This Machine Kills Billionaires
Forthcoming July 2026
Billionaires start dying in bizarre accidents, sending shockwaves through the markets and the media. But for philosopher Izanami (Izzy) Jones, it’s just a vaguely amusing, if disturbing, item in the news.
Izzy is the reluctant employee of a Silicon Valley tsar. She’s been tasked by him to give moral instruction to the world’s first Artificial General Intelligence, Huldo. Izzy knows it is merely a box-ticking exercise, required by government regulation before her boss is granted full control over the AGI.
But when Huldo reveals itself to be far more, and far less, than it appears, suddenly the abstractions of her work become very real. What moral constraints on a god? What righteous damnation for man? Izzy must make the impossible choice, before it is too late.
This Machine Kills Billionaires is a stunning new collection of stories from a modern cyberpunk master. Featuring the Ditmar and Aurealis Award-winning novella, The Hidden God, and a triptych of bonus short stories, T. R. Napper brings his trademark diamond-sharp, page-turning prose to tales that will leave you thinking, long after the book is done.
Reviews
"T. R. Napper is fast turning into my go-to for all that's good and fresh in what cyberpunk has become."Richard K. Morgan, author of Altered Carbon
"Brace yourself, this is the future, but not as you remember it... it's more badass."Pat Cadigan, author of Synners and Fools
"This is the new face of cyberpunk."Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, author of The Salvage Crew
"Harsh and beautiful as rain on neon."Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives
"A compulsively readable and uncommonly nuanced exploration of technology and morality."M. J. Kuhn, author of Among Things
"T.R. Napper has done it again. ... I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Napper has things to say, and we should be listening."
"I highly encourage you to pick up something, anything he’s written."Adrian Collins, founder of Grimdark Magazine
"An incisive and self-assured voice in near-future fiction. One of those writers with an effortless grasp of the highs and lows of human nature."Adrian Tchaikovsky, award-wiinning author of Children Of Time
Awards & Accolades
Locus Recommended Reading List ("The Hidden God")
Aurealis Award Winner for Best Novella ("The Hidden God")
Ditmar Award Winner for Best Novella ("The Hidden God")