LitQueuelitqueue

After

Crescent City Rhapsody

Kathleen Ann Goonan2000

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Mindplayers

    Pat Cadigan1987

    A woman caught using illegal mind-altering technology is forced to train as a 'pathosfinder' who enters the minds of others.

    Same dreamlike register, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • VAS

    Steve Tomasula2002

    A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.

    dreamlike → clinical, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same dreamlike register

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Modern Romance

    Aziz Ansari2015

    A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Building a Second Brain

    Tiago Forte2022

    A guide to a digital organization system designed to store and retrieve ideas, notes, and information for long-term projects.

    dreamlike → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Last Question

    Isaac Asimov2007

    A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

    dreamlike → meditative

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

dreamlike → propulsive, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • 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·bleak+1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    dreamlike → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Dandelion Wine

    Ray Bradbury1946

    A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.

    dreamlike → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • For Us, the Living

    Robert A. Heinlein2003

    A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

    dreamlike → earnest

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Maelstrom

    Peter Watts2001

    A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.

    dreamlike → bleak, still biopunk

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Random Acts of Senseless Violence

    Jack Womack1994

    A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.

    dreamlike → bleak, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    dreamlike → tense, still cyberpunk

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+2