From the beloved creator of the wildly popular Sam O’Nella Academy YouTube channel, an irreverent and timely science fiction collection that offers a wry look at the not-so-distant future
Sam A. Miller, the creator behind Sam O'Nella Academy, has spent ten years teaching his 4.8 million subscribers about the past and the present. Here, he turns towards fiction—and the future…
A hyper advanced alien race seemingly solves all existential threats—no climate change, no nuclear weapons, no singularity crisis...and yet, in crisis we remain. Because humans are their own existential threat in the not dys- or u-topian, but simply “topian” world of this interconnected collection: In “Four Little Words” scientists discover the shocking truth about grass. In “Eggs For Roman,” a baboon with human intelligence gets cyberbullied. And in “Beat,” a young man must save his own life from the music that’s taken it hostage.
Often funny and always profound, Still Lost bends reality just enough for it to become a mirror and takes its readers on a daring and strange ride—an ultra-timely, sardonic collection that feasts on the follies and earnest absurdities of humanity.
I regularly post diatribes on this hellsite without the knowledge or blessing of the authors, so imagine my evil glee when Sam gave the all clear. Anyways, let's get this over with.
Luckily for Sam and unluckily for me, there was a lot in this that I thought was really well done. There was also some stuff that wasn't; I think this book can best be described as having some very high highs and, while the lows weren't that low, they were oftentimes fairly systemic.
Good stuff first: if you were to paper a wall with all of the pages of this book, throw a dart at a random paragraph, and read just that paragraph, this book would seem fantastic. There are so many passages that balance humor and sharp insight perfectly. There are also a lot of passages that are genuinely moving. On a narrative level, I thoroughly enjoyed both The Prophet and Being a Nothingness, with Beat being a strong third place--I'd go back and read the first two as standalones any day. Being a Nothingness in particular, which is about "a young man convinced that his bouts of unspeakable dread are a result of how deep he is, only to discover that he's just mentally ill," is a darkly hilarious and relatable premise, and his arc of emotional torment to horrified realization to dogged determination to improve is well written and pulls on the heartstrings. And in 30 pages, no less!
On that note: when this book is personal, you can tell, and the emotion in these parts is where the book is at its best: the anxiety attack and catharsis in Being a Nothingness, the despair and quiet resolve in Beat...chef's kiss. It's a bit of an aside, but I also thought the action scenes in Bloodstreams was well paced, descriptive, and engaging. Not easy to get right.
But this book falls apart a little bit on the broader scale, the two biggest issues being a lack of throughline and inconsistent tone.
On throughline: In the introductory story--the setting the scene, if you will--Earth is sort of taken over by aliens. Not malicious ones, but it's clear that they will have lasting effects on society, politics, climate, culture, etc. And then...they kind of don't. The Xenos are background characters in two of the seven stories (not counting the introduction), but beside some predictable comments on religion, they don't seem to have changed the world in any tangible way. There are hints in two stories about an upcoming presidential election with the runaway frontrunner being violently anti-Xeno, but that's as far as that (potentially very interesting) storyline goes. Other than some slightly more modern technology, most of these stories could have taken place today. There's nothing wrong with the world of 2080 looking similar to ours, except that multiple things in-universe--Xenos, the general knowledge that aliens are real and living on our planet, robots advanced enough that they're indistinguishable from humans--should make for a changed world. Many of the stories on their own are pretty good, but they become slightly inconsistent when you try to place them into the broader setting.
On tone: the tones of the Xenos changed rather rapidly. They'd be inscrutable and inhuman one moment, and then switch to being profane and immature the next. I'm not sure if this was done for humor, or what--crass aliens can be funny, but not when they were being stately benefactors the moment before--but it made their general characterization very uneven. The human characters were much more consistent, but every now and then they would have similar problems.
And while Beat, The Prophet, and Being a Nothingness were quite good, the others were so-so story-wise, with Four Little Words losing me entirely. I was about to be up in arms about how there's no way a bunch of academics would read a single paper and completely change their whole worldview, until Sam said in the story notes that he knew that, but my rage would mostly be in a joking way anyways. On a more serious note, it was way too short for any emotional connection, and the pipeline from "grass can feel pain --> we're committing holocausts so we should nuke the planet --> let's not tell anyone actually --> you published the paper already? I'm gonna shoot 12 times and we're gonna get the government to bury the evidence" is a tough sell for any length of story, let alone one 6 or so pages long.
