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After

The Lathe of Heaven

Ursula K. Le Guin1971

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More like it

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  • Prophet

    Helen Macdonald2023

    Two agents investigate a substance that manifests people's deepest nostalgic memories as physical, lethal objects.

    Same dreamlike register, still speculative fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → meditative, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    dreamlike → sardonic, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Star Maker

    Olaf Stapledon1937

    A narrator travels through space and time to observe the birth and death of civilizations across the universe.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still speculative fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Neon Gods

    Katee Robert2021

    In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Playing with Fire

    Gena Showalter2006

    A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    dreamlike → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-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.

    dreamlike → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • After London

    Richard Jefferies1885

    Nature reclaims England after an unspecified catastrophe destroys civilization. A young man explores the toxic swamps that were once London.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still speculative fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak+1

  • News from nowhere, or, An epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance

    William Morris1890

    A Victorian man wakes up in the year 2102. He explores a socialist agrarian society where private property and money have been abolished.

    dreamlike → meditative, still speculative fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Postmortal

    Drew Magary2011

    A lawyer records his life after a cure for aging is discovered. Society slowly collapses under the weight of overpopulation and eternal life.

    dreamlike → sardonic, still speculative fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    dreamlike → tense, still science fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    dreamlike → tense, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2