After
Carlucci's Heart
Richard Paul Russo1997
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Flashback
Dan Simmons2011
In a future where most people are addicted to a drug that lets them relive memories, a detective investigates a six-year-old murder case.
Same bleak register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Graft
Matt Hill2016
In a near-future Manchester, a car thief finds a woman with a mechanical arm. They are hunted through a landscape of body modification and crime.
Same bleak register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Spin State
Chris Moriarty2003
A UN major investigates a physicist's death in a mining colony. The story involves quantum teleportation, labor unrest, and corporate espionage.
bleak → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Only Forward
Michael Marshall Smith1994
A fixer in a city of themed neighborhoods searches for a kidnapped man while navigating his own ability to enter a dream world.
bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Altered Carbon
Richard K. Morgan2002
A soldier is resurrected in a new body to solve the murder of a billionaire. It takes place in a future where consciousness is digitized.
bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak0
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
bleak → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Nova Swing
M. John Harrison2006
In a city bordering a reality-warping zone, a travel agent and a detective deal with illegal artifacts. The prose is dense and non-linear.
bleak → cold, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
bleak → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
bleak → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
The Sentinel
Lee Child2020
A drifter helps an IT manager targeted by criminals after a cyberattack. He uses physical force to protect the man and uncover a conspiracy.
bleak → propulsive
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Thraxas
Martin Millar
An overweight, beer-drinking private investigator with minor magical abilities solves crimes in a corrupt fantasy city.
bleak → wry, still hardboiled detective
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
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.
bleak → sardonic
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
Ghost Ship
Clive Cussler2014
Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.
bleak → propulsive, still conspiracy
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
bleak → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
bleak → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
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+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Noir
K. W. Jeter1998
An investigator navigates a corporate-owned city where people trade in simulated experiences and legal technicalities.
bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Thomas Sweterlitsch2014
In a future where Pittsburgh was destroyed, a man investigates a murder using a digital archive of the city. He discovers data is being deleted.
Same bleak register, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
Same bleak register, still noir
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Watchmen
Dave Gibbons1986
Retired costumed vigilantes investigate a conspiracy after one of their own is murdered. The story uses a comic-within-a-comic and backmatter.
bleak → cold, still noir
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Market Forces
Richard K. Morgan2004
In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.
bleak → sardonic, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
