Friday

Demon

John Varley1984

A group of humans confronts a god-like intelligence living in a massive biological torus. It is the conclusion of the Gaea trilogy.

Same wry register, still science fiction

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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.

wry → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

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, still science fiction

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Nova Express

William S. Burroughs1964

An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

wry → sardonic, still science fiction

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

It Happened One Summer

Tessa Bailey2021

A socialite is sent to a small fishing town to run a dive bar. She enters a relationship with a local sea captain who doubts her competence.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Bitten & Smitten

Michelle Rowen2006

Sarah is accidentally turned into a vampire and must rely on a grumpy, centuries-old vampire to teach her how to survive.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Fugitive Telemetry

Martha Wells2021

A security android discovers a dead body on a space station and must work with human authorities to solve the murder without being blamed.

wry → sardonic, still science fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

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.

wry → 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.

wry → 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.

wry → propulsive, still science fiction

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

wry → meditative

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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.

wry → playful

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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.

wry → playful

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Dr. Adder

K. W. Jeter1984

In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.

wry → 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.

wry → 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.

wry → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+2