Slow Up

Hire a Muse, Book 2

By: George Saoulidis

Narrated by: Bridger Conklin

Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

How fast can you think?

Limitless meets Black Mirror in this novel that pushes the limits of a couple's minds.

When Galene meets a man who's only goal in life is to make his mind go faster, she ends up falling for him. But will she manage to keep the relationship going at the top of the glass tower, when in reality she's too much of a slob and is bogged down with all her unfinished goals, when their age difference becomes too much of a problem, and when his work places them in the sights of an unforgiving huntress?

Do you want to know what's next for the computer geek Galene? Do you wanna meet Artemis? Then listen to this bittersweet story in a world where thinking too swiftly can get you killed.

This is Book 2 of the Hire a Muse series.

What is the god complex universe?
The gods are back in town. Skyscrapers pop out of nowhere all around Athens. Corporations rename themselves as Greek gods. It all started with the Greek crisis of 2009 and it will forever change the world as we know it. Some say that CEOs have gone mad. Others, that they know damn well what they are doing. That there is something solid amongst the myth. In the day of inter-connectivity and social media admiration, can the myths come back to life?

What happens when a corporation gets a god complex? Find out in our series of books. Described as light cyberpunk, definitely sci-fi, and with a fresh twist on Greek mythology.

Visit us at: http://www.mythographystudios.com/join-the-mythographers/

©2017 George Saoulidis (P)2018 George Saoulidis

Speed up your playback speed

'Slow Up' is book 2 in the series, but each story is standalone, with different characters. The books build a cohesive world, but aren't required reading to understand each other.

'Slow Down' tells the story of IT technician Galene and her relationship with a mysterious man who lives in the office tower penthouse and does data analysis. When she is called up to the penthouse to fix an issue she finds him watching news at 3x speed, without missing a beat. He is 'overclocking life', to go through information quicker and find what is important, to help the company make money. She fixes his IT issue and then finds a way to speed his work up even more, which starts them down the path of a professional, and then personal, relationship. But with his ability to get the right information quickly, he is a sought after man.

The book is mostly about the relationship between the characters, but it's also a discussion / commentary on the 'more more more' life style. The characters discuss how bingeing TV led to speeding it up 10% to get a little bit more in. Then getting used to that and speeding up again, and again and again. They speed up listening to things (like audiobooks)

It does make it should like listening to things at 3x speed is some sort of superhuman feat that will burn you out. But the audible app allows you to go up to 3x speed, and I know people who do listening to books at that speed without missing a beat, and they aren't superhuman. It is just a matter of working up to it through gradual increments.

I enjoyed the characters and the discussion and the story generally, but the last quarter it unraveled somewhat. It rushed towards an ending, jumping months at a time and skipping over a whole lot of stuff.It lost some of it's interest when you are just telling almost dot points in peoples lives, rather than showing the journey along the way.

I guess in some ways the book followed the build up of the characters, slow to begin with, hitting almost every action and thought, and then speeding up as the book goes on until the last few chapters time is flying by. Except in this speed up you do miss things. It's not all the info just coming at you quicker.

Note: there is some very graphic sex scene in the book, so avoid if that is an issue.

Narration is 3.5/5

Narration by Bridger Conklin was good, but took a lit to get used to. Some of his characters (I'm thinking particularly of the boss near the start) sounded very stilted and like the narrator couldn't quite maintain the voice and the flow at the same time. But generally it was good narration. Varied characters, good flow, easy to listen to an understand. No giant glaring issues with it.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Lots of great original concepts & ideas.

5 stars on originality and concept.
My only complaint was the ending actually. It felt rushed.
Altogether, it was a good read, that I recommend.

SF with a hint of cyber punk - and romance! (18+)

This is truly a great story, well-told and in the same universe as many of the author's other short stories and novellas: the Greek-mythology-come-to-life God Complex universe. This is book 2 of the Hire a Muse series of 2, but these are standalone stories. I haven't read part 1 and this was no problem at all.

Slow Up was my second God Complex novella, and I loved it even better than my first, Nanodaemons, which was also great. The characters are well-fleshed out, with talents, loveable traits and annoying habits. I also loved how the blooming romantic relationship that is the core of the story was slowly and realistically developed, with great humor and an age gap that you don't read too often in other stories.
This isn't exactly a romance novella though, it's definitely science fiction with a hint of cyber punk. And it contains an explicit sex scene (with great humor at the same time) that is suitable for adults (18+) only.

Also loved the ending, which gave the story a last unexpected twist.

So, five stars for the story from me!
Narration was fine, though the narrator could have voice acted somewhat more, to distinguish better between the characters. A minor point.

Definitely recommending this, though beware, it is a very short novel and you may want to wait for a sale or a Daily Deal here on Audible. That is the one issue I keep having with this so talented author: his stories are too short! (please write a complete novel some day! :-) )

~ I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I was not required to write a review at all, and did so anyway because it was awesome.

The future...

