After
The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin1974
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same meditative register, still fish out of water
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Telling
Ursula K. Le Guin2000
An observer from Earth travels to a planet where a corporate government has banned ancient traditions. She joins a pilgrimage to record them.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Ancient of Days
Michael Bishop1985
A modern woman discovers a living Homo habilis in a Georgia swamp. The story follows his integration into human society and the ensuing media circus.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak0
3001: The Final Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke1997
Frank Poole is revived a thousand years after his death. He explores a future Earth and the mystery of the Monoliths.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Gravity dreams
L. E. Modesitt, Jr.1999
After nanotechnology alters his body, a religious conservative is exiled to a high-tech society where he trains as a starship pilot.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Third Eagle
R. A. MacAvoy1989
A martial artist from a primitive world travels across the galaxy, encountering various cultures as a hired performer and laborer.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
meditative → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
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.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
The 4-Hour Workweek
Timothy Ferriss2006
A guide to lifestyle design that explains how to automate a business and outsource life tasks to achieve a four-hour workweek.
meditative → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Split Infinity
Piers Anthony1980
A man travels between a high-tech world of games and a parallel world of magic. He must master both systems to avoid being assassinated.
meditative → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
Kimberly Lemming2021
A spice trader saves a demon while intoxicated and joins his quest to kill a witch. The story features frequent sexual content and humor.
meditative → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Stainless Steel Rat
Harry Harrison1961
A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Fantasy Lover
Sherrilyn Kenyon2002
A Spartan warrior cursed to be a love-slave inside a book is summoned by a modern woman. She takes him into the world to live as a man.
meditative → earnest, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
meditative → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
meditative → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury1946
A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.
meditative → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
For Us, the Living
Robert A. Heinlein2003
A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.
meditative → earnest, still fish out of water
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+2
334
Thomas M. Disch1972
Interconnected stories depict the lives of residents in a New York housing project in the 2020s. It focuses on poverty and social stagnation.
meditative → bleak, still social sci-fi
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
meditative → cold
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
meditative → bleak, still fish out of water
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
meditative → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
meditative → elegiac
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
