me think. For a book to change your outlook on life is a huge achievement. I almost had the bravery to label it the 1984 of this generation; I genuinely feel this will be seen as a really important work in time to come and the potential for 'Napper' to eventually be spoken in the same sentence as 'Gibson, Dick, Leguin, Huxley, Wells.'
February 15, 2020
Bringing together twelve bleak, powerful short stories into a single volume, this paints a suitably, at times harrowingly grim picture of a not too distant future. Across a deliberately jumbled, back-and-forth timeline Napper explores tales of desperation, survival, love, loss, corporate greed, oppression and fear, all set in a loosely defined world formed from a warring, conflicted melange of Australia, South and Southeast Asia. As nations, alliances and realities blur, as technology becomes increasingly pervasive and life ever more stratified, Napper asks questions of what’s real, what’s possible and what people will do to survive.
This isn’t escapist fiction, it’s thought-provoking, concern-provoking science fiction at its best and most haunting. Powerfully, worryingly relevant and relatable, these stories are tough to read – very few are anything other than heartbreaking – but at the same time wonderfully written, and utterly compelling. It’s a book that’s best absorbed in small doses, both to appreciate the fabulous writing and avoid becoming overwhelmed by the darkness and the blurred realities, but it feels like an important one too, with a strong voice and a lot to say.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/02/...
This isn’t escapist fiction, it’s thought-provoking, concern-provoking science fiction at its best and most haunting. Powerfully, worryingly relevant and relatable, these stories are tough to read – very few are anything other than heartbreaking – but at the same time wonderfully written, and utterly compelling. It’s a book that’s best absorbed in small doses, both to appreciate the fabulous writing and avoid becoming overwhelmed by the darkness and the blurred realities, but it feels like an important one too, with a strong voice and a lot to say.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/02/...
September 10, 2020
I think it's 4.5, so maybe I'll round up. There are a few phenomenal stories in here, a couple that end in ways you're not sure if the story happened and who was what (in the Philip Dick fashion), lots of great world building. And excellent modern (post?) cyberpunk collection and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
July 26, 2020
I cannot believe this book isn't being talked about more because it's really fantastic. I loved all the different stories and the darkness that weaves through them all and the story Opium for Ezra still has me reeling! I hope more people pick this up!
December 14, 2021
Now THIS is Cyberpunk!
T.R. Napper has some amazing concepts and follows through on the penmanship as well. His work is creative and both catches you with sharp turns as well as determined but fascinating stories. Highly recommend it for newcomers and old cyberpunk fans alike.
T.R. Napper has some amazing concepts and follows through on the penmanship as well. His work is creative and both catches you with sharp turns as well as determined but fascinating stories. Highly recommend it for newcomers and old cyberpunk fans alike.
September 11, 2025
Napper ha creato un mondo pazzesco.. Il sud est asiatico del 2090 è qualcosa di eccezionale.. intelligente, coerente, plausibile.. molte delle tecnologie cyberpunk inventate oltre ad essere affascinanti, sono logiche e perfettamente fuse con le culture e gli ambienti dell'Asia.. questa raccolta di racconti, ambientati in periodi diversi, alcuni dopo il 2090, ma per lo più prima, mostrano l'evoluzione del tutto.. molte delle tematiche qui trattate sono poi ampliate e approfondite nei romanzi successivi.. e anche se ho letto questo per ultimo anziché per primo come da ordine cronologico, si poteva vedere già l'enorme creatività dell'autore..
Sono racconti più incentrati sui personaggi, data anche la lunghezza, anziché sull'azione.. i suoi romanzi sono solitamente più ritmati.. qua invece c'è meno azione, ma non per questo risultano lenti.. Sono storie più cerebrali, contorte, complesse e molto intelligenti.. così intrecciate e interconnesse, da avermi dato la sensazione di aver letto un unico romanzo..
i suoi personaggi sono sempre degli Outsider, quelli che non ti aspetteresti, persone fragili, realistiche, con forti emozioni..
molte le trovate tecnologiche, dalle droghe ai social, dai tag politici alla super domotica, ma soprattutto molto ruota attorno all'idea principale del suo mondo, la memoria.. Con gli impianti cocleari è possibile registrare i ricordi, ma anche cancellarli, sovrascriverli, ricrearli, venderli, acquistarli, falsificarli.. e questo crea una sorta di sfiducia positiva verso il racconto, perché non si sa mai quale è la verità.. i piani di lettura si sovrappongono, si pervertono, si corrompono, spesso lasciando al lettore l'ardua sentenza.. insomma, per me Napper è il moderno erede di Gibson e R.K.Morgan, e dovrebbe scrivere un libro al mese!!! Non sbaglia un colpo!!!
