After
A Modern Utopia
H. G. Wells1900
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The description of a new world
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
A woman travels through a portal to a world of animal-headed people. She becomes Empress and debates philosophy with her new subjects.
Same meditative register, still utopian
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Coming Race
Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton1871
An American traveler discovers a subterranean civilization powered by a mysterious energy called Vril. He observes their utopian social order.
Same meditative register, still utopian
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
News from nowhere, or, An epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance
William Morris1890
A Victorian man wakes up in the year 2102. He explores a socialist agrarian society where private property and money have been abolished.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Years of Rice and Salt
Kim Stanley Robinson2002
The Black Death kills 99 percent of Europe. The book follows a group of souls reincarnating through seven centuries of Islamic and Chinese dominance.
Same meditative register, still philosophical fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran1900
A prophet waiting for a ship home delivers twenty-six sermons to a crowd. He speaks on topics like love, work, and death.
Same meditative register, still philosophical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
meditative → sardonic, still philosophical fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
meditative → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
Same meditative register
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
Same meditative register
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
meditative → dreamlike
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak+1
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
meditative → playful
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
The Trial
Franz Kafka1925
A bank officer is arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority for a crime that is never named.
meditative → cold, still philosophical fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
meditative → cold
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak+3
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
meditative → bleak
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
meditative → bleak
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
meditative → elegiac
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
