LitQueuelitqueue

After

Procession of the dead

Darren Shan2010

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same sardonic register, still noir

1 more ↓

  • Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth

    Simon R. Green2006

    A private investigator in a hidden, magical London neighborhood confronts his mother to stop her from unmaking reality.

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Ink

    Hal Duncan2007

    Gods and mortals clash in a shifting city where reality is written on skin. The story follows a cycle of mythic archetypes across time.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • The Tourmaline

    Paul Park2006

    A girl from our world navigates a magical, alternate-history Europe where Romania is a superpower. The narrative is dense and non-linear.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • In the Night Garden

    Catherynne M. Valente2006

    A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

sardonic → playful, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Playing with Fire

    Gena Showalter2006

    A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Bitten & Smitten

    Michelle Rowen2006

    Sarah is accidentally turned into a vampire and must rely on a grumpy, centuries-old vampire to teach her how to survive.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Electric Idol

    Katee Robert2022

    In a modern-day Olympus, Eros is ordered to kill Psyche but chooses to enter a fake marriage with her to protect her from his mother.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

Same sardonic register, still noir

3 more ↓

  • Fool Moon

    Jim Butcher2001

    A wizard for hire helps the Chicago police investigate a series of brutal murders involving different types of werewolves.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    sardonic → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Touch the dark

    Karen Chance2006

    A clairvoyant woman is forced to work for a vampire senator to escape a mob boss. She navigates a supernatural underworld with high-speed action.

    sardonic → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Moonwise

    Greer Gilman1991

    Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Alchemy of Stone

    Ekaterina Sedia2008

    An alchemist automaton is caught in a political struggle between gargoyles and her creators. She must find a way to wind her own heart key.

    sardonic → elegiac, still urban fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Last Days

    Brian Evenson2009

    A detective is kidnapped by a cult that practices ritual amputation and forced to investigate a murder within their ranks.

    sardonic → clinical, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • A Man Lies Dreaming

    Lavie Tidhar2014

    A Jewish writer in a concentration camp imagines a world where Hitler is a disgraced private eye in London. The two narratives intertwine.

    Same sardonic register, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1