Sono racconti più incentrati sui personaggi, data anche la lunghezza, anziché sull'azione.. i suoi romanzi sono solitamente più ritmati.. qua invece c'è meno azione, ma non per questo risultano lenti.. Sono storie più cerebrali, contorte, complesse e molto intelligenti.. così intrecciate e interconnesse, da avermi dato la sensazione di aver letto un unico romanzo..
i suoi personaggi sono sempre degli Outsider, quelli che non ti aspetteresti, persone fragili, realistiche, con forti emozioni..
molte le trovate tecnologiche, dalle droghe ai social, dai tag politici alla super domotica, ma soprattutto molto ruota attorno all'idea principale del suo mondo, la memoria.. Con gli impianti cocleari è possibile registrare i ricordi, ma anche cancellarli, sovrascriverli, ricrearli, venderli, acquistarli, falsificarli.. e questo crea una sorta di sfiducia positiva verso il racconto, perché non si sa mai quale è la verità.. i piani di lettura si sovrappongono, si pervertono, si corrompono, spesso lasciando al lettore l'ardua sentenza.. insomma, per me Napper è il moderno erede di Gibson e R.K.Morgan, e dovrebbe scrivere un libro al mese!!! Non sbaglia un colpo!!!
August 3, 2024
Before 36 Streets, T.R. Napper wrote a cycle of short stories set in the long future history of his setting, centered on Australia, Vietnam, China, and the memory editing technology of the Kandel-Yu device.
As a cyberpunk fan, these stories are fantastic, easily some of the best additions to the genre in the 2020s. The stories are stark and harrowing, full of addicts, post-traumatic cripples, and renegades who have slipped the bounds of sanity and madness. Napper has a feel for the pacing of a short story which eluded his subsequent novel (which is good, but writing is hard), and allows the beautiful cruelty of his prose to shine.
As a cyberpunk fan, these stories are fantastic, easily some of the best additions to the genre in the 2020s. The stories are stark and harrowing, full of addicts, post-traumatic cripples, and renegades who have slipped the bounds of sanity and madness. Napper has a feel for the pacing of a short story which eluded his subsequent novel (which is good, but writing is hard), and allows the beautiful cruelty of his prose to shine.
March 4, 2024
Superb. One the most talented writers I've come across in recent years.
Vivid, visceral, and vicious at times, this is a brilliant collection of noir, cyberpunk, packed full of brilliant stories.
Vivid, visceral, and vicious at times, this is a brilliant collection of noir, cyberpunk, packed full of brilliant stories.
June 3, 2020
The best cyberpunk and (by extension) the best noir is the kind of stuff reaches deep into your guts, takes hold, and twists. Napper's collection is just such a book. It grabs you and won't let go, won't let you look away, won't let you get off easy. It forces you, the reader, to confront what's ugly in the world.
Some of these are hard reads, but they are suffused with beauty and a kind of brutal poetry. Also, for an American reader, it takes us to a place we rarely go in cyberpunk - Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Australia - which gives the book a fresh authenticity, no doubt bolstered by the author's own life.
In short, this is an extremely powerful book. A bleak look at our future, for certain, but one that assures us that no matter how bad it gets, there will be people who put their head down, take the punches, and keep on going. Highly, highly recommended.
Some of these are hard reads, but they are suffused with beauty and a kind of brutal poetry. Also, for an American reader, it takes us to a place we rarely go in cyberpunk - Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Australia - which gives the book a fresh authenticity, no doubt bolstered by the author's own life.
In short, this is an extremely powerful book. A bleak look at our future, for certain, but one that assures us that no matter how bad it gets, there will be people who put their head down, take the punches, and keep on going. Highly, highly recommended.
March 8, 2022
Well... actually DNF. Tossin' in the towel at 10/12 stories (unless I Google it later and find out those were the best). Def some cool ideas and world bits and a few great sentences. Otherwise felt basic, not very deep. Alien betting markets was my fav, followed by community kitchen one.
Liked that it mostly focused on people I would recognize today as being pretty average (not raised-on-the-street toughs, leet haxors/assassins or crime or business bosses (as if there's a diff amirite)). Just didn't find much insight or great craft.
