After
The Last Question
Isaac Asimov2007
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Wonder
Robert J. Sawyer2011
The final entry in a trilogy where a global consciousness emerges through the internet, forcing humanity to adapt to a new era.
meditative → earnest, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Planet Explorer
Murray Leinster2007
A colonial officer travels to various alien planets to solve environmental and biological crises using scientific principles.
meditative → earnest, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Long Utopia
Terry Pratchett2015
In a multiverse where humans can step between parallel Earths, a new threat emerges in the 2050s. It explores the evolution of a new human species.
Same meditative register, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Ball Lightning
Liu Cixin2018
A man becomes obsessed with ball lightning after it kills his parents. He joins a military research team to weaponize the phenomenon.
Same meditative register, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Dream Park
Steven Barnes1981
A security chief investigates a real death during a high-stakes holographic role-playing game. The story tracks the game mechanics and the murder.
meditative → propulsive, still science fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
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, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
Same meditative register, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
meditative → playful
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
Nova Express
William S. Burroughs1964
An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.
meditative → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
The Arrows of Time
Greg Egan2013
On a ship where time runs backward for some, travelers face a physics-based crisis. It explores the causality of messages sent from the future.
Same meditative register, still hard scifi
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak0
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, still science fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
Rogue Protocol
Martha Wells2018
A self-aware security android travels to a space station to find evidence against a corrupt corporation while hiding its autonomy.
meditative → sardonic, still hard scifi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Logan's run
William F. Nolan1967
In a future where everyone is executed at age 21, an enforcer becomes a fugitive. He attempts to reach a rumored sanctuary.
meditative → tense, still science fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
Influx
Daniel Suarez2014
A physicist invents a gravity-reflecting device and is imprisoned by a secret agency that suppresses technology. He plots a high-tech escape.
meditative → propulsive, still science fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens
Alan Dean Foster2001
A scavenger and a defecting soldier join the fight against a new galactic power. They search for a missing hero from the previous generation.
meditative → propulsive, still science fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
Same meditative register, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
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-2·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
Same meditative register
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
His Master's Voice
Stanisław Lem2018
A mathematician works at a secret facility to decode a neutrino signal from space. The book is a philosophical essay disguised as a memoir.
meditative → clinical, still hard scifi
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak0
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.
meditative → playful
pace-2·prose+3·bleak0
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
Titan
Stephen Baxter1997
A crew of astronauts embarks on a one-way mission to Saturn's moon. The narrative details the technical and psychological decay of the mission.
meditative → cold, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
Hard to be a god
Аркадий Стругацкий2014
An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.
meditative → bleak, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+3
Maelstrom
Peter Watts2001
A bio-engineered virus spreads through the global network while a woman navigates a flooded, post-apocalyptic landscape.
meditative → bleak, still hard scifi
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
The Jaunt
Stephen King2009
A father explains the history of teleportation to his family while they wait to travel. He describes the danger of being awake during the trip.
meditative → tense, still science fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+2bleak+3
Hellspark
Janet Kagan1988
A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.
meditative → tense, still science fiction
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+3
