After
The children's blizzard
David Laskin2004
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Golden Spruce
John Vaillant2004
The true story of a logger who cuts down a sacred tree in British Columbia and then vanishes. It covers the history of the Haida people and the woods.
Same elegiac register, still narrative nonfiction
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-2
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson
This history follows three individuals who left the American South for northern and western cities. It spans several decades of the 20th century.
Same elegiac register, still narrative nonfiction
pace0·prose0·bleak-2
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same elegiac register
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How High We Go in the Dark
Sequoia Nagamatsu2022
A series of interconnected stories follow humanity's struggle to survive and grieve after an ancient plague is released from the permafrost.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Strangers
Gardner Dozois1978
An artist living among the alien Cian on a distant planet falls in love with a local woman and attempts to navigate their incompatible biology.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
elegiac → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Alfred Lansing1959
A chronological account of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition. It details the crew's two-year struggle after their ship is crushed.
elegiac → propulsive, still narrative nonfiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
Apollo 13
Jeffrey Kluger1995
A chronological account of the 1970 lunar mission that suffered a mid-flight explosion. It details the technical solutions used to return home.
elegiac → tense, still narrative nonfiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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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+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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+2·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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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+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak-3
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.
elegiac → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-3
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
