After
Alien Influences
Kristine Kathryn Rusch1994
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Rama II
Arthur C. Clarke1989
Seventy years after the first Raman vessel appeared, a second ship enters the solar system. A new crew explores the interior to find its purpose.
Same clinical register, still first contact
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Gods Themselves
Isaac Asimov1972
A three-part story about the exchange of energy between Earth and a parallel universe. It follows a physicist, an alien triad, and lunar settlers.
Same clinical register, still first contact
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Sundiver
David Brin1980
Scientists and a investigator travel into the sun's atmosphere in a specialized craft to study mysterious life-forms appearing there.
Same clinical register, still first contact
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Gate to Women's Country
Sheri S. Tepper1988
In a post-apocalyptic world, women live in walled cities while most men live in military garrisons. A young woman discovers the secret of the system.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Inverted World
Christopher Priest1974
A city must constantly move on tracks to stay within a shifting habitable zone. A young apprentice learns the physical laws of his world.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
The Trial
Franz Kafka1925
A bank officer is arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority for a crime that is never named.
clinical → cold
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Rooster Bar
John Grisham2017
Three law students realize their school is a scam and drop out to pose as lawyers. They steal identities to survive and pay off their debts.
clinical → sardonic, still legal thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The case of the fiery fingers
Erle Stanley Gardner1951
Perry Mason defends a nurse accused of theft and poison. The case hinges on forensic evidence involving ultraviolet light and aspirin tablets.
clinical → wry, still legal thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
Ghost Ship
Clive Cussler2014
Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Killer Blonde
Laura Levine2004
A freelance writer investigates a murder in the Hamptons after a socialite is killed. She balances the case with her work for a demanding boss.
clinical → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Two for the dough
Janet Evanovich1996
An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.
clinical → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
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.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
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.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Beelzebub's tales to his grandson
Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950
An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
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.
clinical → cold
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
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.
clinical → bleak
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
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.
clinical → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
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.
clinical → elegiac
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
clinical → bleak
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
