LitQueuelitqueue

After

Kindred

Octavia E. Butler1979

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Blood over Bright Haven

    M. L. Wang2023

    A female researcher discovers the horrific energy source powering her city's magical utopia.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Claw of the Conciliator

    Gene Wolfe1981

    An exiled torturer travels with a gem that can heal the dead. The narrative uses archaic vocabulary and an unreliable perspective.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Duke and I

    Julia Quinn2000

    A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

tense → playful, still science fiction

3 more ↓

  • Dungeon Crawler Carl

    Matt Dinniman2020

    Earth is converted into an 18-level televised death game. A man and a cat must navigate traps and monsters to survive.

    tense → sardonic

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-2·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.

    tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Vengeance of Rome

    Michael Moorcock2006

    Pyat, an unreliable narrator and Nazi sympathizer, travels through the 1930s. He observes the rise of fascism while remaining self-deluded.

    tense → sardonic, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Was

    Geoff Ryman1992

    Three timelines connect a Kansas girl in the 1880s, Judy Garland on set, and a dying man in the 1980s. It examines the reality behind the Oz myth.

    tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → bleak

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1