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After

Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?

Max Brallier2011

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

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  • Creepers

    David Morrell2005

    Five urban explorers break into a long-abandoned hotel in New Jersey and find themselves trapped with a killer.

    playful → tense

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The night land

    William Hope Hodgson1972

    Millions of years after the sun dies, a man leaves an underground fortress to rescue a woman. The prose uses archaic, repetitive syntax.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Ambergris

    Jeff VanderMeer2020

    This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Macbeth

    William Shakespeare

    A Scottish general kills his king to take the throne after hearing a prophecy. His guilt and paranoia lead to a series of additional murders.

    playful → tense

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead (Zen of Zombie Series)

    Scott Kenemore

    A satirical self-help guide that uses the behavior of zombies as a model for achieving mindfulness and reducing stress.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

    Julia Quinn2022

    A graphic novel adaptation of a fictional melodrama where an orphan flees a cruel aunt and encounters a man in a remote castle.

    Same playful register

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • Operation

    Murray Leinster1954

    Same playful register

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Slower

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.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same playful register

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak-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.

    Same playful register

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

playful → bleak, still zombies

3 more ↓

  • Frankenstein

    Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley1818

    Victor Frankenstein assembles a living being from scavenged parts. The narrative follows the creature's rejection and its violent revenge.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Flowers in the Attic

    V.C. Andrews1979

    Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Hamlet

    William Shakespeare

    A prince of Denmark is told by a ghost that his uncle killed his father. He feigns madness while deciding whether to take revenge.

    playful → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2