LitQueuelitqueue

After

Nona

Stephen King2016

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Long Walk

    Richard Bachman

    One hundred teenage boys start a walking contest where anyone who slows down is shot. The story ends when only one person is left alive.

    Same bleak register, still psychological horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Fall of the House of Usher

    Edgar Allan Poe

    A narrator visits a childhood friend in a decaying mansion. The house and the family's health decline simultaneously toward a collapse.

    bleak → dreamlike, still psychological horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Ambergris

    Jeff VanderMeer2020

    This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.

    bleak → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    bleak → cold, still psychological horror

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

bleak → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

    An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

    bleak → tense

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-3

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    bleak → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3

  • 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.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3

Faster

bleak → tense, still psychological horror

3 more ↓

  • Creepers

    David Morrell2005

    Five urban explorers break into a long-abandoned hotel in New Jersey and find themselves trapped with a killer.

    bleak → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    Same bleak register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    bleak → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2