2 stars is harsh, perhaps, but the 4.26 average is way too high, imo, and I'm feeling a bit miffed and false-advertised to ("achingly beautiful"? Idk. "Each one of the stories...is a carefully crafted masterpiece"? Would be pretty wild if this had lived up to that), so going to lean harsher.
Liked that it mostly focused on people I would recognize today as being pretty average (not raised-on-the-street toughs, leet haxors/assassins or crime or business bosses (as if there's a diff amirite)). Just didn't find much insight or great craft.
2 stars is harsh, perhaps, but the 4.26 average is way too high, imo, and I'm feeling a bit miffed and false-advertised to ("achingly beautiful"? Idk. "Each one of the stories...is a carefully crafted masterpiece"? Would be pretty wild if this had lived up to that), so going to lean harsher.
June 16, 2020
Tim Napper, this book is amazing. One of the best short story collections I’ve read in the last few years.
The stand outs for me were Flame Trees (wow, did that pack a punch—I can see why it picked up an Aurealis Award), The Great Buddhist Monk Beat Down, and The Weight of the Air, The Weight of the World. But there’s honestly not a weak story in the bunch.
I loved the bleakness, the Australasian world view, but most of all I loved the humanity that traversed these futures. You have a knack for developing real, imperfect characters worth rooting for.
I’ll definitely be on the lookout for your next release.
The stand outs for me were Flame Trees (wow, did that pack a punch—I can see why it picked up an Aurealis Award), The Great Buddhist Monk Beat Down, and The Weight of the Air, The Weight of the World. But there’s honestly not a weak story in the bunch.
I loved the bleakness, the Australasian world view, but most of all I loved the humanity that traversed these futures. You have a knack for developing real, imperfect characters worth rooting for.
I’ll definitely be on the lookout for your next release.
May 25, 2020
This was a phenomenal set of stories. Each stand on their own, but are actually stronger as a collection. These are dark stories, for the most part, but balanced with ample wit and humor. The prose and pacing really bring the stories to life. I am a huge fan of cyberpunk and grimdark. This collection brings the two together brilliantly.
December 10, 2020
Troublingly unforgettable.
April 9, 2022
Wow! Fantastic writing and a thought provoking, sometimes brutal cyberpunk/noir/near future short story collection from T. R Napper
August 15, 2025
An excellent short-story collection themed around memory, technology dependency, and history—all wrapped in a terrifyingly plausible modern cyberpunk setting.
Since this is a collection of short-stories, I'll write some non-spoiler comments on each one below. The order is the one used for the stories (which is not chronological):
Flame Trees is excellent. This is the story of a refugee now living in Australia; he survived a war in his country and suffers from PTSD. Part of the "treatment" is basically erasing memories—something he refuses. The story deals with trauma and identity, the importance of memory at an individual and collective level. The ending is simply incredible and it left me thinking for days.
Opium for Ezra happens during the aforementioned war. We're following a group of soldiers stuck within a mecha-tank for almost ~1 year. I didn't find it as good as the first one, although I liked how Napper teased with specific tropes for very different goals. I wasn't much a fan of this one.
A Strange Loop is the story of a desperate man selling his memories for money—memories than then get "copyright" to the new owners. This is already setting up the wider world with people's dependencies on exo-memory and the brain damage it causes. If you read the author's other work (one of my faves, The Escher Man) you're going to love this, since it plays with similar themes. One secondary character in this short story also appears in the book, The Escher Man.
Jack's Fine Dining I think this is the closer near-future, set in 2038. As usual, it follows survivors of a war now living in tight conditions, but the story is perhaps themed around hope, acting out or letting things be, and the consequences of those decisions. Something I loved here is how Napper doesn't need to be explicit to convey some of those hard realities; a few impressions, a few perfect words, and the grim setting flourished to life.
A Guide... This was funny and lighthearted, but with so many nuances. It had flavours of Bester's The Demolished Man (with the thought patterns and all), and Bank's Walking on Glass (for Steve's part). It reads pretty different to the others in tone, but the dynamic between the two main characters was spot on.
Ghost of a Neon God is the short-story that was later revised and expanded as T.R. Napper's award-winning novella Ghost of the Neon God. It's pretty open-ended, and (in my opinion, meaning, subjective) it doesn't include the best parts of this story.
