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Solaris Satellites
Unto the Godless What Little Remains
The internet is a lonesome god.
Liverloin is a fractured man, a collection of personas—artificial constructs of wants, fears and needs—created by underground science-artists to help him hide in a hyper-connected world. But he can’t hide from Big Momma.
She is the living internet, a benevolent AI who knows everything and everyone… and somehow is in love with Liverloin.
Agent Stevly works for DAIS, an AI on the other side of the internet: the darkness to Big Momma’s light. DAIS’s agents manipulate news, information and media and pull the strings behind world events, but DAIS cannot control Big Momma or understand why she loves Liverloin. Agent Stevly, bound body and soul to DAIS, will stop at nothing to find the answer.
Liverloin is a fractured man, a collection of personas—artificial constructs of wants, fears and needs—created by underground science-artists to help him hide in a hyper-connected world. But he can’t hide from Big Momma.
She is the living internet, a benevolent AI who knows everything and everyone… and somehow is in love with Liverloin.
Agent Stevly works for DAIS, an AI on the other side of the internet: the darkness to Big Momma’s light. DAIS’s agents manipulate news, information and media and pull the strings behind world events, but DAIS cannot control Big Momma or understand why she loves Liverloin. Agent Stevly, bound body and soul to DAIS, will stop at nothing to find the answer.
104 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 14, 2022
3 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 27, 2022
This is a special book.
If you are looking for a quick, fast-paced and witty, heartfelt, lyrical and voicey sci-fi read with characters that bleed off the page and a layer of philosophy looming, this is exactly what you're looking for. The web of detail in the plot was also outstanding and so well delivered at the end.
I will be reading whatever the author writes next.
If you are looking for a quick, fast-paced and witty, heartfelt, lyrical and voicey sci-fi read with characters that bleed off the page and a layer of philosophy looming, this is exactly what you're looking for. The web of detail in the plot was also outstanding and so well delivered at the end.
I will be reading whatever the author writes next.
September 19, 2022
Up front, I received a copy of this book directly from the author, and we have been online friends for some time.
That said, this book rules, and I would be remiss not to shout about it in a review. In the 80s, William Gibson forecast the internet and the rise of artificial intelligence with Neuromancer. UNTO THE GODLESS WHAT LITTLE REMAINS feels like a stripped-down, stylistic continuation of that forecast, projecting our current moment into the near future and imagining a whole slew of twisted ways it could go wrong. This is cyberpunk in the original vein, focused on outsiders, less interested in cool guns and gadgets and more in personality-hacking and AI-gone-haywire. For its short length it gives each character plenty of breathing room and opportunity for personality to shine through, thanks in part to intentional stylistic decisions unique to each point of view. A really excellently crafted, fascinating book that explores where our terminally-online world full of greentext and algorithms might be heading next. Absolutely worth the couple of hours it will ask of you.
That said, this book rules, and I would be remiss not to shout about it in a review. In the 80s, William Gibson forecast the internet and the rise of artificial intelligence with Neuromancer. UNTO THE GODLESS WHAT LITTLE REMAINS feels like a stripped-down, stylistic continuation of that forecast, projecting our current moment into the near future and imagining a whole slew of twisted ways it could go wrong. This is cyberpunk in the original vein, focused on outsiders, less interested in cool guns and gadgets and more in personality-hacking and AI-gone-haywire. For its short length it gives each character plenty of breathing room and opportunity for personality to shine through, thanks in part to intentional stylistic decisions unique to each point of view. A really excellently crafted, fascinating book that explores where our terminally-online world full of greentext and algorithms might be heading next. Absolutely worth the couple of hours it will ask of you.
October 5, 2022
With a sarcastic and witty style (which I thoroughly enjoyed given its scenario), this book makes us reflect about the internet and everything we share on it. The short format also enables to read it almost in one go, making it easier to understand the references of a very well structured narrative.
October 4, 2024
When I first started reading this I baulked at the deliberately confusing, jarring writing, and the glut of metaphors. "What a wank," I thought. But I adjusted, and even found the jarring writing clever once I understood what was going on. This is a fun, fast-paced story that I enjoyed a lot.
It's a bit tired to refer to near-future scifi as "like a Black Mirror" episode, but unfortunately it's apt here too. It's ultimately a slight story, but the multiple viewpoints and the jumping back and forth in time works brilliantly to build up our understanding of the setting and characters, and to bring things to a head. It is slight, but it feels dense due to the worldbuilding and the intertwined threads. However, there are parts that are just too convenient — a lot is compressed to the point of being not-quite-believable in order to fit the scope of a novella.
This is also a book best appreciated by people who are familiar with today's internet — it is steeped in discussions of "AI", social media disinformation, propaganda and trolling, and I appreciated the author showing his depth of knowledge on the topic, and enjoyed the multiple references.
Anyway, once I got into this, I had a good time. I hope the author will write a full-length novel sometime.
