Glamour in Glass

Naamah's Blessing

Jacqueline Carey2011

Moirin of the Maghuin Dhunn travels to far-off lands to find a lost prince. The story involves divine prophecy and sexual mysticism.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

earnest → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

earnest → meditative

pace-1·prose+1·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.

earnest → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Love Her or Lose Her

Tessa Bailey2020

A woman enrolls her distant, ex-soldier husband in a marriage boot camp to save their relationship and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Love Is Blind

Lynsay Sands2006

A clumsy woman removes her glasses to appear attractive to a suitor, resulting in physical comedy and accidents. They navigate a Regency romance.

earnest → playful, still regency romance

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Flip This Zombie

Jesse Petersen2011

A married couple runs a zombie extermination and 'flipping' business. They treat the apocalypse as a series of domestic and financial hurdles.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Mind's Eye

Douglas E. Richards2014

A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

The Atlantis Gene

A.G. Riddle2013

A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Boneland

Alan Garner2012

An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

earnest → elegiac

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

Greer Gilman2009

A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

earnest → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Unfinished Tales

J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

earnest → meditative

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

The sad tale of the brothers Grossbart

Jesse Bullington2009

Two murderous brothers travel across 14th-century Europe to rob Egyptian tombs. They encounter monsters and religious zealots along the way.

earnest → sardonic, still historical fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin2015

A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

earnest → bleak

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

Pet Sematary

Stephen King1983

A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

earnest → tense

pace0·prose-1·bleak+2