The Great... it's a quaint story, told from the point-of-view of a drugged, altered mind. The setting is purposefully unconnected, blending reality into dream on and off throughout the tale—yet still gives enough hints as to what's happening. The story itself works as a standalone pretty well, but if you have read anything else (and even the other stories in this collection) the ending is far more impactful.
The Line is a story about gambling, pit fights, and holding to an edge of morality. Subjectively, it wasn't my cup of tea. Too normal compared to the magnificence of other shorts in this collection.
A shout... has two plotlines: one in Vietnam during the war (mentioned in other stories) and a present timeline, roughly 6 years after The Line. The protagonist of that present timeline is George, the same pitch-fighting guy from the previous story. The story is good and interesting, the problem I had with it is that it's way too common and repetitive in theme, compared to some of the other, more imaginative and unique stories. After coming from The Great... or other imaginative, ground-breaking shorts, this one just felt lacking.
Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang is excellent. One would argue that a story that happens over a restaurant meal could be straightforward but it's not. High-stakes, unexpected twists, and an deep message about expats and refugees. It is short, to the point, and finely crafted.
The Weight of... this is a novelette, not a short story, and it takes about ~70 pages within the book. In short, this novelette is gold. Imagine Orwell's 1984 in a cyberpunk setting where the government manipulates people's memories through their implants, forcing downloads and adjusting what they recall. It is a twisted, Orwellian reality, and Napper pulled it off so well it is terrifying.
Dark on a Darkling Earth is the farthest into the future, and it seemed a post-apocalyptic setting. It plays on the real-life history/function of the Chinese Omissioners to bring life to what may happen given the declining attention span and memory recall we're already seeing in reality. It is a great story, but it is so full of names, legends, and lies, it's a bit dense to follow.
Overall, the collection is great and there are many gems. The only detail to note is that a couple stories are good—but not as extraordinary as the others. Likewise, although T.R. Napper's style was great, this is his first book so his newer work is even better. If you like these, the novella Ghost of the Neon God and The Escher Man will be great follow ups.
Definitely recommend.
Since this is a collection of short-stories, I'll write some non-spoiler comments on each one below. The order is the one used for the stories (which is not chronological):
Flame Trees is excellent. This is the story of a refugee now living in Australia; he survived a war in his country and suffers from PTSD. Part of the "treatment" is basically erasing memories—something he refuses. The story deals with trauma and identity, the importance of memory at an individual and collective level. The ending is simply incredible and it left me thinking for days.
Opium for Ezra happens during the aforementioned war. We're following a group of soldiers stuck within a mecha-tank for almost ~1 year. I didn't find it as good as the first one, although I liked how Napper teased with specific tropes for very different goals. I wasn't much a fan of this one.
A Strange Loop is the story of a desperate man selling his memories for money—memories than then get "copyright" to the new owners. This is already setting up the wider world with people's dependencies on exo-memory and the brain damage it causes. If you read the author's other work (one of my faves, The Escher Man) you're going to love this, since it plays with similar themes. One secondary character in this short story also appears in the book, The Escher Man.
Jack's Fine Dining I think this is the closer near-future, set in 2038. As usual, it follows survivors of a war now living in tight conditions, but the story is perhaps themed around hope, acting out or letting things be, and the consequences of those decisions. Something I loved here is how Napper doesn't need to be explicit to convey some of those hard realities; a few impressions, a few perfect words, and the grim setting flourished to life.
A Guide... This was funny and lighthearted, but with so many nuances. It had flavours of Bester's The Demolished Man (with the thought patterns and all), and Bank's Walking on Glass (for Steve's part). It reads pretty different to the others in tone, but the dynamic between the two main characters was spot on.
Ghost of a Neon God is the short-story that was later revised and expanded as T.R. Napper's award-winning novella Ghost of the Neon God. It's pretty open-ended, and (in my opinion, meaning, subjective) it doesn't include the best parts of this story.
The Great... it's a quaint story, told from the point-of-view of a drugged, altered mind. The setting is purposefully unconnected, blending reality into dream on and off throughout the tale—yet still gives enough hints as to what's happening. The story itself works as a standalone pretty well, but if you have read anything else (and even the other stories in this collection) the ending is far more impactful.
The Line is a story about gambling, pit fights, and holding to an edge of morality. Subjectively, it wasn't my cup of tea. Too normal compared to the magnificence of other shorts in this collection.
