After
Star Maker
Olaf Stapledon1937
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Diaspora
Greg Egan1997
In the 30th century, a digital being is born into a society of software. When an astronomical disaster occurs, they seek a way to survive.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Implied Spaces
Walter Jon Williams2008
A scholar living in a multiverse of artificial pocket dimensions investigates a plot that threatens the machine intelligences running reality.
Same elegiac register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Adversary
Julian May1984
The final conflict between the Tanu and Firvulag aliens occurs as humans from the future intervene. It concludes the Saga of Pliocene Exile.
Same elegiac register, still time travel
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-3bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
elegiac → playful
pace0·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-3bleak-2
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
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.
elegiac → wry
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose-1bleak0
After London
Richard Jefferies1885
Nature reclaims England after an unspecified catastrophe destroys civilization. A young man explores the toxic swamps that were once London.
Same elegiac register, still speculative fiction
pace-2·prose-1·bleak0
- pace-2prose-1bleak-2
News from nowhere, or, An epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance
William Morris1890
A Victorian man wakes up in the year 2102. He explores a socialist agrarian society where private property and money have been abolished.
elegiac → meditative, still speculative fiction
pace-2·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose0bleak0
Night Land
William Hope Hodgson2014
In the distant future, a man leaves the last human stronghold to find a woman across a sunless, monster-filled wasteland.
elegiac → dreamlike, still cosmic horror
pace-2·prose0·bleak0
- pace-2prose0bleak0
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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-2·prose0·bleak0
- pace-2prose-1bleak-2
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury1946
A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.
Same elegiac register
pace-2·prose-1·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace-1prose-1bleak+1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
elegiac → cold, still speculative fiction
pace-1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-2bleak+1
The Deep
Nick Cutter2015
A veterinarian travels to a research station at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to help his brother find a cure for a global plague.
elegiac → bleak, still cosmic horror
pace0·prose-2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Echopraxia
Peter Watts2014
A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.
elegiac → bleak, still cosmic horror
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose-2bleak+1
The Postmortal
Drew Magary2011
A lawyer records his life after a cure for aging is discovered. Society slowly collapses under the weight of overpopulation and eternal life.
elegiac → sardonic, still speculative fiction
pace0·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Beyond the Aquila Rift
Alastair Reynolds2001
A spaceship crew wakes from cold sleep to find they have overshot their destination by light-years. They must face the reality of their location.
elegiac → bleak, still cosmic horror
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
