One Person Can't Make a Difference

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.

“One Person Can’t Make a Difference is everything you could ever want from a pure, old school cyberpunk novel, but updated perfectly for our dark time. Ragolia’s prose crackles and pops like electricity directly from the mainframe, a livewire for your senses running the taut narrative through every inch of your nervous system.” — Jordan A. Rothacker, author of The Pit, and No Other Stories

“One Person Can’t Make a Difference confronts the traditional dystopian novel and shimmies its way beyond into new territory. Ragolia depicts familiar current conflict with secret hidden tracks and B-sides a reader would never expect in a cyberpunk novel. With a deep dive into darkness and storytelling of one character’s spirit, Ragolia has created a world riddled with struggle and hope, light and dark, and within this balance, a reason to champion the underdog. — Hillary Leftwich, author of Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock and Aura

"Through the dystopian din, Ragolia pens a clarion call for radical hope and perseverance. One Person Can’t Make a Difference plants seeds in the cyperpunk genre, bioengineers them with reverence and emotional precision, and cultivates a nourishing garden for the weary-hearted.” — O’Brian Gunn, author of Furies: Thus Spoke

“Nate Ragolia’s One Person Can’t Make a Difference is a slangy, manic blend of cyberpunk action and social commentary that will leave you ripping headlong through the streets of a future America in which the physical, moral, and intellectual trappings of humanity have melted away in the pursuit of unbridled capitalism and the technology it seems to deform at every turn. While Ragolia may ask the titular question of whether the individual can stand against the massed power of state, ethos, and, in truth, the species itself, he weaves in smaller, subtler concerns about what it means to be human and whether the loss of some elements of that ‘humanity’ might actually be for the best. Buy this book now!” — Kurt Baumeister, author of Pax Americana

“With a touch of noire, our hopeful hero, Mr. Run Ono-Marks reads like a synth Humphrey Bogart, narrating his life and walking the rain-soaked pavement in the dead of night. This new world is mechanical and gross and controlling -- and high on the haves vs the have nots. ‘Cause like he says, ‘Spent so long wishing to be nobody that being somebody fell in my lap.’ One person can’t make a difference, but Run does.” — Peppur Chambers, author of Harlem’s Awakening

“One Person Can’t Make a Difference is a well-written, fast-paced thrill ride! Author Nate Ragolia transports us to another time and place through the eyes of our “hero” Run Ono-Marks, who has his work cut out for him navigating this futuristic world, trying to figure out the “good guys” from the “bad” and which side he is ultimately on. This book will keep you guessing and entertained till the very end!” — Nick Shelton, Author of An Introvert's Guide To World Domination

“One Person Can’t Make a Difference is true cyberpunk, through and through. Deeply political and subversive, the novel is a strong yet hopeful indictment of the rampant corruption, inequality, and the lack of humanity in our world today.” — Johnny Redway, author of The Cost of Living

Nate Ragolia was labeled as "weird" early in elementary school by a little blonde girl he liked, and it stuck. He's a lifelong lover of science fiction and a nerd/geek. His first book, There You Feel Free, was published by 1888center's Black Hill Press in 2015. A year later, he founded BONED: A Collection of Skeletal Writings. And in 2017, he co-founded Spaceboy Books LLC. Nate also creates webcomics, writes essays and articles, and pets dogs. He can usually be found in Denver, CO.