LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Demolished Man

Alfred Bester1953

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The 22 Murders of Madison May

    Max Barry2021

    A journalist pursues a killer who murders the same woman across multiple parallel realities. The story follows her jumps between different lives.

    Same propulsive register, still cat and mouse

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • City of Saints and Madmen

    Jeff Vandermeer2001

    A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.

    propulsive → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Nova Express

    William S. Burroughs1964

    An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

    propulsive → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    propulsive → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Dream Park

    Steven Barnes1981

    A security chief investigates a real death during a high-stakes holographic role-playing game. The story tracks the game mechanics and the murder.

    Same propulsive register, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Lost Symbol

    Dan Brown2009

    Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.

    Same propulsive register

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Walking Disaster

    Jamie McGuire2013

    This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

    Same propulsive register

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak0

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    propulsive → playful, still mystery

    pace-3·prose+2·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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Watchmen

    Dave Gibbons1986

    Retired costumed vigilantes investigate a conspiracy after one of their own is murdered. The story uses a comic-within-a-comic and backmatter.

    propulsive → cold, still noir

    pace-1·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.

    propulsive → bleak, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Jaunt

    Stephen King2009

    A father explains the history of teleportation to his family while they wait to travel. He describes the danger of being awake during the trip.

    propulsive → tense, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2