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After

Parable of the Sower

Octavia E. Butler1993

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still dystopian

1 more ↓

  • The Exile Waiting

    Vonda N. McIntyre1975

    A mutant thief in an underground city attempts to escape Earth on an alien starship. She seeks revenge after her brother is killed by a pilot.

    tense → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Riddley Walker

    Russell Hoban1980

    A twelve-year-old boy travels across a primitive, post-nuclear England. The story is written entirely in a broken, phonetic future dialect.

    tense → meditative, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Secondhand Spirits

    Juliet Blackwell2009

    A vintage shop owner who can feel the history of clothes uses her magic to solve a murder. She must find a killer while hiding her identity.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Alpine for you

    Maddy Hunter2003

    A woman leads a group of senior citizens on a tour of the Swiss Alps. When a passenger dies, she must investigate her fellow travelers.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Smokin' Seventeen

    Janet Evanovich2011

    A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Test

    Sylvain Neuvel2019

    An immigrant takes a British citizenship test that turns into a high-stakes psychological simulation. It is a short, dialogue-heavy novella.

    Same tense register, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Hell Divers

    Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016

    Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.

    Same tense register, still post-apocalyptic

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    tense → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

Heavier

tense → bleak, still dystopian

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Yol

    Cormac McCarthy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Wolves

    Simon Ings2014

    Two friends navigate a near-future Britain collapsing under environmental decay and augmented reality addiction. It is a study of memory.

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1