After
The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay
Harlan Ellison
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Lincoln hunters
Wilson Tucker1958
A man from a dystopian future travels back to 1856 to record a lost speech by Abraham Lincoln. He must avoid altering the timeline.
Same elegiac register, still time travel
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Inherit the Stars
James P. Hogan1977
Scientists find a 50,000-year-old human corpse on the moon. The story follows their attempt to solve the biological and temporal puzzle.
elegiac → dark, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Pegasus in Flight
Anne McCaffrey1990
Telepaths and telekinetics work to build a space station while a streetwise girl with a gift for languages is recruited into their ranks.
elegiac → tense, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Transition
Iain Banks2009
Agents of a secret organization travel between parallel Earths to manipulate history. The story shifts between multiple perspectives.
elegiac → dark, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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A World Between
Norman Spinrad1979
On a media-saturated planet, a man and woman lead opposing factions during a global ideological war between two off-world superpowers.
elegiac → dark, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
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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, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
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Perhaps the Stars
Ada Palmer2021
A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.
elegiac → meditative, still space opera
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
elegiac → dreamlike, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
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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·prose+2·bleak0
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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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
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The Princess
Lori Wick2006
In the fictional land of Pendaran, a prince enters an arranged marriage with a commoner who must learn the ways of the royal court.
elegiac → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
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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.
elegiac → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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The sheik & the bride who said no
Susan Mallery2005
A woman returns to a desert kingdom and faces a marriage of convenience to a crown prince she once loved.
elegiac → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
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Royally Matched
Emma Chase2017
A rebellious prince enters a reality dating show to find a bride. He ends up falling for a quiet librarian who is not a contestant.
elegiac → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
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A Galaxy Unknown
Thomas DePrima2010
An ensign uses her tactical skills to rise through the ranks of a space navy while fighting pirates and internal bureaucracy.
elegiac → earnest, still space opera
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Android's Dream
John Scalzi2006
A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.
elegiac → playful, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Lost in Time
A.G. Riddle2022
A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.
elegiac → propulsive, still time travel
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Chilling Effect
Valerie Valdes2019
A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.
elegiac → playful, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
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The Star Kings
Edmond Hamilton1949
A 20th-century man swaps bodies with a prince 200,000 years in the future. He must lead a galactic empire against a tyrant's fleet.
elegiac → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
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Heavier
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Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks1987
A shape-shifting mercenary works for an alien empire to retrieve a rogue AI during a galactic war. He faces a series of deadly set-pieces.
elegiac → bleak, still space opera
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
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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.
elegiac → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Behold the Man
Michael Moorcock1968
A man uses a time machine to travel to 28 AD to meet Jesus. Finding only a disabled man who cannot fulfill the gospels, he takes the role himself.
elegiac → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
The Year of the Quiet Sun
Wilson Tucker1970
A social scientist travels forward in time to document the collapse of the United States through racial conflict and nuclear war.
elegiac → bleak, still time travel
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
An Exchange of Hostages
Susan R. Matthews1997
A surgeon is drafted into a space empire's corps of torturers. He tries to maintain his ethics while being trained to inflict pain.
elegiac → clinical, still space opera
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