Slow Up (Hire a Muse, Book 2) by George Saoulidis and narrated by Bridger Conklin is a unique tech and Greek Gods mix. I enjoyed it and would recommend if tech and Greek mythology is your thing or looking for something new in the genre. 4 ½ stars for story, 4 stars for narration.

What’s it about? Gal, an IT professional, meets Greg one day while working. Eventually they become a romantic couple who both enjoy tech. Greg begins teaching her his techniques, which results in numerous possibilities. As the story progresses, it becomes fast-paced and is difficult to put down (if you start it and are like meh because the focus is too much on their relationship, keep with it). Some other elements: demi-god, Olympian CEO’s, augmentations, cybathlon, sex with tech. The droid therapist was an interesting aspect. I lol’d at the part where they discussed speeding up an audiobook- anyone who’s done this knows how difficult it is to go back to regular speed. By the end of the book you might find yourself asking if we have the tech, should we be using it? If so, where do we stop?

The narrator, Bridger Conklin, was good and I’d listen to him again, would like to see a little more distinction between characters. I suspect the pace was a bit slow on purpose or perhaps I’m thinking too much into it.

“How old are you?”
“I predate the internet. Chew on that for a little while.”
~
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

If you are new to George, this is a good one, but I’d recommend the Cyberpink series first (Pickle Pie). I’ve recently discovered George and his worlds and are enjoying them a lot- his worlds are well-thought-out and extraordinary. I highly recommend if you are partial to Greek mythology and tech.

Parental guidance/trigger warnings: read the warnings attached to George’s books- they give you a fair warning of what to expect. If you are still wondering if you should listen to/read this book, the answer is yes.


“I was given this book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”

Twilight Zone and Black Mirror had a baby!

This book was awesome! I knew there would be some twisty, turny stuff but man oh man, when they pulled back the camera on the last chapter, it was like watching Burgess Meredith when he broke his glasses. Un. Real.

The narration was insanely well-done as well.

If you like Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, you will love this!

Interesting & Unusual

This story is much like most of George Saoulidis' other stories; different, refreshing and twistedly amusing. This time we get the ancient Greek gods dealing and messing with the modern world. Along with adventure, mystery and suspense there's also some romance. I really enjoy Mr Saoulidis' stories because I never know what exactly to expect and I like that. The narration was well done. The voices created by Bridger Conklin were unique and enjoyable. He has a nice voice and kept an easy pace. Which is the only complaint I have. I think he could've narrated at a bit faster speed and it would have been excellent. A great listen overall that I would recommend to my Sci-Fi friends.

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Awesome, but hard to describe

This is the hardest review I've ever written because I have no idea how to describe this book. It doesn't have a traditional story arc, the story is sort of told in a series of vignettes. A lot of dialogue, so you really feel like you're in the room with the characters instead of being an observer. It's almost like a thought experiment instead of a lot of action. And I loved it though I can't exactly explain why.

Someone compared it to Dark Mirror and I'd say that's a good description of the feeling of this book.

I wish I could write a more helpful review. It's different. I loved it. If you want a book that makes you think, that has interesting characters and is a little bit dark, try it. This is the second book in the series, but it made sense on its own. Though now I want to go read the first one to see if it sets up the world this story takes place in.

Warning -- there is one very explicit oral sex scene. If that's not for you, you could skip that part and not miss out on too much. There's also a lot of adult language, so not recommended for the YA crowd IMHO.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Ancient Greek Gods in Modern-day Greece

I received this from AudioBookBoom and the publisher, Mythography Studios, in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lot of fun, and based on the premise that the Greek gods are alive and well in modern-day Greece, complete with all of the modern-day technologies, and doing what the Greek gods have always done: messing with "normal" people's lives, as well as the lives of the demigods.

The plot is basic: a young IT staffer named Galeni ("Gal" for short) in a massive conglomerate meets Gregorius, a demigod who exerts his mental capacity to read, listen, and watch all media at extremely high speeds. Greg teaches Gal his techniques, and in the process, fall in love. Of course, the Fates are watching -- even using social media -- and start to pull threads and twisting events to impact Gal and Greg. (Out of all of the Greek gods, I've always disliked/hated the Fates. Why mess with people's lives on a whim like that?) Along with the Fates, Artemis, Hermes, Amazons, and several others of the pantheon make appearances here.

The author really thought this concept through, and I'm looking forward to the next book.

Imaginative series

I love this series and this world. Can’t wait for more. Greek mythology, technology & a futuristic world all collide.
Narration was excellent as well.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.

Speed it up

Easy reading with an interesting plot.

Greek gods live amongs humans in the earth we know and they intrud humans and demigod's lifes.

The main character fall in love with a demigod whos able to process data at a high speed, such as reading, listening, and watching media. The demigod at some point he teaches her how to do it. Lets just say that from that point on, I speeded up the audiobook to 1.55. It was somehow still enjoyable. Not sure if the author wanted us to do it, but I guess this was part of the experience that was this book.

"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review"