Necroville

Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone

Ian McDonald1994

A student discovers images that can reprogram the human brain. He flees across Japan to escape those who want to use the images as weapons.

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

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

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → sardonic

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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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An Offer From a Gentleman

Julia Quinn2001

The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

dreamlike → playful

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On a Pale Horse

Piers Anthony1983

After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.

dreamlike → playful

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King of Pride

Ana Huang2023

A buttoned-up billionaire heir falls for an impulsive bartender while trying to secure a CEO position. They navigate a forbidden workplace romance.

dreamlike → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

dreamlike → wry

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

dreamlike → wry

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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.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+1·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.

dreamlike → meditative

pace-2·prose+1·bleak-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.

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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Random Acts of Senseless Violence

Jack Womack1994

A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.

dreamlike → bleak, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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 cyberpunk

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Golem100

Alfred Bester1980

In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.

dreamlike → sardonic, still cyberpunk

pace0·prose0·bleak+1