LitQueuelitqueue

After

Bone Song

John Meaney2007

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Procession of the dead

    Darren Shan2010

    An ambitious young man with no memory of his past arrives in a corrupt city ruled by a gangster. He climbs the ranks of the criminal underworld.

    noir → sardonic, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

noir → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    noir → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    noir → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2

  • Love & Sleep

    John Crowley1994

    Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

    noir → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    noir → sardonic

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Renegade Hunter

    Lynsay Sands2009

    A former vampire hunter living as a rogue rescues a woman from an attack. He discovers she is his life mate while protecting her from his kind.

    noir → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Eleventh Grave in Moonlight

    Darynda Jones2017

    A private investigator who is also the Grim Reaper deals with gods and demons while raising a daughter destined to save the world.

    noir → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

noir → sardonic, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Fool Moon

    Jim Butcher2001

    A wizard for hire helps the Chicago police investigate a series of brutal murders involving different types of werewolves.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    noir → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Touch the dark

    Karen Chance2006

    A clairvoyant woman is forced to work for a vampire senator to escape a mob boss. She navigates a supernatural underworld with high-speed action.

    noir → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    noir → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    noir → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Moonwise

    Greer Gilman1991

    Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

    noir → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Alchemy of Stone

    Ekaterina Sedia2008

    An alchemist automaton is caught in a political struggle between gargoyles and her creators. She must find a way to wind her own heart key.

    noir → elegiac, still urban fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Last Days

    Brian Evenson2009

    A detective is kidnapped by a cult that practices ritual amputation and forced to investigate a murder within their ranks.

    noir → clinical, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • A Man Lies Dreaming

    Lavie Tidhar2014

    A Jewish writer in a concentration camp imagines a world where Hitler is a disgraced private eye in London. The two narratives intertwine.

    noir → sardonic, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1