A shout... has two plotlines: one in Vietnam during the war (mentioned in other stories) and a present timeline, roughly 6 years after The Line. The protagonist of that present timeline is George, the same pitch-fighting guy from the previous story. The story is good and interesting, the problem I had with it is that it's way too common and repetitive in theme, compared to some of the other, more imaginative and unique stories. After coming from The Great... or other imaginative, ground-breaking shorts, this one just felt lacking.
Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang is excellent. One would argue that a story that happens over a restaurant meal could be straightforward but it's not. High-stakes, unexpected twists, and an deep message about expats and refugees. It is short, to the point, and finely crafted.
The Weight of... this is a novelette, not a short story, and it takes about ~70 pages within the book. In short, this novelette is gold. Imagine Orwell's 1984 in a cyberpunk setting where the government manipulates people's memories through their implants, forcing downloads and adjusting what they recall. It is a twisted, Orwellian reality, and Napper pulled it off so well it is terrifying.
Dark on a Darkling Earth is the farthest into the future, and it seemed a post-apocalyptic setting. It plays on the real-life history/function of the Chinese Omissioners to bring life to what may happen given the declining attention span and memory recall we're already seeing in reality. It is a great story, but it is so full of names, legends, and lies, it's a bit dense to follow.
Overall, the collection is great and there are many gems. The only detail to note is that a couple stories are good—but not as extraordinary as the others. Likewise, although T.R. Napper's style was great, this is his first book so his newer work is even better. If you like these, the novella Ghost of the Neon God and The Escher Man will be great follow ups.
Definitely recommend.
June 25, 2020
I love cyberpunk and this loosely linked anthology was a fabulous read however its was very dark (yeah its cyberpunk Andy of course its dark!) no really dark! and in every story TR Napper manages to make you vividly see and feel the descent which leads to the protagnists downfall. The characters are brilliantly drawn in all their flawed/hopeful/hopeless glory and I would highly recommend this book to lovers of W Gibson or B Sterling.
May 12, 2020
Neon Leviathan, by T.R. Napper, is a harrowing, unforgiving, superb cyberpunk anthology set around 2090 in Australia, South and South East Asia.
Of the twelve stories, Flame Trees and The Line were the standouts for me, but each one offered something unique to the overarching themes, supported by visceral, beautiful prose.
The characters are refreshingly human, their struggles personal and relatable. I was drawn in from the start, rooting for the underdogs and the lost, often left uneasy but moved by the uncomfortable or heartbreaking reveals of their plights. This collection is laced with human error, selfishness, loss, love and desperation.
The violence is vivid and gritty. But its the aftermath—whether immediate or years on—when the characters are trying to adapt to life after the fact, to live with what they’ve seen or done or just with what they have left, that are strongest. This is the heart of these stories, and Napper excels at these harrowing moments.
Highly recommended.
Of the twelve stories, Flame Trees and The Line were the standouts for me, but each one offered something unique to the overarching themes, supported by visceral, beautiful prose.
The characters are refreshingly human, their struggles personal and relatable. I was drawn in from the start, rooting for the underdogs and the lost, often left uneasy but moved by the uncomfortable or heartbreaking reveals of their plights. This collection is laced with human error, selfishness, loss, love and desperation.
The violence is vivid and gritty. But its the aftermath—whether immediate or years on—when the characters are trying to adapt to life after the fact, to live with what they’ve seen or done or just with what they have left, that are strongest. This is the heart of these stories, and Napper excels at these harrowing moments.
Highly recommended.
May 22, 2022
I have to say Australian writers always surprise me in a very positive way. Works from down-under are not that frequent in my area (and sometimes are very much of local character and dont reachn world wide readers) but what gets published to the rest of the world (indie publishing or one of the known publishing houses) are truly gems.
While advertised as cyberpunk, all stories collected here would be more precisely be identified as stories from Twilight Zone set in so distant future (an in some aspects being extremely contemporary).
Backdrop of this collection is world in the last decades of 21st and first decades of 22nd century. Location - Australian-Asian area, more concretely Australia and [as far as I can see] Vietnam. It is time of war between China and ASEAN (with Vietnam suffering the brunt of the war and getting hit by pretty nasty nano and biological combat drones). China seems to be a victor of this pan-Asian-Indo-Pacific war (considering the hints given throughout the stories) and all other major powers ended up as either pulverized or totally pushed aside to political and military irrelevance. It is time of utter disaster and collapse, corporations control all the data and influence the normal every day life while remaining states/coalitions apply very disturbing (and again, rather contemporary) social means of control (very similar to West's modern approach to control of media and constant fight against "disinformation" with ostracizing everyone thinking differently and of course Chinese Great Firewall and terrifying social points system).