So while this book isn't perfect, it's definitely promising. There is plenty of smart, funny, and reflective writing in here, and if Sam has the inclination, I think a lot of the inconsistencies this book has could be cleaned up with more practice. If he ever puts out something again, I'll read it.
Also, I saw so many words in this book I've only ever seen in the New York Times crossword (complimentary, not derogatory). Wonder why that is...
“Man is a beast defined by his contradictions. One of many is that, despite being born from chaos, he strives relentlessly towards order. So much of his energy is robbed from him by this endless uphill battle against the forces of decay.”
I’ve been a fan of Sam O’Nella since middle school. I’m now graduating college, and I still find myself going back to old videos as a comfort when life becomes too much. Imagine my surprise when Sam comes out of the woodworks with a face reveal and a book release on a random Friday evening.
Of course, I immediately purchased and devoured said book.
I would like to emphasize that this book is not good in a “good-because-I’m-a-fan” type of way. Each story was so well crafted and communicated that I genuinely felt immersed for hours at a time, hence finishing it in only two nights of reading. I think knowing Sam’s cadence and humor from his videos only enhanced my reading experience, as I felt myself connecting closer with the dry humor throughout.
The world crafted in these eight stories was so intricate and enticing. It’s very impressive for a debut author to be able to communicate a complicated, completely alien future without succumbing to long paragraphs of tedious lore dumping. My favorite story was probably “Eggs for Roman.” It reminded me a lot of “Flowers for Algernon,” in terms of the writing style, which is a very good thing. I also really enjoyed “Beat.” I’m glad that Sam felt comfortable enough to include this story as it genuinely hit deep for me, and I’m sure a lot of other readers as well.
In all, I love this collection in two ways. One, as a genuine fan of Sam and his videos, and, two, as a reader who loves well written, genre-bending weird-lit. As a fan, I’m glad to be able to enjoy another medium of content from one of my evergreen favorite creators. As a reader, this book made me cry, and I think that speaks for itself.
While I found the quote above to be the most profound, my favorite quote from the book was, “who up starin they monkey,” followed closely by the continued allusions to a terrifying incident known only to historians the Roomba Rebellion.
I initially got the book solely to help support Sam as I've been a follower of his on YouTube and greatly enjoyed his content.
I very much enjoyed this set of stories as well!
Honestly, when you get the words "like cat piss struck by lightning" on the first page, you know there will be much to look forward to. The writing is good, the content is absurd (in the best way).
What a debut! I picked up the book and could not put it down. While not perfect, I found it so well crafted and poignant that I downloaded this app just to leave a review. Eggs for Roman and Beat are highlights in what will be a very successful career.
3.5 stars. A great first publication! I thouroughly enjoyed seeing a different side of the youtuber I've watched for a few years. My favourites were 'Beat' 'Eggs for Roman' and 'Being a Nothingsness' The other stories were really solid, but 'Four Little Words' was a bit of a misser for me. I look forward to reading more of Sam's work in the future!
As someone who's watched every Sam O'Nella video multiple times over, I was still amazed by how well these short stories were written, that I ended up reading the entire collection in just one day. The last story in the collection, "Beat", was a remarkably well told story about addiction and how no one thinks it could happen to them, and the unwillingness to acknowledge the problem. The end notes revealing it's somewhat based on his struggles only add to that feeling. The other stories were just as good, but "Eggs for Roman" also stuck out as a particularly well written one. The change in vocab as Roman/Habibi gets smarter and smarter helps you to understand what's happening before anything is said. All in all, a remarkable first piece of literature for a new writer.
