LitQueuelitqueue

After

Tales Of Majipoor

Robert Silverberg2013

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Morgaine Saga (Morgaine & Vanye, #1-3)

    C.J. Cherryh

    A woman travels between worlds to close gates that threaten the universe. She is accompanied by a displaced warrior who is bound to her by honor.

    meditative → elegiac, still planetary romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Radiance

    Catherynne M. Valente2015

    A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.

    meditative → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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

  • All Those Vanished Engines

    Paul Park2014

    Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.

    meditative → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Lord Valentine's Castle

    Robert Silverberg1980

    An amnesiac juggler travels across a massive planet to reclaim his throne from an impostor. It is a picaresque quest through various alien cultures.

    meditative → warm, still planetary romance

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Powers That Be

    Elizabeth Ann Scarborough1993

    A disabled veteran is sent to spy on a colonial ice planet. She finds her health restored as she discovers the world is sentient.

    meditative → warm, still planetary romance

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection

    Carol Burnett2010

    The comedian shares anecdotes from her career in television and film. The book is a series of short chronological reflections.

    meditative → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·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

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

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

    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 ↓

  • Sugar Rain

    Paul Park1989

    During a revolution against a theocracy, a doctor in exile tries to protect his family while a new, pragmatic faith rises.

    meditative → bleak, still science fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Winterlong

    Elizabeth Hand1990

    In a decaying, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., a girl with empathic powers is drawn into the plots of a decadent ruling class.

    meditative → dreamlike, still science fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Salt

    Adam Roberts2000

    Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.

    meditative → bleak, still planetary romance

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2