Why do I say these are stories from the Twilight Zone? Well, while technology is present it is not carrier of the story - you do not see net plugs, "surfing" the virtual worlds, human machine symbiosis nor cyborgs. Story is about ordinary people (or in some case extraordinary people) in extraordinary situations. Technology is there to show how use of technology gave birth to the dystopia but meat of every story are people, men and women and kids trying to survive the complete social collapse, trying to somehow provide for their families. And this is second thing that plays the role in this collection - family. Basic unit of human species finally returns and for me this was truly refreshing.
Stories are very diverse - from the battlefields of Asia, criminal underground, halls of overpowering corporations, Orwellian state control offices in form of Adjustment and Harmony departments and people trying to survive oligarchs playing people for money in pit fights or using them as fodder in dirty industries (complete fall back to abysmal conditions of miners and heavy industry workers before 20th century). Besides these, there are few stories that are true Twilight Zone stories that have nothing with the cyberpunk genre at all (E.T. betting industry was truly weird story :) ).
Stories are all very .... depressive and very few even have a hint of [some sort] of happy ending because that happy ending always comes at cost of something else - human decency or human lives - and nobody gets away clean (short story of organization in Australia organizing and paying for moving families from war torn Vietnam was excellent - weapon purchases go without problems but saving people, that is something that is under constant sanctions and prevention).
Philip K. Dick was obviously an inspiration (as author acknowledges in the afterword of this collection) and it shows in characters never-ending fight to keep their own personality, sanity and humanity intact by holding to the memories and constantly fighting to live in reality. Opposite to this we have constant efforts of the opposing forces (corporations, state social and media control/censorship) to warp these very memories in various ways - from buying them out, playing on persons complete disorientation and inability to discern reality from fantasy under duress so that nefarious goals are reached, controlling the main media and publishing the disinformation to break the opposition to alternating actual memories to fit the narrative using clandestine or overt ways and in that way placing people as unwilling undercover agents, using them and then discarding them. Best examples of these mind-altering stories are story of Klara from Adjustment Bureau of Australia and Eromanga tank crew story (this one was sicko in the twist, such a 6th Sense moment).
All in all very disturbing future but future all our progressive and freedom loving leaders lead us to. And people follow like sheep. Unfortunately. You know how they say - road to hell is paved by good intentions.
Very down-to-earthiness of the stories might cool down people to observe these stories as warnings and not something to aspire to (or consider it something unchangeable and let one self to it). Because believe me, we do not want to live in this world.
Highly recommended.
While advertised as cyberpunk, all stories collected here would be more precisely be identified as stories from Twilight Zone set in so distant future (an in some aspects being extremely contemporary).
Backdrop of this collection is world in the last decades of 21st and first decades of 22nd century. Location - Australian-Asian area, more concretely Australia and [as far as I can see] Vietnam. It is time of war between China and ASEAN (with Vietnam suffering the brunt of the war and getting hit by pretty nasty nano and biological combat drones). China seems to be a victor of this pan-Asian-Indo-Pacific war (considering the hints given throughout the stories) and all other major powers ended up as either pulverized or totally pushed aside to political and military irrelevance. It is time of utter disaster and collapse, corporations control all the data and influence the normal every day life while remaining states/coalitions apply very disturbing (and again, rather contemporary) social means of control (very similar to West's modern approach to control of media and constant fight against "disinformation" with ostracizing everyone thinking differently and of course Chinese Great Firewall and terrifying social points system).
Why do I say these are stories from the Twilight Zone? Well, while technology is present it is not carrier of the story - you do not see net plugs, "surfing" the virtual worlds, human machine symbiosis nor cyborgs. Story is about ordinary people (or in some case extraordinary people) in extraordinary situations. Technology is there to show how use of technology gave birth to the dystopia but meat of every story are people, men and women and kids trying to survive the complete social collapse, trying to somehow provide for their families. And this is second thing that plays the role in this collection - family. Basic unit of human species finally returns and for me this was truly refreshing.
