After
The 22 Murders of Madison May
Max Barry2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak0
God Game
Danny Tobey2020
High schoolers play an augmented reality game run by an AI that claims to be God. The game begins to manipulate their real lives.
Same propulsive register, still technothriller
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Dark Matter
Blake Crouch2016
A physics professor is kidnapped and wakes up in an alternate reality where he chose career over family. He must navigate the multiverse to return.
Same propulsive register, still technothriller
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Demolished Man
Alfred Bester1953
In a future where telepathic police make premeditated crime impossible, a businessman plans a murder. He uses a catchy song to block his thoughts.
Same propulsive register, still cat and mouse
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Kill Process
William Hertling2016
A data analyst uses her hacking skills to kill domestic abusers. She eventually targets a social media company that controls public thought.
Same propulsive register, still technothriller
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Liege-Killer
Christopher Hinz1987
Genetically engineered assassins wake from stasis to hunt humans in orbital colonies. Two specialists must track them down.
Same propulsive register, still cat and mouse
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
propulsive → dreamlike
- pace-3prose+2bleak+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.
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
In Green's Jungles
Gene Wolfe2000
A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
VAS
Steve Tomasula2002
A man considers a vasectomy while the book uses diagrams and varied typography to explore the history of eugenics and biotechnology.
propulsive → clinical
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
propulsive → playful
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Vampires Are Forever
Lynsay Sands2008
A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
The Mane Event
Shelly Laurenston2007
A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
She Went All the Way
Meg Cabot2002
A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown2009
Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Starter Villain
John Scalzi2023
A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.
propulsive → wry, still technothriller
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak-1
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-2prose+1bleak+2
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.
propulsive → cold
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-2prose0bleak+2
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+2
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
