T.R. Napper Makes Neon Leviathan More Than the Sum of Its Parts
…memories are not just for the individual. They make up our collective consciousness. They are a common resource that teaches us who we are and how to be.
In Neon Leviathan, twelve short stories ricochet off one another. They center around marginalized perspectives in Australia after a futuristic war entangled that country, Vietnam, and China. The stratification of class has been exacerbated. Each story focuses on one or more individuals who are just trying to get by in a world where the corporations dominate. Expect tales of criminals, gamblers, medics, and soldiers. No one can afford the luxury of being a hero or having high ideals; some are outright villainous if the broader context is not illustrated.
Neon Leviathan Hits the Beats of Classic Cyberpunk
Right off the bat and throughout Neon Leviathan, Napper well articulates the cyberpunk subgenre motifs and themes while making his mark. The lens chosen for each story strays in a welcome way from poverty tourism and other cultures’ exotification. It feels purposefully constructed, picking and choosing from strengths and discarding the rest. The result is an inclusive world that would feel like a breath of fresh air if it weren’t so dang post-capitalism depressing sometimes.
The capitalist machine in this world is not far removed from our own. The system has found new ways to commodify and charge the expense to the personal autonomy of those less fortunate. Memories themselves now have a significant market. They are tweaked and sold, reducing the sum total of the person and the broader cultural consciousness in the process.
what you’re really selling is the vitality and emotion of that experience. The power of these memories is such that when you experience them, they increase the strength and number of synaptic connections in your neural pathways. The rich need this, more than anyone, because nearly all of them are constantly editing their histories. For everything: relationships, jobs, family, making their lives seem superior to that of regular people.
Cyberpunk and Grief
Quite a few of the stories in Neon Leviathan hook into loss and subsequent grief. There are new questions posed–further explorations, updated from the classic cyberpunk canon. There is something inevitable about aspects of this fiction. People selling their favorite moments for money, effectively killing off their previous identity, has a synchronicity.
The rich feast on human moments. The poor sell their happiness to elevate themselves to a better standard of living. But by the time they reach their goal, they’re more like the rich, consuming others whole. Their ability to connect and empathize is rooted in the memory of having done so before. Though it is not a new take on the rich, it is perhaps a new angle. The future too often repeats the past, slightly askew or off-kilter.
For me, the most appealing thing about cyberpunk has always been finding humanity in individuals. Everything exists in gradients, including the complexity of people: their beliefs, their morals, their circumstances. This short story collection feels like it takes that to heart.
Short stories are the perfect venue to hop from one perspective to the next within the same world. It gives the observer snapshots of lives and technology. Most importantly, it positions the fiction to make meaningful connections to characters who would lack consideration otherwise. You perceive both the intent as well as the ramifications.
You May Not Love All the Stories, but You Will Love the Whole Story
The only obstruction for Neon Leviathan is the one all collections face. You may enjoy and connect with some stories and not others. In this case, because they are linked (albeit not chronologically), something that may feel like a dud still does the work of worldbuilding. Each story contributes aspects that are important and that facilitate the enjoyment of either the next story or one down the line.
It is exciting that cyberpunk as a subgenre has existed long enough to be critiqued and reflected upon. It allows collections like this, and I hope future contributions to cyberpunk, to forge stories that either play into or discard the predominant tropes of the subgenre. Being aware of the pitfalls allows writers to innovate their contributions. That is precisely what this collection is: an innovation.
When our decision-making is nurtured by corporate algorithm, when so many of our experiences are their simulations of experience, when we’ve outsourced our memories to be stored and filed away, by them. When our every moment is sampled, deconstructed, and built back into Trojans—advertising, architecture, news reports—that reformat our lives. How can we exist, then, when we’re someone else’s dream? They create these cities, Jack, and cities are huge external memory devices. But the memories are not ours, always those of others.
Favorite Quotes
What you’re really selling is the vitality and emotion of that experience. The power of these memories is such that when you experience them, they increase the strength and number of synaptic connections in your neural pathways. The rich need this, more than anyone, because nearly all of them are constantly editing their histories. For everything: relationships, jobs, family, making their lives seem superior to that of regular people.
When our decision-making is nurtured by corporate algorithm, when so many of our experiences are their simulations of experience, when we’ve outsourced our memories to be stored and filed away, by them. When our every moment is sampled, deconstructed, and built back into Trojans—advertising, architecture, news reports—that reformat our lives. How can we exist, then, when we’re someone else’s dream? They create these cities, Jack, and cities are huge external memory devices. But the memories are not ours, always those of others.
