After
Dead Space
Kali Wallace2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
After Atlas
Emma Newman2016
A detective investigates a locked-room murder at a religious commune. He is an indentured servant to a global corporation.
Same tense register, still locked room
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Water Knife
Paolo Bacigalupi2015
In a drought-stricken future, a corporate mercenary secures water rights through violence. He investigates a legal claim that could change the desert.
Same tense register, still corporate dystopia
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Rabbits
Terry Miles2021
A man becomes obsessed with an underground, reality-blurring game that may be linked to global conspiracies and the fate of the universe.
Same tense register, still sci-fi mystery
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Crystal Crypt
Philip K. Dick2013
On a spaceship fleeing Mars for Earth, Martian authorities search the passengers for three saboteurs who destroyed a city.
Same tense register, still locked room
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Caves of Steel
Isaac Asimov1953
A detective and a humanoid robot investigate the murder of a Spacer in a subterranean New York. The case tests human-robot tensions.
Same tense register, still locked room
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
tense → dreamlike
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Rakesfall
Vajra Chandrasekera2024
Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- 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.
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.
tense → 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.
tense → 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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Noble Prince
Devney Perry2020
A police chief takes a witness into his home to protect her from a motorcycle gang. She refuses to follow his rules despite the danger.
tense → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Killer Blonde
Laura Levine2004
A freelance writer investigates a murder in the Hamptons after a socialite is killed. She balances the case with her work for a demanding boss.
tense → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
tense → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Two for the dough
Janet Evanovich1996
An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.
tense → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- 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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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.
tense → 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.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
tense → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
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.
tense → 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.
tense → 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.
tense → meditative
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
tense → cold
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
tense → bleak
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
tense → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
tense → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
tense → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
