After
Island in the Sea of Time
S.M. Stirling
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Cross-Time Engineer
Leo Frankowski1989
A 20th-century engineer is transported to 13th-century Poland. He uses modern technology to prepare the country for a Mongol invasion.
Same propulsive register, still alternate history
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Trinity Paradox
Doug Beason1991
A modern anti-nuclear activist is transported back to 1945 Los Alamos. She must decide whether to sabotage the first atomic bomb test.
Same propulsive register, still alternate history
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Murder in Time
Julie McElwain2016
An FBI agent is transported from a modern crime scene to 1815 London. She must use 21st-century forensics to catch a serial killer.
Same propulsive register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Lest Darkness Fall
L. Sprague De Camp1941
An American archaeologist is struck by lightning and sent to 6th-century Rome, where he uses modern technology to prevent the Dark Ages.
propulsive → wry, still alternate history
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Trinity Paradox
Kevin J. Anderson1991
A nuclear activist is transported back to 1943 during the Los Alamos experiments. She tries to prevent the creation of the atomic bomb.
propulsive → earnest, still alternate history
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
propulsive → dreamlike, still alternate history
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
All Those Vanished Engines
Paul Park2014
Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
William S. Burroughs
A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Electric Idol
Katee Robert2022
In a modern-day Olympus, Eros is ordered to kill Psyche but chooses to enter a fake marriage with her to protect her from his mother.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Lest Darkness Fall
L. Sprague De Camp1941
An American archaeologist is struck by lightning and sent to 6th-century Rome, where he uses modern technology to prevent the Dark Ages.
propulsive → wry, still alternate history
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
propulsive → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
propulsive → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
propulsive → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Lost in Time
A.G. Riddle2022
A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.
Same propulsive register, still time travel
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
propulsive → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
propulsive → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
Same propulsive register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
Hav
Jan Morris2006
A travel writer describes the culture and history of a fictional Mediterranean city-state before and after a massive political upheaval.
propulsive → elegiac, still alternate history
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
propulsive → bleak, still time travel
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
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.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Behold the Man
Michael Moorcock1968
A man uses a time machine to travel to 28 AD to meet Jesus. Finding only a disabled man who cannot fulfill the gospels, he takes the role himself.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
The Year of the Quiet Sun
Wilson Tucker1970
A social scientist travels forward in time to document the collapse of the United States through racial conflict and nuclear war.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Elvissey
Jack Womack1993
Travelers from a corporate dystopia visit an alternate 1954 to kidnap Elvis Presley. They find a version of him that is dangerous and unstable.
propulsive → bleak, still alternate history
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Gone World
Tom Sweterlitsch2018
An investigator travels to possible futures to solve a murder and stop an approaching apocalypse. The timeline changes based on her observations.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
