LitQueuelitqueue

After

Oath of Fealty

Jerry Pournelle1981

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Star Wars - Thrawn - Alliances

    Timothy Zahn2018

    Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader investigate a threat to the Empire on the planet Batuu. The story alternates between the past and present.

    Same clinical register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

    William S. Burroughs

    A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.

    clinical → sardonic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

    clinical → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Neon Gods

    Katee Robert2021

    In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.

    clinical → tense

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

    A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

    clinical → wry

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Artemis

    Andy Weir2017

    A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

clinical → propulsive, still techno-thriller

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    clinical → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    clinical → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Fail-safe

    Eugene Burdick1962

    A mechanical failure sends American bombers to nuke Moscow, forcing the President to negotiate a desperate solution to avoid total war.

    clinical → tense, still techno-thriller

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    clinical → cold

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Doomsday Book

    Connie Willis1992

    A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.

    clinical → bleak

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2