After
The Devil Takes You Home
Gabino Iglesias2022
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Dead and Gone
Andrew Vachss2000
After a hit squad kills his partner, an underground mercenary gets plastic surgery and hunts his attackers across the country.
Same bleak register, still noir
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Woods Are Dark
Richard Laymon1981
A family and a group of hikers are captured by a clan of cannibalistic mutants in the woods. They must fight to escape before being eaten.
Same bleak register, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Them Or Us
David Moody2011
The final survivors of a global plague face a mutated, aggressive subclass of humans. It is a graphic account of total societal collapse.
Same bleak register, still antihero
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Night of the Living Dead
John Russo2004
A group of strangers barricades themselves inside a farmhouse to survive a night of attacks by reanimated corpses.
Same bleak register, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Mr. Hands
Gary A. Braunbeck2007
A grieving mother uses a supernatural entity to take revenge on those who harm children. The story follows the consequences of her vigilante pact.
Same bleak register, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
bleak → dreamlike
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski1998
A man finds a door in his house that should not exist. The story is told through layers of academic footnotes and a decaying manuscript.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Ambergris
Jeff VanderMeer2020
This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
Racconti [55 stories]
Edgar Allan Poe2011
A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.
bleak → dreamlike, still horror
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Android Karenina
Лев Толстой2010
The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.
bleak → elegiac, still horror
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Gormenghast
Mervyn Peake1950
A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.
bleak → dark
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace-1prose-1bleak-3
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
bleak → earnest
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3
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The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
bleak → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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To Sir Phillip, With Love
Julia Quinn2003
Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.
bleak → warm
pace0·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace-1prose-1bleak-3
All Rhodes Lead Here
Mariana Zapata2021
A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.
bleak → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3
- pace-1prose-1bleak-3
Hannah's List
Debbie Macomber2010
A widower receives a letter from his late wife suggesting three women he should date. He begins to interact with each woman over the following year.
bleak → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Shattered
Dean Koontz1973
A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.
bleak → tense, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-3
Grunge
Larry Correia2016
A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.
bleak → sardonic, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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Intercepts
T.J. Payne2020
A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.
bleak → tense, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Infected
Bobby Adair
A slow-acting virus turns the population into aggressive predators. The story follows a survivor navigating the initial societal collapse.
bleak → propulsive, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Undead Day One
R.R. Haywood
A supermarket manager attempts to survive the first twenty-four hours of a zombie outbreak in England. The story is told in real-time.
bleak → propulsive, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose-1bleak-2
Lady Audley's Secret
Mary Elizabeth Braddon1862
A man returns from Australia to find his friend's wife is a governess with a hidden past. He investigates her identity after his friend disappears.
bleak → mysterious, still horror
pace-2·prose-1·bleak-2
- 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
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
bleak → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-3
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
bleak → playful
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Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
bleak → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
