The Big Trip up Yonder / 2 B R 0 2 B

Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk1996

An insomniac office worker and a charismatic anarchist start an underground boxing club that evolves into a domestic terrorist cell.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

Same sardonic register

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Valis

Philip K. Dick1981

A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.

sardonic → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Starter Villain

John Scalzi2023

A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

sardonic → wry

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Rich People Problems

Kevin Kwan2017

An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.

sardonic → playful, still satire

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Wielding a Red Sword

Piers Anthony1986

An Indian prince avoids an arranged marriage by accepting the supernatural office of War. He wields a sword that draws him into a conflict in Hell.

sardonic → playful, still satire

pace0·prose-1·bleak-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.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-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.

sardonic → wry

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

sardonic → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Cat's Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut1963

A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Chain-Gang All-Stars

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah2023

Prisoners in a private American penal system fight to the death in televised matches for a chance at freedom.

sardonic → bleak, still satire

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Make Room! Make Room!

Harry Harrison1966

A detective investigates a murder in a 1999 New York City suffering from extreme overpopulation, food riots, and resource exhaustion.

sardonic → bleak, still dystopia

pace-1·prose0·bleak+1