Life During Wartime

Anthropocene Rag

Alex Irvine2020

A group of travelers journeys across a future America reshaped by sentient nanotech toward a mysterious signal in the West.

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

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.

dreamlike → sardonic, 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.

Same dreamlike register

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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.

dreamlike → meditative

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Warrior Rising

P.C. Cast2008

Goddesses transport a modern woman to ancient Troy to seduce and distract Achilles. It is a lighthearted fish-out-of-water romance.

dreamlike → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Last Question

Isaac Asimov2007

A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

dreamlike → meditative, still science fiction

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Phule's Company

Robert Lynn Asprin1990

A wealthy captain is court-martialed and sent to lead a group of military misfits on a remote frontier planet.

dreamlike → playful, still military sci-fi

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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.

dreamlike → propulsive, still science fiction

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Lines of Departure

Marko Kloos2014

An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.

dreamlike → tense, still military sci-fi

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The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

dreamlike → wry

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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.

dreamlike → 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.

dreamlike → 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.

dreamlike → playful

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Hellspark

Janet Kagan1988

A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.

dreamlike → tense, still science fiction

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The Running Man

Richard Bachman

A man enters a deadly reality show to fund medical care for his daughter. He must survive thirty days while the entire world hunts him for money.

dreamlike → propulsive, still science fiction

pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

Strangers

Gardner Dozois1978

An artist living among the alien Cian on a distant planet falls in love with a local woman and attempts to navigate their incompatible biology.

dreamlike → elegiac, still science fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1