After
The Death of Grass
John Christopher1956
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
American War
Omar El Akkad2017
A girl grows up in a displaced persons camp during a second American Civil War fought over fossil fuels.
Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Level 7
Mordecai Roshwald1959
A push-button soldier records his life in a bunker 4,000 feet underground. He documents the end of the world through technical logs.
bleak → clinical, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Parable of the Talents
Octavia E. Butler1998
In a collapsed America, Lauren Olamina struggles to protect her community from religious zealots. The story is told through recovered journals.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Chrysalids
John Wyndham1955
In a fundamentalist post-nuclear society, a boy discovers he has telepathic abilities. He must hide his mutation to avoid execution or exile.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban1980
A twelve-year-old boy travels across a primitive, post-nuclear England. The story is written entirely in a broken, phonetic future dialect.
bleak → meditative, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace1996
A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.
bleak → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak-1
Seven Surrenders
Ada Palmer2017
The leaders of global Hives struggle to maintain a centuries-long peace as secrets emerge. The narrator is biased and uses archaic language.
bleak → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
William S. Burroughs
A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.
bleak → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Winterlong
Elizabeth Hand1990
In a decaying, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., a girl with empathic powers is drawn into the plots of a decadent ruling class.
bleak → dreamlike, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
bleak → playful
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace0prose-1bleak-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.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace-1prose-1bleak-3
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
bleak → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace0prose-1bleak-3
On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
bleak → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Get Jiro!
Anthony Bourdain2012
In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.
bleak → sardonic, still dystopian
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-2prose+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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
bleak → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
bleak → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
Same bleak register, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban1980
A twelve-year-old boy travels across a primitive, post-nuclear England. The story is written entirely in a broken, phonetic future dialect.
bleak → meditative, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1