LitQueuelitqueue

After

Riders of the storm

Julie E. Czerneda2008

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Left Hand of Darkness

    Ursula K. Le Guin1969

    A human envoy visits a frozen planet where the inhabitants have no fixed gender. He travels across the ice with an exiled native politician.

    Same meditative register, still science fiction

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Denser prose

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.

    Same meditative register, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    meditative → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Empty Space

    M. John Harrison2012

    Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.

    meditative → dreamlike, still space opera

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Translation State

    Ann Leckie2023

    Three people from different cultures search for a missing diplomat in a galaxy of rigid social hierarchies. It focuses on biological identity.

    meditative → tender, still space opera

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires

    Molly Harper2012

    A human woman works as a daytime assistant for vampires. She breaks her professional rules to help a poisoned client survive.

    meditative → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Skylark DuQuesne

    Edward Elmer Smith1966

    Two rival geniuses must unite their space fleets to stop an alien threat. It features planet-destroying weapons and faster-than-light travel.

    meditative → earnest, still space opera

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

meditative → propulsive, still space opera

3 more ↓

  • Skylark DuQuesne

    Edward Elmer Smith1966

    Two rival geniuses must unite their space fleets to stop an alien threat. It features planet-destroying weapons and faster-than-light travel.

    meditative → earnest, still space opera

    pace+2·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.

    meditative → wry, still space opera

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    meditative → playful, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

    Same meditative register

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    meditative → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    meditative → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Jaunt

    Stephen King2009

    A father explains the history of teleportation to his family while they wait to travel. He describes the danger of being awake during the trip.

    meditative → tense, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Hellspark

    Janet Kagan1988

    A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.

    meditative → tense, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    meditative → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+2