LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Computer Connection

Alfred Bester1975

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • City of Golden Shadow

    Tad Williams1996

    Children fall into comas while using a global virtual reality network. A group of strangers enters the system to find the cause.

    playful → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+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.

    playful → meditative

    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.

    playful → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    Same playful register

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-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.

    Same playful register

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Hellspark

    Janet Kagan1988

    A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.

    playful → tense, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Akira, Vol. 1

    Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984

    In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.

    playful → propulsive, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

  • The Lake House

    James Patterson

    A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.

    playful → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → meditative

    pace-2·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.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·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.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Dr. Adder

    K. W. Jeter1984

    In a broken future Los Angeles, a surgeon performs extreme genital modifications for a subculture of outcasts.

    playful → cynical, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Hard to be a god

    Аркадий Стругацкий2014

    An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.

    playful → bleak, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Market Forces

    Richard K. Morgan2004

    In a future where executives duel in armored cars for promotions, Chris Faulkner joins a firm that profits from civil wars. It is a corporate satire.

    playful → sardonic, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2