With his novel Our Lady of the Artilects, Gillsmith explores why faith and imagination deserve a place in science fiction’s vision of the future.
An artificial being walks into a Catholic basilica in Nigeria, sits down in a pew, and appears to pray. Hours pass. When a deacon finally approaches, the visitor reveals that something is terribly wrong.
It’s an unusual beginning for a science fiction mystery, and an even more unusual problem for the Vatican.
In Andrew Gillsmith’s Our Lady of the Artilects, the incident draws a former neuroscientist turned Catholic priest into an investigation involving advanced artificial intelligence, disturbing visions, and the possibility of something supernatural. The story moves between technology, politics, and religion, taking seriously the idea that faith might still have a place in humanity’s technological future.
That possibility is something Gillsmith believes contemporary science fiction could explore more often.
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly sophisticated, the author sees an opportunity for Catholic writers to participate in shaping how people imagine the future, rather than simply reacting to it.
“Before people argue about the future, they imagine it,” Gillsmith says. “Science fiction has always done that. It gives readers a way to think about technology, society, morality, identity, and meaning before those questions become unavoidable in real life.”
Science fiction has a complicated relationship with religion. From the political and religious struggles of Frank Herbert’s Dune to the theological questions running through Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun, faith has appeared in some of the genre’s most influential works. Yet technologically advanced futures are frequently imagined as places where traditional belief has diminished or disappeared.
Gillsmith isn’t convinced that such a future is inevitable, or that fiction should assume it is.
His novel imagines a world where artificial beings have become extraordinarily advanced, but where religion remains a powerful part of human civilization. When an artificial intelligence begins behaving in ways that defy conventional explanation, the Vatican becomes involved, sending Fr. Gabriel Serafian, a priest with a background in neuroscience, to investigate.
Serafian’s unusual qualifications give the story much of its appeal. He approaches the mystery with scientific knowledge and religious conviction, although neither provides him with easy answers. As other artificial minds begin experiencing the same apocalyptic vision, the investigation expands into a conspiracy with global implications.
Our Lady of the Artilects combines the suspense of a science fiction thriller with the intellectual ambition of a much larger philosophical mystery, making its complex ideas accessible through a compelling story.
Gillsmith’s interest lies partly in what happens when established ways of understanding the world prove inadequate.
“Our Lady of the Artilects is my way of exploring those questions through a story instead of an argument,” he explains.
The novel also makes room for characters who see the world very differently. Catholic, Muslim, and secular perspectives all have a place in the story, and Gillsmith makes an effort to treat those differences seriously. The result is a novel that draws on Catholic theology without requiring its readers to share the author’s beliefs.
He points to writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, and Gene Wolfe as examples of authors whose religious convictions helped shape their fiction without turning every story into an explicit lesson.
“Their work is not sermonizing. Their faith deepens the story,” he says. “It shapes the mystery, the moral stakes, the sense of good and evil, and the way they see the human person.”
It’s a tradition Gillsmith hopes more contemporary Catholic writers will embrace, particularly in science fiction, where questions about the future often involve subjects that theology and philosophy have been examining for centuries.
But reaching readers outside religious circles requires more than an interesting theological premise. The story itself has to be worth reading. That was one of Gillsmith’s priorities when writing Our Lady of the Artilects. His goal was to create a genuine science fiction thriller, complete with mystery, suspense, and an expansive imagined world, while allowing the philosophical questions to emerge through the characters and their experiences.
“Fiction can get past people’s defenses,” he says. “If you make a direct argument, people often decide right away whether they agree or disagree. A story works differently. It lets readers enter a world, care about characters, and feel the weight of a question before they have to turn it into a debate.”
His approach has already attracted a substantial readership. Originally self-published in 2022, Our Lady of the Artilects sold approximately 20,000 copies before being acquired for a revised edition by Logos Rising Press.
The new edition has the backing of bestselling Catholic author Matthew Kelly and features a foreword by Christopher Ruocchio, author of the popular Sun Eater science fiction series.
It has also received praise from writers outside the Catholic literary world. Ray Nayler, author of The Mountain in the Sea, called the book “a fascinating meditation on the possibilities of the posthuman soul.”
For an author writing fiction that doesn’t fit neatly into either mainstream science fiction or conventional Christian publishing categories, that response is encouraging.
Gillsmith’s own background helps explain his interest in crossing those boundaries. He studied religion and data science and has spent much of his professional career working in technology-related fields. His fiction draws on both experiences, treating technological progress as something worth understanding while remaining interested in the questions it cannot fully resolve.
For Catholic writers, Gillsmith believes that’s an invitation to be more imaginative, not less. And while he hopes readers engage with the ideas in Our Lady of the Artilects, he doesn’t want them to feel they’ve picked up a philosophical assignment.
“First, I hope they enjoy the story,” he says. “I care about the ideas, but fiction has to work as fiction. It has to move, surprise, and entertain.”
Catholic imagination doesn’t have to be confined to historical novels, familiar religious settings, or stories written exclusively for believers. It can find a home in futuristic mysteries, technological thrillers, and worlds that look nothing like our own.
As Gillsmith puts it, “Catholic writers do not have to avoid modern questions. We can enter them.”
Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith is available now through Logos Rising Press and major booksellers. To learn more about the novel and where to purchase it, visit OurLadyoftheArtilects.com. Readers can also explore more of Gillsmith’s writing on Substack, follow him on Instagram and X, or connect with him on Facebook.