It's a bit tired to refer to near-future scifi as "like a Black Mirror" episode, but unfortunately it's apt here too. It's ultimately a slight story, but the multiple viewpoints and the jumping back and forth in time works brilliantly to build up our understanding of the setting and characters, and to bring things to a head. It is slight, but it feels dense due to the worldbuilding and the intertwined threads. However, there are parts that are just too convenient — a lot is compressed to the point of being not-quite-believable in order to fit the scope of a novella.
This is also a book best appreciated by people who are familiar with today's internet — it is steeped in discussions of "AI", social media disinformation, propaganda and trolling, and I appreciated the author showing his depth of knowledge on the topic, and enjoyed the multiple references.
Anyway, once I got into this, I had a good time. I hope the author will write a full-length novel sometime.
October 21, 2023
The style in which this is written feels both modern yet prophetic of the future. It is at times cold and foreboding yet infused with poignant sadness and sharp wit. It’s probably incredibly difficult to write fiction centered around the internet without resorting to tired cliches that feel immediately outdated, but Mario has done it and done it well.
October 5, 2022
Takes the best of Lauren Beukes and William Gibson and mashes them together. A prescient, urgent story for the Reddit age, told with razor-sharp prose and scathing precision.
October 3, 2022
For fans of cyberpunk
It’s an interesting read, told in an almost stream of consciousness way that really works at parts and stumbles forward during others. I will also add the shifting POVs are disorienting at first but start to make sense as things go on, though certain POVs require a lot more attention to parse through due to formatting choices.
Overall, if you’re a fan of cyberpunk and want to appreciate some interesting ideas, check it out.
It’s an interesting read, told in an almost stream of consciousness way that really works at parts and stumbles forward during others. I will also add the shifting POVs are disorienting at first but start to make sense as things go on, though certain POVs require a lot more attention to parse through due to formatting choices.
Overall, if you’re a fan of cyberpunk and want to appreciate some interesting ideas, check it out.
May 18, 2023
Lotta talk about the outre writing, and how it's an original way to tell a story. Maybe the ones saying that don't read a lot of multi-viewpoint stories, because I had no trouble tracking what was happening when.
I liked the story, the presentation of the awakening of a new AI, and how it's "defeated". The "Big Bleep"<?> dump of everyone's personal data feels disturbingly possible and likely.
Worth the time.
I liked the story, the presentation of the awakening of a new AI, and how it's "defeated". The "Big Bleep"<?> dump of everyone's personal data feels disturbingly possible and likely.
Worth the time.
December 9, 2022
This was an interesting read. A post-cyberpunk tale set on the cusp of the singularity that posits a world in which everyone's online presence has been laid bare. Imagine waking up one day and learning everything you'd ever posted online, every comment you'd ever made, every picture you'd ever shared digitally with a friend or lover, was suddenly out there for the world to see. That's the set-up for a frenetic, sometimes chaotic chase through Lisbon.
I really like the mishmash of styles Coelho uses in this novella. Each character and each point of view has its own viewpoint, its own tense, and it makes the narrative feel disjointed. Despite this, the story flows remarkably well. Almost like order out of chaos.
I'm not sure if this short tale is indicative of Coelho's wider body of work, but I am definitely tempted to pick some more up and give it a try. A good, strong four out of five stars.
I really like the mishmash of styles Coelho uses in this novella. Each character and each point of view has its own viewpoint, its own tense, and it makes the narrative feel disjointed. Despite this, the story flows remarkably well. Almost like order out of chaos.
I'm not sure if this short tale is indicative of Coelho's wider body of work, but I am definitely tempted to pick some more up and give it a try. A good, strong four out of five stars.
January 3, 2023
Recent Reads: Unto The Godless What Little Remains. Mario Coelho's novella takes to Lisbon in the near future, where AIs are the new gods, capricious as the classical figures on Olympus and as dangerous. We should be very afraid when they take notice of us. A fable for tomorrow.
January 1, 2023
Last book of 2022, written by an online friend. Wonderfully fast paced and focused on its premise of extended the rough ways we erase our pasts and regrets currently with technology to very literal and extreme extents in the future. The internet just wants someone with an original thought.
December 28, 2022
Mário Coelho's novella is a fun little cyberpunk-like about a world decided by the internet. The story plays around with certain aspects of our on-line culture that has permeated in the daily life of our citizens. The first chapters are a little difficult to get into at first, but after that you get used to how each character has its own writing voice. The events that surround our main characters gets unfolded organically. Coelho has definitely fate in the audience's intelligence as you realise how past and present are deftly coming together at the climax. A modern masterpiece!
November 25, 2022
Ok! A review to come in a little bit! At the moment I am working at a four star book because my brain just needs to digest it a bit
February 26, 2023
Short review:
Great story. Smart, funny and elegantly written.
Long review:
This one somehow made it to the top of my TBRL, and I’m glad it did.
I’m not one for name-dropping (I suffer from the cultural habit of saying one thing but doing the opposite). Unto the Godless What Little Remains is a cyberpunk book that is reminiscent of William Gibson in style and with ideas that reminded me of Greg Egan’s Axiomatic. But Mario has a style of his own and plenty of original ideas. He has fun with words, playing with meanings and sounds, something that reminds me of the playfulness of the early Don Delillo.
