LitQueuelitqueue

After

Fool Moon

Jim Butcher2001

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

Same sardonic register, still urban fantasy

1 more ↓

  • X-Rated Bloodsuckers

    Mario Acevedo2007

    A vampire private investigator navigates Los Angeles politics to solve the murder of a surgeon who worked in the adult film industry.

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

sardonic → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • The Claw of the Conciliator

    Gene Wolfe1981

    An exiled torturer travels with a gem that can heal the dead. The narrative uses archaic vocabulary and an unreliable perspective.

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

sardonic → playful, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Ghost Ship

    Clive Cussler2014

    Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Killer Blonde

    Laura Levine2004

    A freelance writer investigates a murder in the Hamptons after a socialite is killed. She balances the case with her work for a demanding boss.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The case of the moth-eaten mink

    Erle Stanley Gardner1952

    Perry Mason defends a restaurant owner and a waitress after a frantic woman leaves behind a moth-eaten mink coat containing a pawn ticket.

    sardonic → propulsive, still detective

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

  • Moonwise

    Greer Gilman1991

    Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Alchemy of Stone

    Ekaterina Sedia2008

    An alchemist automaton is caught in a political struggle between gargoyles and her creators. She must find a way to wind her own heart key.

    sardonic → elegiac, still urban fantasy

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Last Days

    Brian Evenson2009

    A detective is kidnapped by a cult that practices ritual amputation and forced to investigate a murder within their ranks.

    sardonic → clinical, still noir

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • A Man Lies Dreaming

    Lavie Tidhar2014

    A Jewish writer in a concentration camp imagines a world where Hitler is a disgraced private eye in London. The two narratives intertwine.

    Same sardonic register, still noir

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2