After
Dervish Is Digital
Pat Cadigan2000
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Polar City Blues
Katharine Kerr1990
A detective investigates a murder involving an alien body on a winter-locked planet. The case uncovers a conspiracy between humans and aliens.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
By the Pricking of Her Thumb
Adam Roberts2018
A private investigator in a corporate-run future searches for a missing woman. The world is built on extreme wealth inequality and digital ghosts.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Titanium Noir
Nick Harkaway2023
A detective investigates the murder of a Titan, a genetically enhanced elite who is nearly impossible to kill. It is a hardboiled mystery.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Red Team Blues
Cory Doctorow2023
A 67-year-old forensic accountant living in a luxury bus is hired to find a stolen encryption key in Silicon Valley.
sardonic → wry, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Company Town
Madeline Ashby2016
An unaugmented woman works as a bodyguard for a wealthy family on a city-sized oil rig while a serial killer targets the population.
sardonic → tense, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
sardonic → clinical, still cyberpunk
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
sardonic → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
In Green's Jungles
Gene Wolfe2000
A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.
sardonic → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Real Murders
Charlaine Harris1990
A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.
sardonic → wry, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Truly, Madly
Heather Webber2010
A woman with the psychic ability to find lost objects takes over her family's matchmaking business. She teams up with a cynical private investigator.
sardonic → playful, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either
Meg Cabot
A former pop star working at a college dormitory investigates the murder of a cheerleader. She balances the case with her own personal life.
sardonic → playful, still mystery
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
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+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
sardonic → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Accelerando
Charles Stross2005
Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.
sardonic → wry, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
sardonic → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
sardonic → playful, still mystery
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
sardonic → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Dr. Adder
K. W. Jeter1984
In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.
sardonic → cynical, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
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.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
sardonic → bleak, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+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.
sardonic → tense, still cyberpunk
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Golem100
Alfred Bester1980
In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.
Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2