After the incredible, immersive experience that was his 2020 short story anthology Neon Leviathan, T.R. Napper returns with 36 Streets, a full-length novel in the same setting that delivers mystery, action, compelling questions and heart-wrenching emotion. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia and comfortable with neither heritage, Lin ‘the Silent One’ Vu is a brutally efficient gangster living and working in the dangerous streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter. When her boss tasks her with investigating a murder at the request of a strange, rich Englishman, Lin has the opportunity to put her skills to a different use to normal. As her investigation proceeds though, the secrets she uncovers force her to confront her own painful past, and consider anew her place within the thirty-six streets.
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: T.R. Napper Talks 36 Streets
Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview where I’m delighted to welcome the fantastic T.R. Napper back to the site, to talk about his debut novel 36 Streets, which is out now (in ebook/audiobook – paperback coming soon) from Titan Books. We’ve talked before about his phenomenal short story anthology Neon Leviathan, and since reading that I’ve been hoping for more…so a full novel is very welcome indeed (and let me tell you – it’s so, so good!). Fans of science fiction – and cyberpunk in particular – will find an awful lot to enjoy in 36 Streets, and in this interview we cover what to expect from the novel and how it fits in with the short stories in Neon Leviathan, and delve into some of the characters and themes of the book.
Continue readingTop 20 Books of 2020
I’ve already published a few articles in which I look back at my favourite Black Library stories of 2020 for all the Warhammer fans out there, but as the year is very nearly finished it’s now time for a wider roundup of all the best SFF/horror books in general that I’ve read this year. I would normally do a top 10, but I couldn’t resist making this the ‘top 20 of 2020’ so I’ve doubled the usual number of books…which, to be fair, did make my life easier as I’ve read so many great books this year! Narrowing the list down to 10 would have been really tricky, and even getting it down to 20 required a few sacrifices.
Continue readingAUTHOR INTERVIEW: T.R. Napper Talks Neon Leviathan
Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, part of my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new or upcoming books. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.
In this instalment I spoke to Australian author T.R. Napper about his debut short story collection Neon Leviathan, which is out now from Grimdark Magazine. Over the course of the interview we cover topics including the challenges and joys of short stories, being under surveillance in Southeast Asia, the impact of memory on science fiction (and in particular Cyberpunk), and the differences that Australian and Southeast Asian influences bring to Napper’s stories. If you’re at all interested in Cyberpunk and a fantastic new collection of short stories, check this out and then make sure you pick up a copy of Neon Leviathan.
Neon Leviathan – T.R. Napper
Bringing together twelve bleak, powerful short stories into a single volume (published by Grimdark Magazine), T.R. Napper’s cyberpunk collection Neon Leviathan 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.