LitQueuelitqueue

After

Glide Path

Arthur C. Clarke1963

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Mission of gravity

    Hal Clement1954

    A human crew recruits a tiny, centipede-like alien to retrieve a probe from a planet where gravity is 700 times that of Earth.

    Same earnest register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → sardonic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Valis

    Philip K. Dick1981

    A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.

    earnest → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Shadow & Claw

    Gene Wolfe1983

    A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.

    earnest → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

Faster

earnest → propulsive, still techno-thriller

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    earnest → wry

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • All Systems Red

    Martha Wells2017

    A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.

    earnest → wry

    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.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3

  • Kolyma tales

    Varlam SHALAMOV1980

    Short stories documenting daily life and survival in a Soviet labor camp. The prose is detached and focuses on the physical reality of starvation.

    earnest → clinical, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Down to a Sunless Sea

    David Graham1979

    A commercial pilot flies a plane full of passengers while nuclear war destroys the world below. They search for a place to land and survive.

    earnest → tense, still techno-thriller

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+3

  • The White Plague

    Frank Herbert1982

    A molecular biologist creates a gender-targeted plague to kill every woman on Earth after his family dies in a bombing.

    earnest → bleak, still techno-thriller

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+3

  • Fail-safe

    Eugene Burdick1962

    A mechanical failure sends American bombers to nuke Moscow, forcing the President to negotiate a desperate solution to avoid total war.

    earnest → tense, still techno-thriller

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+3