LitQueuelitqueue

After

Silence for the Dead

Simone St. James2014

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Five Mile House

    Karen Novak2000

    A former cop moves into a historic house where she becomes obsessed with the 1889 suicide of a woman whose life mirrors her own trauma.

    Same tense register, still gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    tense → dark, still gothic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    tense → dreamlike, still gothic

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    tense → cold

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Single White Vampire

    Lynsay Sands2003

    A book editor travels to meet a reclusive author who writes vampire novels. She does not realize he is an actual vampire.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Murder Past Due

    Miranda James2010

    A librarian and his Maine Coon cat investigate the murder of a former classmate in a small Mississippi town.

    tense → warm

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • On Dublin Street

    Samantha Young2012

    An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.

    tense → warm

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    tense → bleak

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    Same tense register

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    Same tense register

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    tense → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Monk

    Matthew Gregory Lewis

    A celebrated monk is seduced by a woman in disguise and descends into a cycle of rape, murder, and sorcery. He eventually makes a pact with Satan.

    tense → bleak, still gothic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The House Next Door

    Anne Rivers Siddons1978

    A couple watches as a newly built house next door causes a series of tragedies for its occupants. The house preys on the flaws of those inside.

    tense → dread, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Elementals

    Michael McDowell1981

    Two families vacation at a coastal estate where one of three houses is slowly being buried by sand and inhabited by a malevolent presence.

    tense → dread, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2