End of an Era

Semiosis

Sue Burke2018

Generations of colonists struggle to survive on a planet where the plants are sentient. They must learn to communicate with a predatory ecosystem.

Same earnest register, still hard scifi

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Hybrids

Robert J. Sawyer2003

A Neanderthal physicist and a human geneticist consider having a child. They navigate the biological and cultural differences of their two worlds.

Same earnest register, still hard scifi

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There Will Be Time

Poul Anderson1972

A man born with the innate ability to travel through time without a machine explores the future of humanity. He discovers a dying galactic empire.

Same earnest register, still time travel

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Marsbound

Joe Haldeman2008

A teenager living in a Mars colony discovers an alien species living underground. The story follows the diplomatic fallout of her discovery.

Same earnest register, still hard scifi

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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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·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.

earnest → sardonic

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Ten Big Ones

Janet Evanovich2004

Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

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Another fine myth

Robert Asprin1978

A magician's apprentice accidentally summons a demon from another dimension. The two form a partnership to navigate a series of mishaps.

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Lost in Time

A.G. Riddle2022

A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.

earnest → propulsive, still time travel

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The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

earnest → wry

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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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+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.

earnest → meditative

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Titan

Stephen Baxter1997

A crew of astronauts embarks on a one-way mission to Saturn's moon. The narrative details the technical and psychological decay of the mission.

earnest → cold, still hard scifi

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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.

earnest → bleak, still time travel

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