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After

Farewell Horizontal

K. W. Jeter1989

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  • Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick

    David Wong2020

    A young woman inherits a criminal empire in a city where everyone has superhuman abilities. She deals with a villain who streams his crimes.

    Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

Same sardonic register, still science fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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

  • 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

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

    Julia Quinn2022

    A graphic novel adaptation of a fictional melodrama where an orphan flees a cruel aunt and encounters a man in a remote castle.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    sardonic → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-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

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Lake House

    James Patterson

    A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.

    sardonic → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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

  • Hard to be a god

    Аркадий Стругацкий2014

    An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.

    sardonic → bleak, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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