My only complaint would be that it was too short. I am a fan of short fiction. I have three boys (and my own writing projects) that usurp my time, so diving into something longer is difficult for me. (I must admit, if it was longer it probably wouldn’t have made it to the top of my TBRL so soon…) But for this story, I would have told my boys to eat cereal for dinner to read more. Mario had plenty of room to grow this story to double its length by exploring more about Crux and Daniel and Liverloin and the world around them.
This does not in any way take away from the fact that I highly recommend this novel.
Great story. Smart, funny and elegantly written.
Long review:
This one somehow made it to the top of my TBRL, and I’m glad it did.
I’m not one for name-dropping (I suffer from the cultural habit of saying one thing but doing the opposite). Unto the Godless What Little Remains is a cyberpunk book that is reminiscent of William Gibson in style and with ideas that reminded me of Greg Egan’s Axiomatic. But Mario has a style of his own and plenty of original ideas. He has fun with words, playing with meanings and sounds, something that reminds me of the playfulness of the early Don Delillo.
My only complaint would be that it was too short. I am a fan of short fiction. I have three boys (and my own writing projects) that usurp my time, so diving into something longer is difficult for me. (I must admit, if it was longer it probably wouldn’t have made it to the top of my TBRL so soon…) But for this story, I would have told my boys to eat cereal for dinner to read more. Mario had plenty of room to grow this story to double its length by exploring more about Crux and Daniel and Liverloin and the world around them.
This does not in any way take away from the fact that I highly recommend this novel.
January 1, 2024
I was fascinated, confused, and bereft by this book in turns, but overall impressed, an intense single sitting novella.
May 23, 2023
Purchased as part of this year's World SF/F bundle on Storybundle! Also, vacation read 2023 1/5.
This is a stylistically and conceptually interesting novella which I found less compelling at the character/relationship level. I absolutely love the nonlinear structure, and the way that each perspective was written in a different style and format. Stev's multiple screens were the most interesting for me, as I feel Coelho really captured the way people code-switch between different online interactions, and the way that attention is fragmented by the many things in the modern world which demand it.
The characters and their relationships felt flatter, especially Alice - even in her own POV, she seemed to mostly exist in relationship to Liverloin, rather than as a whole person. Some of this is the natural limitation of short-form storytelling, but some of it felt to me just like... the way a lot of male writers, especially in high-concept SF, tend to use female characters kind of like props.
Thematically, it felt like a very topical read for the current moment (though admittedly, a bit odd to take to the beach, as I did). The way Coelho presents AI as an extension of the panopticon effect of social media was chilling - and, reading it after the release of AI art and writing programs which scrape the internet for datasets, hit close to home. It is unfortunately true in the modern world that anything, even this review, could be used as part of an AI training dataset, and therefore spread and known far more widely than it was ever meant to be. After decades of (relatively) unfettered internet, that's something we all have to reckon with.
Definitely an interesting little jaunt, and a writer I'd read more of.
This is a stylistically and conceptually interesting novella which I found less compelling at the character/relationship level. I absolutely love the nonlinear structure, and the way that each perspective was written in a different style and format. Stev's multiple screens were the most interesting for me, as I feel Coelho really captured the way people code-switch between different online interactions, and the way that attention is fragmented by the many things in the modern world which demand it.
The characters and their relationships felt flatter, especially Alice - even in her own POV, she seemed to mostly exist in relationship to Liverloin, rather than as a whole person. Some of this is the natural limitation of short-form storytelling, but some of it felt to me just like... the way a lot of male writers, especially in high-concept SF, tend to use female characters kind of like props.
Thematically, it felt like a very topical read for the current moment (though admittedly, a bit odd to take to the beach, as I did). The way Coelho presents AI as an extension of the panopticon effect of social media was chilling - and, reading it after the release of AI art and writing programs which scrape the internet for datasets, hit close to home. It is unfortunately true in the modern world that anything, even this review, could be used as part of an AI training dataset, and therefore spread and known far more widely than it was ever meant to be. After decades of (relatively) unfettered internet, that's something we all have to reckon with.
Definitely an interesting little jaunt, and a writer I'd read more of.
March 7, 2023
This book was a pleasant surprise.
If you’re a fan of William Gibson, Lauren Beukes, and China Mieville, you’ll enjoy this one. With witty, lyrical prose and complex characters, Coelho addresses artificial intelligence, internet surveillance, and identity loss in an age where people can become whoever they want to become with a click of a button (or the sting of a needle). At its core, I think, this book is a celebration of daedalean human emotions in a world suffocating from overreliance on digitised data.
Do yourself a favour and read this book. You won’t regret it.
If you’re a fan of William Gibson, Lauren Beukes, and China Mieville, you’ll enjoy this one. With witty, lyrical prose and complex characters, Coelho addresses artificial intelligence, internet surveillance, and identity loss in an age where people can become whoever they want to become with a click of a button (or the sting of a needle). At its core, I think, this book is a celebration of daedalean human emotions in a world suffocating from overreliance on digitised data.
Do yourself a favour and read this book. You won’t regret it.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews