After
Pump Six and Other Stories
Paolo Bacigalupi2008
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi2009
In a future Bangkok, an official hunts illegal seeds while a bioengineered servant tries to survive. Energy is scarce and calories are currency.
Same bleak register, still biopunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
The Godwhale
T. J. Bass1974
A sentient, 600-foot cyborg harvester wakes in a future where humans have evolved into a hive-mind species. It seeks to serve its old creators.
bleak → clinical, still biopunk
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Goliath
Tochi Onyebuchi2022
In a future where the wealthy have moved to space, those left on a ruined Earth scavenge for materials to survive.
bleak → elegiac, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Child Garden
Geoff Ryman1989
In a future London, people are genetically modified with plant DNA and learn via viruses. A girl who cannot be infected navigates a lonely life.
bleak → dreamlike, still biopunk
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Scanner Darkly
Philip K. Dick1977
An undercover narcotics agent in a near-future California becomes addicted to the drug he is investigating and begins to spy on himself.
Same bleak register, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
bleak → sardonic, still dystopian
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
bleak → playful
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
bleak → sardonic, still dystopian
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
bleak → playful
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
bleak → warm
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
Odessa Sea
Clive Cussler2016
Dirk Pitt investigates a ghost ship in the Black Sea and discovers a conspiracy involving a lost Romanov secret. It is a high-speed adventure.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
Get Jiro!
Anthony Bourdain2012
In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.
bleak → sardonic, still dystopian
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
Red Rising
Pierce Brown2014
A laborer on Mars discovers his caste is being lied to and undergoes surgery to infiltrate the ruling elite. He joins a brutal war games academy.
bleak → propulsive, still dystopian
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
Same bleak register, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-3
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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-3
