LitQueuelitqueue

After

The House in the High Wood

Jeffrey E. Barlough2001

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • A Dowry of Blood

    S. T. Gibson2021

    A woman saved by Dracula recounts her life as his consort alongside two other lovers. The story follows their decades of shared domestic abuse.

    Same elegiac register, still gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Claw of the Conciliator

    Gene Wolfe1981

    An exiled torturer travels with a gem that can heal the dead. The narrative uses archaic vocabulary and an unreliable perspective.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    elegiac → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

elegiac → warm

3 more ↓

  • Wish you were here

    Rita Mae Brown1990

    A small-town postmistress investigates a series of murders linked by mysterious postcards. Her cat and dog provide their own perspective.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Trouble With Magic

    Madelyn Alt2006

    A shop clerk in a small town discovers she has heritage in witchcraft while investigating a local murder.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • A Deadly Grind

    Victoria Hamilton2012

    A vintage kitchenware collector finds a body in her new shop. She investigates her neighbors in a small town to clear her name.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Titus Groan

    Mervyn Peake1973

    The birth of an heir triggers power struggles in a decaying, ritual-bound castle. The prose is dense and focuses on the grotesque architecture.

    elegiac → sardonic, still gothic

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Fifth Season

    N. K. Jemisin2015

    A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Pet Sematary

    Stephen King1983

    A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

    elegiac → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • The Poppy War

    R.F. Kuang2018

    A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2