One Person Can't Make a Difference

by Nate Ragolia

Run Ono-Marks is more machine than man. Selling his humanity was the only way to survive.

Now, he lives charge to charge, doing gig work in the Commonwealth's moneyed Overcity. If you can call that living.

When a stranger offers him a shot at a life-saving upgrade to his synth body, Run must descend into an underground resistance... and a tangled web of conspirators.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk

273 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2022

About the author

Nate Ragolia is the author One Person Can't Make a Difference (2022), The Retroactivist (2017) and There You Feel Free (2015, 2021). He was editor-in-chief of BONED: A Collection of Skeletal Writings from 2015-2020, and is currently co-founder and publisher at Spaceboy Books LLC. Way back when, he wrote and drew two webcomics, The Illiterate Badger, and The Right Corking Adventures of Cecil Larkbunting & Alastair Wakerobin. These days, he hosts the podcasts A Vague Idea and Roll For Blank, and co-hosts Debut Buddies. In his free time, he's writing the next book, contributing short stories to a variety of publications and collections, playing video games, and trying to smile his way through the apocalypse with his dogs and wife.

Reviews

[William III · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast-paced and creative telling of warring power structures hell bent on maintaining power — to everyone’s peril. Ragolia is careful not to resort to simple solutions, rather the author offers up a flashpoint, on which revolutionary change can strike. This compassionate description of a city yearning to breath freely, is a vivid indictment of class and social divisions that keep society as a whole from acting in their true collective interest. Looking forward to further explorations of this world by Ragolia.

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good novel, which mixes well action and food for thought. The protagonist is barely human, having had to sell his biological parts to pay his debts, in a highly stratified society that brutally resembles the one we live in. As I said, there is a lot of action, a lot of shooting and a lot of death, but that is not what sticks out. What sticks out is the extent of the betrayal that the political class operates against the people, including the elite, and the total indifference to the suffering of the weakest. As the title says, one person can' t make a difference... and indeed Run Ono-Marks is not alone in his battle. Very enjoyable.

C'è chi dice che il cyberpunk è morto e c'è chi dice che è invecchiato male. Certo, se si leggono oggi i capolavori del passato può sembrare così, soprattutto se si prende in considerazione la parte "cyber" del termine. Se invece si mette al centro del discorso il "punk", inteso come movimento che promuove la non conformità e contesta l'autoritarismo, si vede che il genere "è vivo e lotta insieme a noi". Da questo punto di vista, appartiene a pieno titolo al genere cyberpunk la novella di Nate Ragolia "ONE PERSON CAN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE", che infatti è fortemente cyber e altrettanto fortemente (forse di più) punk. Scritta con uno stile asciutto e veloce, come si addice a un'opera il cui protagonista è, almeno esteriormente, quasi interamente robotico, la storia è invece pervasa di una pressante umanità, soprattutto nelle domande di fondo che si pone. Il titolo italiano, "Da soli non si cambia il mondo", nasce da una considerazione sulla celebre frase di Eduardo Galeano: "Mucha gente pequeña en lugares pequeños, haciendo cosas pequeñas pueden cambiar el mundo", che riassume appieno il messaggio del romanzo.

[YoBiebs Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first cyberpunk read, and it was an exhilarating, atmospheric ride with a strong cast of characters. The worldbuilding is top notch - I could feel the grimy underbelly of the Undercity; the class divide between the ruling class and the less fortunate; and the futuristic vision that blends humans with synths (cyborgs).

We follow Run Ono-Marks as he struggles to survive in a crooked world. He is given an opportunity to rebuild his life and solidify his synth body. He finds himself stuck in a web of deception where many scores are waiting to be settled.

The prose is sharp and fast and kept me rolling through the pages. For me, there was a nostalgic blend of '50s film noir, with a hardboiled main character (Run) - a thick-skinned tough guy who is realistic about his situation and the world he is trying to survive in, combined with the futuristic dystopia setting of the book - a hypercity filled with neon lights and smog and fog.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel and am excited to see what Nate Ragolia comes out with next. Highly recommended for those who love cyberpunk and those looking for a new genre to dive into.

[Vitani Days · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una bella avventura che ha il sapore di un grande classico del genere.
Impossibile non pensare a "Blade Runner" mentre il protagonista, Run Ono-Marks, sfreccia sulla sua Kento ora lungo i vicoli della Città di Sotto, ora nell'apparente perfezione dei quartieri alti. Un mondo olografico, regolato, apparentemente perfetto.
In verità, due forze politiche contrapposte tentano di impadronirsi del potere assoluto, di dirigere la vita delle persone. Run si trova invischiato nei loro giochi, entrambe le parti tenteranno di sfruttare le sue capacità a loro vantaggio. Starà a lui, in modo inaspettato, venirne fuori e dimostrare se sia vero, oppure no, che "da soli non si cambia il mondo".
Impossibile non notare la forte critica che l'autore porta ai cosiddetti poteri forti, al controllo dei mezzi di informazione e via discorrendo.
Lo stile è serrato, scorrevolissimo, ti trascina fra le pagine.
Consigliatissimo a tutti gli amanti del genere.

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed Nate Ragolia's cyberpunk novel, "One Person Can't Make a Difference", all the more because the story contradicts the title. A tight, upbeat and thrilling cyberpunk novel in the trail of Blade Runner and Cowboy Bebop, but with clever cynical political twists and turns that keep the reader hooked. Also a feel-good novel if you're an anarchist, which is a huge plus in my book. A very well crafted dangerous object -- as all literature should be.

[tricia]

The problem with cyberpunk is you can get halfway through a book and realize you don't care what happens to the protagonist