After
Evolution
Stephen Baxter2002
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Unit
Ninni Holmqvist2008
Childless adults over fifty are sent to a clinical facility where they live in luxury until they are harvested for their organs.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak-2
Calculating God
Robert J. Sawyer2000
A spider-like alien arrives at a museum to find proof of God's existence through paleontology alongside a terminally ill scientist.
clinical → earnest, still hard science fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak-2
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Gate to Women's Country
Sheri S. Tepper1988
In a post-apocalyptic world, women live in walled cities while most men live in military garrisons. A young woman discovers the secret of the system.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Inverted World
Christopher Priest1974
A city must constantly move on tracks to stay within a shifting habitable zone. A young apprentice learns the physical laws of his world.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Midwich Cuckoos
John Wyndham1957
Every woman in an English village becomes pregnant simultaneously after a mass blackout. They give birth to children with hive-mind abilities.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace0prose+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.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak-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.
clinical → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace0prose+2bleak-1
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.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace0prose+2bleak-1
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.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
clinical → propulsive, still hard science fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
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.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
clinical → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace0prose-1bleak-3
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
clinical → warm
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
Odessa Sea
Clive Cussler2016
Dirk Pitt investigates a ghost ship in the Black Sea and discovers a conspiracy involving a lost Romanov secret. It is a high-speed adventure.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
clinical → propulsive, still hard science fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
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.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-1bleak-3
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.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose+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.
clinical → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
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.
clinical → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+2bleak-3
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.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-3
- pace-1prose+2bleak-2
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.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2
