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After

The Last Days of Jack Sparks

Jason Arnopp2016

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Lunar Park

    Bret Easton Ellis2005

    A fictionalized Bret Easton Ellis moves to the suburbs to start a family. His past characters and a supernatural presence begin to haunt his home.

    Same sardonic register, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·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.

    sardonic → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • The Light and the Dark

    Mikhail Shishkin2013

    Two lovers exchange letters that transcend time and space. One writes from a domestic life while the other writes from the front lines of a war.

    sardonic → elegiac, still epistolary

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    sardonic → meditative, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Thoughtful

    S.C. Stephens2015

    Kellan Kyle falls for his best friend's girlfriend, Anna. The story retells the events of Thoughtless from Kellan's perspective.

    sardonic → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    Same sardonic register, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Final Destination I

    Natasha Rhodes2006

    After surviving a plane crash they were destined to die in, a group of teenagers is hunted by an invisible, lethal force.

    sardonic → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Among Others

    Jo Walton2011

    A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

    sardonic → tender

    pace-2·prose0·bleak-1

  • Tehanu

    Ursula K. Le Guin1990

    A widow cares for an aging mage who has lost his magic. The story focuses on domestic life and the aftermath of past adventures.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Damnation Game

    Clive Barker1985

    An ex-con becomes a bodyguard for a billionaire who made a deal with a supernatural gambler. The debt comes due through gore and resurrection.

    sardonic → bleak, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Last Days

    Brian Evenson2009

    A detective is kidnapped by a cult that practices ritual amputation and forced to investigate a murder within their ranks.

    sardonic → clinical, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • A Matter of Blood

    Sarah Pinborough2010

    A detective investigates a serial killer in a London plagued by a failing economy and a supernatural virus. The tone is consistently grim.

    sardonic → bleak, still horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1