LitQueuelitqueue

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Appleseed

Matt Bell2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Illustrated Man

    Ray Bradbury1951

    Eighteen short stories are told through the moving tattoos on a vagrant's body. The tales explore the intersection of technology and human nature.

    Same elegiac register, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

elegiac → sardonic, still dystopian

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    elegiac → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success

    Amy Morin2015

    A psychotherapist lists thirteen habits to avoid to build mental resilience. Each chapter pairs a behavior with strategies for change.

    elegiac → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Undefeated

    Stuart Reardon

    A professional rugby player returns home after a career-ending injury. He attempts to reconnect with a woman from his past while he recovers.

    elegiac → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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.

    elegiac → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • 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.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Dandelion Wine

    Ray Bradbury1946

    A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.

    Same elegiac register

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

  • For Us, the Living

    Robert A. Heinlein2003

    A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

    elegiac → earnest

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • A Clockwork Orange

    Anthony Burgess1962

    A teenage gang leader is imprisoned and subjected to state-mandated psychological conditioning. The story is told in a slang called Nadsat.

    elegiac → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose+1·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.

    elegiac → earnest, still dystopian

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • A Scanner Darkly

    Philip K. Dick1977

    An undercover narcotics agent in a near-future California becomes addicted to the drug he is investigating and begins to spy on himself.

    elegiac → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1