LitQueuelitqueue

After

Free Live Free

Gene Wolfe1984

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Lord of Light

    Roger Zelazny1967

    Starship crew members use advanced technology to rule a colony as Hindu gods. A former god leads a rebellion to bring technology to the masses.

    Same wry register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • King of Morning, Queen of Day

    Ian McDonald1991

    Three generations of Irish women encounter the fae across the 20th century. The prose shifts styles to match the 1913, 1937, and 1980s settings.

    wry → dreamlike, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+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.

    wry → clinical

    pace0·prose+1·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.

    wry → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

wry → playful, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Smoke and Shadows

    Tanya Huff2005

    A stuntman and a vampire work on a television set in Vancouver while investigating a series of supernatural murders.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Sex and the single vampire

    Katie MacAlister2004

    A woman who accidentally summons a vampire while trying to contact her dead mother navigates a supernatural romance in London.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • A Spell for Chameleon

    Piers Anthony1977

    In a land where everyone has a unique magical talent, a man with no apparent power goes on a quest to avoid exile.

    wry → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

wry → propulsive, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Magic Bites

    Ilona Andrews2007

    In a future Atlanta where magic and technology fluctuate, mercenary Kate Daniels investigates her guardian's murder. It is an urban fantasy.

    wry → sardonic, still urban fantasy

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • Touch the dark

    Karen Chance2006

    A clairvoyant woman is forced to work for a vampire senator to escape a mob boss. She navigates a supernatural underworld with high-speed action.

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • Hounded

    Kevin Hearne2011

    A two-thousand-year-old Druid lives in modern Arizona and runs an occult bookshop. He must fight a vengeful Irish god who wants his sword.

    Same wry register, still urban fantasy

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

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.

    wry → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    wry → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • 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.

    wry → earnest

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → bleak

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • The Sparrow

    Mary Doria Russell1996

    A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.

    wry → elegiac

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • Watchmen

    Alan Moore1986

    Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.

    wry → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2