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Analog/Virtual and Other Simulations of Your Future

Lavanya Lakshminarayan2020

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Bug Jack Barron

    Norman Spinrad1969

    A cynical talk-show host investigates a billionaire offering immortality. The plot involves high-level political maneuvering and media manipulation.

    sardonic → cynical, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

    William S. Burroughs

    A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.

    Same sardonic register, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Neuromancer

    William Gibson1984

    A washed-up data thief is hired for one last job in a high-tech underworld. The prose is dense with technical jargon.

    sardonic → cold, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

  • VAS

    Steve Tomasula2002

    A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.

    sardonic → clinical, still cyberpunk

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • An Offer From a Gentleman

    Julia Quinn2001

    The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Digital Fortress

    Dan Brown1998

    The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • King of Pride

    Ana Huang2023

    A buttoned-up billionaire heir falls for an impulsive bartender while trying to secure a CEO position. They navigate a forbidden workplace romance.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • Akira, Vol. 1

    Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984

    In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    Same sardonic register, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    sardonic → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Stand on Zanzibar

    John Brunner1968

    A fragmented portrait of an overpopulated 2010. The story uses news feeds and slogans to track a spy and a student in a corporate-run world.

    Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    sardonic → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Dr. Adder

    K. W. Jeter1984

    In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.

    sardonic → cynical, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Testament of Jessie Lamb

    Jane Rogers2011

    A teenager decides to volunteer for a medical program that will end her life to save humanity from a biological catastrophe.

    sardonic → earnest, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+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.

    sardonic → cold, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1