After
The Last President
John Barnes2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Feed
Seanan McGuire2010
Bloggers follow a presidential campaign twenty years after a zombie outbreak. They uncover a conspiracy while dodging the infected.
bleak → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
CyberStorm
Matthew Mather2013
A family in New York City struggles to survive when a massive snowstorm coincides with a total collapse of the digital infrastructure.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Death of Grass
John Christopher1956
A virus kills the world's grass and grain, causing total societal collapse. A family attempts to flee London for a farm in the north.
Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Shift
Hugh Howey2013
A prequel to Wool that explains the construction of the underground silos. It follows the politicians and workers who planned the end of the world.
Same bleak register, still conspiracy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Down to a Sunless Sea
David Graham1979
A commercial pilot flies a plane full of passengers while nuclear war destroys the world below. They search for a place to land and survive.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
bleak → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Odessa Sea
Clive Cussler2016
Dirk Pitt investigates a ghost ship in the Black Sea and discovers a conspiracy involving a lost Romanov secret. It is a high-speed adventure.
bleak → propulsive, still techno-thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
bleak → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
bleak → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Digital Fortress
Dan Brown1998
The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.
bleak → propulsive, still techno-thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Plague War
Jeff Carlson1967
A researcher flees the American government to distribute a vaccine for a nanotech plague that has killed most of the population.
bleak → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Lost in Time
A.G. Riddle2022
A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.
bleak → propulsive, still techno-thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Akira, Vol. 1
Katsuhiro Ōtomo1984
In a rebuilt post-WWIII Tokyo, two teenage bikers get caught in a government conspiracy after one develops psychic powers.
bleak → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Lake House
James Patterson
A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.
bleak → propulsive, still techno-thriller
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
bleak → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-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.
bleak → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Down to a Sunless Sea
David Graham1979
A commercial pilot flies a plane full of passengers while nuclear war destroys the world below. They search for a place to land and survive.
bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Zone One
Colson Whitehead2011
A sweeper squad clears Manhattan of lingering zombies and catatonic 'stragglers.' The focus is on the protagonist's memories and the city's decay.
bleak → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
On the Beach
Nevil Shute1957
Survivors in Australia wait for a lethal radiation cloud to arrive after a nuclear war. They spend their final months in quiet, domestic routines.
bleak → elegiac, still post-apocalyptic
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The Walking Dead: Compendium One
Robert Kirkman2009
A sheriff wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse. He leads a group of survivors through various temporary shelters over several years.
Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
One Second After
William R. Forstchen2009
An EMP strike destroys the American power grid. A history professor attempts to manage the starvation and societal collapse of his small town.
Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
