Dragonfly in Amber

Somewhere In Time

Richard Matheson1975

A man uses self-hypnosis to travel from the 1970s to 1896 after becoming obsessed with a photograph of a stage actress.

Same elegiac register, still time travel

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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

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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

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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

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The Husband Hunt

Lynsay Sands2012

A woman attempts to convince her childhood friend to marry her. He resists due to his parents' unhappy marriage until a rescue changes things.

elegiac → playful, still historical romance

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This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

elegiac → earnest

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The Score

Elle Kennedy2016

A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

elegiac → playful

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Same elegiac register

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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.

elegiac → earnest, still fish out of water

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The Year of the Quiet Sun

Wilson Tucker1970

A social scientist travels forward in time to document the collapse of the United States through racial conflict and nuclear war.

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The Gone World

Tom Sweterlitsch2018

An investigator travels to possible futures to solve a murder and stop an approaching apocalypse. The timeline changes based on her observations.

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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.

elegiac → cold

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