Sam certainly has a good imagination in his little nogging. I quite enjoyed the setting(s) and most of the stories, but the prose frankly feels a bit amateurish and - forgive me - oftentimes goes a bit hard on the Reddit. Maybe I just don't read enough contemporary literature to not get totally taken out of it by reading a (on the surface) shitpost [one word] that presents as a book. It certainly made me laugh, so that's good, but I don't know if you need to hit every environment description with an epic science zinger. It reminds me a bit of Hitchhiker's guide, where I'm simultaneously the target audience and also someone who rolls my eyes at it. Is that my fault or yours? I don't know. The latter half has a lot less of what I've criticized so I warmed a lot on it. If this dog shit website had proper ratings I'd give it a 5/10 - perfectly adequate humorous paperback. Unfortunately, it doesn't.
Very enjoyable! Some stories are better than others, but that's always the case for collections. You get a bit of recognizable Sam O'Nella humor in a few of them, but others read very "straight"
In particular, the final story "Beat" is a painfully realistic view of the descent into and crawl out of addiction. The author's comments at the end of the book reveal where he got that realistic view.
I hope to see more books from Sam soon (In addition to finishing that damn Pliny the Elder series...)
I’ve always loved Sam’s content on YouTube and I was very excited when I heard about this book. I found the short stories in this book to be on-brand with the “Sam O’Nella” sense of humor and blended nicely with compelling sci-fi/futuristic stories that had me hooked from start to finish. I literally couldn’t stop reading. I skipped meals, forgot to sleep, and lost all contact with my friends and family. Great book!
If you’re familiar with the content and quality of this author’s videos on YouTube, you will not be disappointed with his book. Made me laugh, cry, think a little harder than I usually do. Thanks Sam
3.5 stars but I always round down. I liked some of the stories but some of them not so much. there was a lot of humour but in what I feel was a sweetheart somewhat different style from his videos, not necessarily in a bad way though
What rich storytelling. Each piece has so much depth to it that I rush to learn the next word to form the next thought to see the whole story. 2080 is not that far away I will be lie 73 during the timeframe of this book, what a strange concept age is. What a fantastic way to be made to think about it. Probabaly one of the best sci fi short story collections I’ve read (which is saying nothing because I haven’t read a lot).
A jumble of tales that were lost for me with the inconsistent storytelling. There were stronger stories in here than others, which doesn’t help my overall enjoyment.
A pretty good book, I think the xeno biology, military and baboon sections where my favorites. I think the swearing was a little over the top in some parts, it sounds good coming from your vids, but it started sounding a little like every character was you in a different costume by the end.
Ps Mr O'Nella if you read this, I would like a sequel to your historia naturalis video.
Don’t know why Sam regards The Prophet as the weakest link in the story notes. Definitely one of my favorites along with Beat, and Eggs for Algernon. I’ve been recommending this book to all my friends; would love to see more from Sam in the future.
I really, genuinely enjoyed my reading experience. Being able to write well-paced sword fight scenes and panic attacks is a skill that not many have mastered, but Miller obviously has. I admit, I’ve been a fan of Sam O’Nella since around 2018. BUT! I went into this book completely biased and knowing I’d like whatever was written inside. Even with this bias, I think this book is great. The fact that aliens with seemingly unlimited power and knowledge occupy Earth with only some public uproar and general change in behavior is so human it’s hard to put into words. Of course we got used to aliens fast, we’ve got other shit to worry about. On a more serious note, Beat was my absolute favorite story out of the eight. It was completely devastating and AGAIN very well written. I’m so glad it made the cut. Thanks so much, Sam. I’m looking forward to your next creative work, whatever it may be.
I've been a fan of Sam's YouTube work for the last decade and have been consistently watching his crossword videos for the past year so you know I had to give this book a shot. I would give this a 3 1/2 if I could but since that's not allowed I'll round up since I'm such a nice person. This book was pretty enjoyable and is one of the first few books I read as I'm currently getting back into reading. It's a collection of sci-fi short stories and it doesn't disappoint (other than a single chapter imo). The crude humor isn't always my style but it doesn't necessarily take away from the enjoyment of the story. Weakest and most unenjoyable chapter for me personally was Bloodstreams and my favorite has to be either Eggs for Roman or Beat. I wish the Xenos were used in at least 1 other chapter with them being like a main thing instead of just mentioned at a glance.
