LitQueuelitqueue

After

Beyond This Horizon

Robert A. Heinlein1940

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

Same wry register, still science fiction

1 more ↓

  • Ecotopia

    Ernest Callenbach1975

    A journalist visits the Pacific Northwest, which has seceded to form an ecological society. He records their social and technical innovations.

    wry → earnest, still utopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Nova Express

    William S. Burroughs1964

    An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

    wry → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+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.

    wry → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

    wry → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    Same wry register

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    wry → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    Same wry register

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • A Modern Utopia

    H. G. Wells1900

    Two travelers are transported to a parallel Earth where a global state manages all human activity. The book outlines the planet's social systems.

    wry → meditative, still utopian

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    wry → meditative, still utopian

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Hellspark

    Janet Kagan1988

    A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.

    wry → tense, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak+3

  • The Running Man

    Richard Bachman

    A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.

    wry → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+3

  • Strangers

    Gardner Dozois1978

    An artist living among the alien Cian on a distant planet falls in love with a local woman and attempts to navigate their incompatible biology.

    wry → elegiac, still science fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3