Stories are very diverse - from the battlefields of Asia, criminal underground, halls of overpowering corporations, Orwellian state control offices in form of Adjustment and Harmony departments and people trying to survive oligarchs playing people for money in pit fights or using them as fodder in dirty industries (complete fall back to abysmal conditions of miners and heavy industry workers before 20th century). Besides these, there are few stories that are true Twilight Zone stories that have nothing with the cyberpunk genre at all (E.T. betting industry was truly weird story :) ).
Stories are all very .... depressive and very few even have a hint of [some sort] of happy ending because that happy ending always comes at cost of something else - human decency or human lives - and nobody gets away clean (short story of organization in Australia organizing and paying for moving families from war torn Vietnam was excellent - weapon purchases go without problems but saving people, that is something that is under constant sanctions and prevention).
Philip K. Dick was obviously an inspiration (as author acknowledges in the afterword of this collection) and it shows in characters never-ending fight to keep their own personality, sanity and humanity intact by holding to the memories and constantly fighting to live in reality. Opposite to this we have constant efforts of the opposing forces (corporations, state social and media control/censorship) to warp these very memories in various ways - from buying them out, playing on persons complete disorientation and inability to discern reality from fantasy under duress so that nefarious goals are reached, controlling the main media and publishing the disinformation to break the opposition to alternating actual memories to fit the narrative using clandestine or overt ways and in that way placing people as unwilling undercover agents, using them and then discarding them. Best examples of these mind-altering stories are story of Klara from Adjustment Bureau of Australia and Eromanga tank crew story (this one was sicko in the twist, such a 6th Sense moment).
All in all very disturbing future but future all our progressive and freedom loving leaders lead us to. And people follow like sheep. Unfortunately. You know how they say - road to hell is paved by good intentions.
Very down-to-earthiness of the stories might cool down people to observe these stories as warnings and not something to aspire to (or consider it something unchangeable and let one self to it). Because believe me, we do not want to live in this world.
Highly recommended.
March 13, 2022
Cyberpunk, which re-invigorated 1980s SF, very quickly became a set of clichés…..neon, rain drenched mega cities, corporations running the world, tech spliced into the human system…..so it takes a very talented writer to take on that genre in the 21st Century, this most cyberpunk of epochs. Fortunately TR Napper is that writer and his debut collection of short stories is quite brilliant. It’s like if Black Mirror had an emotional core rather than a glib set of dystopian tropes endlessly shuffled to ever diminishing returns.
What we get is stories set in a near future where memory has become mutable, where events can be erased, reordered, changed to fit a new narrative; where war in the Far East is a constant background noise; where the State controls your every waking moment. Napper comes up with some great ideas, simply by extrapolating from the tech we use today. Exo-memory, for example, which is used to create a permanent record of events that the fallible human memory may forget. However, that exo-memory is vulnerable to state control. What happens when what you think you know is just what “they” want you to think?
It’s a world of refugees, displaced by an endless, pointless war and Napper’s background as an Aid worker imbues these aspects with an all too real truth. These are stories with an emotional centre, that can move you, make you feel something. The best example is probably the longest story here, The Weight of the Air, The Weight of the World, where memory tech is used to suppress, control and manipulate. It’s heartbreakingly good.
The influence of Philip K Dick is strong, and Napper acknowledges that debt in the Afterword, but Neon Leviathan is written entirely in the author’s own voice. It is one of the best collections of Science Fiction short stories I have ever read. It really is that good.
Very highly recommended.
What we get is stories set in a near future where memory has become mutable, where events can be erased, reordered, changed to fit a new narrative; where war in the Far East is a constant background noise; where the State controls your every waking moment. Napper comes up with some great ideas, simply by extrapolating from the tech we use today. Exo-memory, for example, which is used to create a permanent record of events that the fallible human memory may forget. However, that exo-memory is vulnerable to state control. What happens when what you think you know is just what “they” want you to think?
It’s a world of refugees, displaced by an endless, pointless war and Napper’s background as an Aid worker imbues these aspects with an all too real truth. These are stories with an emotional centre, that can move you, make you feel something. The best example is probably the longest story here, The Weight of the Air, The Weight of the World, where memory tech is used to suppress, control and manipulate. It’s heartbreakingly good.
The influence of Philip K Dick is strong, and Napper acknowledges that debt in the Afterword, but Neon Leviathan is written entirely in the author’s own voice. It is one of the best collections of Science Fiction short stories I have ever read. It really is that good.
Very highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews