After
Countdown City
Ben H. Winters2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Last Policeman
Ben H. Winters2012
A detective investigates a suspicious suicide six months before an asteroid destroys Earth. Society collapses while he insists on procedure.
elegiac → bleak, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Against a Dark Background
Iain Banks1993
A former soldier leads a team across a solar system to find a legendary weapon before a religious cult can assassinate her.
elegiac → dark, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Emissaries from the Dead
Adam-Troy Castro2008
A legal investigator travels to a space station to solve two murders while navigating the politics of sentient alien species.
elegiac → tense, still mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Forge of God
Greg Bear1987
Scientists and government officials realize Earth is being systematically dismantled by an alien presence.
Same elegiac register, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
elegiac → playful
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Royally Screwed
Emma Chase2016
A crown prince visiting Manhattan pursues a bakery worker who threw a pie at him. The story follows their class-clash courtship.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom1994
A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.
elegiac → tender
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Grunge
Larry Correia2016
A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
A Galaxy Unknown
Thomas DePrima2010
An ensign uses her tactical skills to rise through the ranks of a space navy while fighting pirates and internal bureaucracy.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
The Demolished Man
Alfred Bester1953
In a future where telepathic police make premeditated crime impossible, a businessman plans a murder. He uses a catchy song to block his thoughts.
elegiac → propulsive, still mystery
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Blood on the dining-room floor
Gertrude Stein1948
A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.
elegiac → playful, still mystery
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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 noir
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → cold, still noir
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Forge of God
Greg Bear1987
Scientists and government officials realize Earth is being systematically dismantled by an alien presence.
Same elegiac register, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Cat's Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut1963
A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.
elegiac → sardonic, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Flood
Stephen Baxter2008
The sea level rises globally due to water leaking from the Earth's crust. Four former hostages watch as civilization slowly drowns over decades.
elegiac → clinical, still apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
