After
Mars, Inc
Ben Bova2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
Same earnest register, still hard scifi
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Calculating Stars
Mary Robinette Kowal2018
After a meteorite strike dooms Earth's climate, a mathematician lobbies to join the space race. She fights to become the first female astronaut.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Semiosis
Sue Burke2018
Generations of colonists struggle to survive on a planet where the plants are sentient. They must learn to communicate with a predatory ecosystem.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Smoke Ring
Larry Niven1987
Humans live in a gas torus around a neutron star, navigating a zero-gravity environment without solid ground.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Hybrids
Robert J. Sawyer2003
A Neanderthal physicist and a human geneticist consider having a child. They navigate the biological and cultural differences of their two worlds.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Ancient Shores
Jack McDevitt1996
A farmer finds a high-tech boat buried in a North Dakota field. This discovery leads to a government investigation and the find of a portal.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Schild's Ladder
Greg Egan2002
Physicists in the far future attempt to stop an expanding vacuum bubble that threatens to consume the universe. It focuses on theoretical physics.
earnest → meditative, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Rogue Protocol
Martha Wells2018
A self-aware security android travels to a space station to find evidence against a corrupt corporation while hiding its autonomy.
earnest → sardonic, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
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.
earnest → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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.
earnest → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
His Master's Voice
Stanisław Lem2018
A mathematician works at a secret facility to decode a neutrino signal from space. The book is a philosophical essay disguised as a memoir.
earnest → clinical, still hard scifi
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+3
Titan
Stephen Baxter1997
A crew of astronauts embarks on a one-way mission to Saturn's moon. The narrative details the technical and psychological decay of the mission.
earnest → cold, still hard scifi
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
Maelstrom
Peter Watts2001
A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.
earnest → bleak, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
Fiasco
Stanisław Lem1986
Humans on a spaceship attempt to force communication with an alien civilization that refuses to respond. It ends in a total failure of logic.
earnest → clinical, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
Salt
Adam Roberts2000
Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.
earnest → bleak, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
earnest → cold
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