Edit: They allow half stars now so this is going to a 3 1/2.
I really liked this little anthology and props to Sam for doing such a good job, especially for his first book. Definitely falls into the rare category of YouTuber books that are actually worth your time. If you’re not a fan of him on YouTube the humour may come off as a little jarring but I had a great time. Only complaint is that the aliens that come to earth do a whole lot a jack squat overall in this book except for the first and second chapters. They could honestly be taken out and it wouldn’t have much of an effect. Also this definitely falls into my “has to look up a word at least once a paragraph cause I’ve never heard of it before” category of books, but I’m also as dumb as a doorknob when it comes to English above a sixth grade level so many others might not have the same issue. I know Mr. Sam “O’Nella” Miller is quite fond of crosswords so that probably explains it.
First book I’ve truly read in a single sitting: absolutely hilarious if you vibe with Gen Z humor. The references scattered across each story are varied enough that anyone relatively well read will find themselves chuckling or outright giggling at a line that would be innocuous to the less well acquainted. He managed to create a wonderfully cohesive, fascinating lore across several narratively unrelated short stories: in my opinion, this is a genuinely masterful feat that I was not expecting from a brand new writer.
As this is a debut novel, it’s not perfect, but it’s uniqueness and whimsy easily make up for its minor flaws
One of my new favorite books of all time. I cannot wait to see what he writes next.
Sam has a certain way with words, a way of stringing together metaphors in ways never before seen. This book delivers a couple of those one-liners I've come to expect from the videos. I thought the world of 2080 was creative and the stories were fun, although the social commentary can be quite direct and at times shallow.
Prof. O' Nella, if you're reading this (and you might be because I'm review #12), keep writing!
There is a lot of heart in this book, which i think is important in a time where people are consuming more low effort slop. I also found it pretty funny, though I think it relied too much on ironic humor or cursing to try and get the laugh. I also wish there was a little more Xeno content. I am eagerly awaiting any other works from this author.
I found Sam O’Nella Academy on Youtube a mere 3 months ago: a page posting bite-sized videos of interesting topics, expertly explained with unrivaled humor and smart stick-figure visuals.
Suffice to say I was pretty bummed to learn that the content I could consume seemed to have an expiration date as Sam had posted just a few videos to the page over the last couple of years.
Just as I was reaching the depths of his channel, a new video popped up (at last!) with a few updates of cultural relevance (in order of importance):
1. a face reveal 2. the announcement of this book 3. the confirmation that Sam is just as quirky and brilliant in real life as he is in video form.
If you enjoy weird thinking, dystopian worlds, clever wordplay and exiting the overwhelming normalness of life, then dive into this title for a few minutes each day to escape. A superb debut, you will not be disappointed.
I'm actually so excited for the new version coming out, these were such good stories. Eggs for Roman was probably my favourite, being the biggest page turner out of all of them, but the Prophet was close by. I thought the prophet should have been the last story, because it's such a banger, but beat really made me tear up. Beat was so much different to the other stories, that had much more absurdity in them that made them so lovable and funny. This one though, felt real and personal and ugly and it was a fantastic read.
I think my least favourite was the shortest one, but even that was fun to read. Also, the ending for Eggs for Roman made me laugh, but then the ending ending left my jaw on the floor. How dare you, Sam.
Some stories are better than others. Which is pretty normal for a short story collection. And this is a decent debut. Beat was the longest and best story, which makes sense since it pulls from the authors personal experience. The author should write a novella or novel in the future. It would be interesting to see the author stick with one topic/tone for a longer piece of work.
An amazing collection of short stories spanning a whole range of genres and topics. Philosophical enough to make you think, funny enough to make you laugh. Overall I found myself getting lost in it, finishing the last 100 pages or so in a sin g le sitting.
I really hope Sam continues to write and release books. If this is his debut piece I cannot wait to see what else he has to offer!
Also, shout out to anyone in recovery. Keep it up.
Not perfect but I really enjoyed it. It’s refreshingly unique and is the first book I’ve finished in awhile after being bored by other books I’ve tried over the few last months.